Running head: CODING IN THE CLASSROOM 1

Design Project Proposal: Coding in the Classroom

Kimberly Cook, Danny Leeming, Samantha Livingstone, Mary Sikkes, and Scott Skanes

University of British Columbia

ETEC 510-65B (Design of Technology Supported Learning Environments)

Master of Educational Technology, University of British Columbia

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Key Frameworks

This project is seeking to provide a flexible, multi-age framework for teachers new to the

instruction of computer programming. The focus is on providing a variety of approaches at the

beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels. This approach will reflect a variety of

teaching strategies that can appeal to diverse classrooms, diverse teaching and learning styles,

and varying levels of teacher expertise. The need for a resource like this reflects the current

mandatory nature of programming and coding education in the province of British

Columbia. While our focus stems from a change in the province of British Columbia, it should

be acknowledged that science and technology education is a focus in many jurisdictions and the

hope is that this resource will prove to be valuable in many locations. Many teachers lack

experience and expertise and may rely on full service solutions which puts a majority of the

learning experience into the hands of third-party services such as Codecademy. This project will

provide the tools to expand beyond these services and integrate a blended approach to teaching

coding in schools.

The academic research in the realm of computer programming and coding education is

quite varied, but generally points to the most effective method of instruction being a blended,

multi-faceted approach. A study by Terence C. Ahern (2009) found cognitive scaffolding to be a

critically important piece of learning a new coding environment and language. The process of

learning a new programming environment across disciplines is challenging, but the most critical

step, according to the study, is to connect the knowledge of the programming language to larger

outcomes, goals, and possibilities. This reflects other literature which finds great value in

providing students an opportunity to create meaningful artefacts through constructivist or

constructionist tasks (Palmrov, 2011). While there is value in instructionist approaches to

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basic concepts, the most valuable learning comes from what Papert called learning by doing,

making, and creating meaningful products to solve real problems (Palmrov, 2011). Other

studies have also found that taking this multifaceted approach does in fact improve outcomes

(akirolu, 2011). In akirolus study, his experimental group approached programming

instruction with a hybrid model which blended traditional instructionist and constructivist

approaches. Students in the experimental group significantly outperformed students who

followed the traditional program (akirolu, 2011, p. 173). Students in the hybrid model

learned, in much more depth, how and why programming languages they were taught functioned,

while troubleshooting and solving their own problems helped them gain a deeper understanding

of how the elements of the coding language worked together (akirolu, 2011). Seo and Kim

(2016) found similar results in their study, noting that students engaged in pair or team

programming challenges at the elementary level showed increased success in overall

computational thinking skills when compared to students who learned through traditional

instruction.

All these studies seemingly build upon the work of both Piaget and Papert. Piagets

research was based upon the idea that children are the creators of their own knowledge and have

the ability to learn without being taught (Papert, 1980). Papert does not dismiss wholly the

instructionist approach, but advocates strongly that the constructionist approach provides

students with the opportunity to want to construct their own learning, much in the way Piaget

observed, and this experience can take place whether the quality of direct instruction is excellent,

poor, or middling (Harel & Papert, 1991). Papert argues that, in the absence of teacher expertise,

constructionist and mixed approaches allow students the focus and time to discover the learning

for themselves when given goals and problems (Harel & Papert, 1991). It is with both the recent
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research, and the timeless wisdom of Piaget and Papert, that we have elected to approach this

resource as a blended and multifaceted framework offering teachers and students a variety of

opportunities to acquire and demonstrate knowledge.

Our educational activities will be framed around student and teacher experience levels,

and offer a variety of instructionist and constructionist activities that span both technology and

low/no-tech options. Substantiated by literature, our project will support teachers and students

along a grade and experiential continuum. Engagement will occur for all students as learning

will be scaffolded and challenged.

Intentions and Positions

With the incorporation of coding into the British Columbia curriculum, teachers are

presented with the challenge of incorporating a new curriculum that they may not be comfortable

with or may find intimidating. The development of the projects website, with activities targeted

at a variety of ability levels within age groups, will assist teachers in feeling more confident in

their ability to teach coding by providing an online repository of activities. Having access to

practical activities with curriculum connections that support coding in the classroom will help fill

the gap created by the new curriculum and help teachers integrate programming language.

Coding is the veritable new literacy of the 21st century. Just as reading and writing

were once the demarcation line between the literate and illiterate, so now is the capacity to code

(Burke, OByrne, & Kafai, 2016, p. 372). Coding was first introduced as an option for schools

in 1967, with the development of Logo, a coding language for children, which involved a small

robot turtle. While coding in the classroom did not take hold, the researchers recognized that

the ability to program, the ability to code, is an important part of being fluent today (Pierce,
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2013, p. 39). This belief, combined with the need for a free programming language that was

both accessible and capable of helping students (Pierce, 2013, p. 39), continued to drive the

development of a coding language that would appeal to students. In 2006, the Scratch language

was released which included an interface based on a drag-and-drop, building-block approach

(Pierce, 2013, p. 40). The language also introduced a cartoon character and the opportunity to

tell a story. Much like the development of the writers workshop to enhance literacy instruction,

using coding programs such as Scratch, with a workshop approach, gives [students] a particular

end goal to their programming activities and personalizes the experience, making learners more

likely to persist when difficulty arises (Burke et al., 2016, p. 372).

While coding was introduced as programming language for children in 1967, the limited

access to technology meant that coding was not considered an educational option at that

time. Technology is much more readily available now, yet there are still many who do not see

coding as a requirement of the educational experience (Pierce, 2013). While coding is an

essential part of being fluent today, there are many arguments against incorporating coding into

the school day. Lack of confident, qualified staff, unclear connections to the curriculum, and

resistance to a class that looks more like fun than substance are current arguments against

coding in the classroom (Pierce, 2013, p. 39). However, the development of programs which

incorporate self-guided lessons, along with the workshop approach commonly used for literacy

instruction, will reassure teachers that they can confidently instruct students in coding.

