Week Seven Post

Data Representation

Drawing and Colouring
The week seven course material continues from last week's learning focus on data representation. The first digital learning challenge given introduces the concept of code manipulation. The game Code Monster, is relevant in this sense, as it allows students to manipulate data and fabricate their own designs. The course resource, Edutapia, is also beneficial for this reason, giving a list of tools and activities that could be incorporated into pedagogy to teach students how to code. Computer programs like Minecraft and Lightbot are examples from the site, that encourage conceptual knowledge through the planning, testing, and procedural skills required of students to complete the game.  


Engagement Activity 
As the concept of coding is fairly new to me, I found the Code Monster resource beneficial for my professional development, explicitly teaching me the fundamental components of block coding and data representation. For these reasons it would be a great learning tool to use in a modern day classroom. In my own classroom I would encourage students to expand their coding skills by posing a challenge where they must manipulate the data to design a house. To complete this challenge students will need to become competent uses of coding systems.  


Computational Thinking
The second digital design challenge presented in this week's course material focuses on computational thinking. Computational thinking (2012), a video provided on the topic, states that this style of thinking is "the foundation for making decisions or innovating solutions that can improve our quality of life". Problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, computing and critical thinking, are all skills embodied in computational thinking. As explained in the video this style of thinking is brought about by combining critical thinking skills with the power of computing. According to Barr, V. & Stephenson, C. (2011), computing does not refer to programming nor computer literacy, but rather “the study of computers and algorithmic processes including their principles, hardware and software design, applications, and impact on society”. As society is moving rapidly into a technological age, for students grasp this knowledge in school opens up a range of career pathways and opportunities in the future.

Curriculum Links 
in the Australian Curriculum, various content descriptors found in the Digital Technologies learning area address computational thinking. The table provided in the course material (see below), makes various links to the curriculum listing various capabilities and concepts that computational thinking addresses across the learning strands.

These capabilities are also elaborated on in the Computational Thinking in K–12 Education resources, providing teachers with a detailed overview to the implementation of computational thinking in the curriculum and in pedagogical practices. In this document, materials have been  listed to help educators understand, value, and implement computational thinking in K–12 education. As mentioned previously, "today’s students need these skills to meet workforce demands of the future and to help solve some of the most pressing, intractable problems of our time".

Algorithms and Abstractions  
The second digital design challenge raised in the course material focused on algorithms and abstractions. These two terms refer to the instructions set of a task and the process of taking the details out of a problem to make a solution work for many different things. These are a primary learning focus in the 'Thinking Myself' resource provided in the course material this week. This was beneficial for my professional learning as the site provided definitions and activities that developed skills in this area (as seen right). For this reason, I would promote the use of this game in my own teaching to encourage students to also reach desired learning outcomes. As stated in the Year 4 Processes and Production Skills descriptor, students need to "Implement simple digital solutions as visual programs with algorithms involving branching (decisions) and user input (ACTDIP011)".

Word Activity - Abstraction
I thought the learning process behind completing this Abstraction was beneficial for my professional development. Although I created bogus results for this survey, the method used in displaying the data provides a good visual literacy for learners to represent and acquire information. For these reasons I believe it should be a tool implemented in teaching pedagogy. For instance, I would encourage students to develop these skills by creating a task where they are require to represent data concerning a need in the school or broader community. They would collaborate to brainstorm ideas to complete the survey and scaffold questions to ensure informative results are attained.


References 

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2015). Technologies.

Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/technologies/technologies-across-foundation-to-year-10

Barr, V., & Stephenson, C. (2011, March). Bringing Computatinal Thinking to K-12: What is Involved and What is the Role of the Computer Science Education Community? Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/docs/nets-refresh-toolkit/bringing-ct-to-k-12.pdf?sfvrsn=2

CSTA. (2011). Computational Thinking: Teaching Resources. Retrieved from Computer Science Teachers Association.

Davis, V. (2015). 15+ Ways of Teaching Every Student to Code. Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/15-ways-teaching-students-coding-vicki-davis