In June 2016, the Liberal party sent out a news release stating that the BC government

would be implementing a curriculum that incorporated coding. With the implementation, there

is an expectation that by the end of grade 9, every student in British Columbia will have taken a

coding module (BC Gov News, 2016). This mandate is part of the Liberal Governments
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solution to fulfill the need for technology specialists, and to increase the technology sector within

British Columbia (BC Gov News, 2016).

The Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) curriculum is an interdisciplinary

K-12 program that involves an experiential, hands-on program of learning through design and

creation, (BC Ministry of Education (a), 2016). For students in Kindergarten to grade 5, there is

an expectation that students will develop a foundation for design and technology. Although

there is no specific curricular content to be taught, there is an expectation that through

purposeful play and discovery, students will develop an understanding of design thinking. By

using technology that is appropriate to other cross-curricular tasks, teachers will develop

purposeful, hands-on activities that promote student inquiry and engagement, to develop student

design mindset and critical thinking (BC Ministry of Education (a), 2016).

For middle grades 6-9, students are expected to learn computational skills which put

coding into context. In the ADST curriculum, specific content related to coding progressively

builds from an understanding of the evolution of programming languages, to creating simple

algorithms that reflect computational thinking, then to exploring programming languages that

involve visual-programming to text-based programming.

In grades 10 through 12, students have the opportunity to choose courses that reflect their

various areas of interest including: web development, digital communications, computer

information systems, computer programming or digital media development.

Key Concepts and Contexts

As indicated, the Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) standards in BCs

curriculum are in the midst of being re-written to ensure that students are given the chance to
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learn coding and computational thinking. This provincial move is not an isolated case; the

International Society for Technology in Education revised their ISTE Standards for Students in

2016, and is now emphasizing the importance of computational thinking as one of their seven

standards (ISTE, 2016). With such standards becoming mandatory in K-12 classrooms, many

teachers are feeling under-equipped and overwhelmed in a mad scramble to understand how to

meet these standards in their own classrooms. With this context in mind, we hope that our

design project will help to develop the technical knowledge of teachers in the area of coding and

make them more comfortable in meeting these new standards. In designing our project, we will

work under the assumption that teachers already possess the content and pedagogical knowledge

required to teach their particular subject, although activities will be designed to support these two

knowledge types where possible.

The Technical, Content, and Pedagogical Knowledge (TPCK) framework created by

Koehler and Mishra (2006) treats teacher knowledge as a complex interrelationship between the

technical, content, and pedagogical aspects of teaching, and will be our reference model for

understanding how best to consider teacher knowledge. Solutions to tricky classroom scenarios

lie in the ability of a teacher to flexibly navigate the spaces defined by these three knowledge

types. If one particular knowledge area is lacking, such as technical knowledge, it has to be

compensated by changes in the other two (Koehler & Mishra, 2009, p. 67). The primary focus

of our design project is to provide teachers with the technical knowledge or know how to

implement coding activities into their classrooms in line with current technology standards. A

secondary focus is to support content and pedagogical knowledge in technical areas where

teachers may be struggling, such as learning standards specific to programming languages.

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Just as the knowledge types are each intertwined, our website will provide cross-

curricular coding activities or learning standards with content that would have been taught

traditionally by other methods. For example, one of the competencies in BCs Grade 3 Learning

Standards for the ADST curriculum is to use trial and error to make changes, solve problems, or

incorporate new ideas from self or others (BC Ministry of Education (b), 2016). Another

competency in Grade 3, this time in Language Arts, is to recognize the structure and elements

of a story (BC Ministry of Education (c), 2016). Instead of having students simply memorize

the structure, they could be provided with a tool like a Bee-Bot with its accompanying Mat to

navigate from the beginning of a story to the end. This process meets the Language Arts-based

competency, while simultaneously meeting several other cross-curricular objectives.

We are aiming to develop teacher knowledge not simply about coding or computational

thinking itself, but about how to approach existing learning scenarios from a coding or

computational thinking perspective. We hope to help teachers integrate the content and

pedagogical knowledge they already possess with new technical knowledge. By providing

teachers with information, ideas and activities that integrate coding standards with existing

content, we anticipate the alleviation of stress and confusion teachers may face when tasked with

meeting the new coding standards.

Interactivities

When considering interactivities, we must reflect on why computer science and

programming language is important for students today. In his book, World Class Learners:

Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, Yong Zhao (2012) states:

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For most of human history, before this wave of globalization and massive technological

changes, economies were mostly local and slow changing. In those economies, most people

undertook similar jobs that satisfied the local needs. And in many cases, the jobs and their

required knowledge and skills did not change very fast, making it possible to predict and thus

prescribe a curriculum that by and large could prepare children to find employment (pp. 42-43).

Today, with the rapid advancements in technology, children are entering a school system

that will have to prepare them for jobs that may not even be invented yet. Through the

integration of new technologies into classrooms, students are taught to be multi-literate,

including literacies taught through digital technologies and social media, rather than being

literate only in the traditional sense of reading and writing independently. Targeting ADST

skills allows students to become active creators of technology, not just passive users (Tynker,

n.d.).

Many Computer Science websites offer free learning activities that provide children with

manageable projects based on a variety of themes to appeal to a range of interests. For example,

Google CS First provides activities based on four themes, with each having eight self-paced

activities. Add-ons are available allowing engaged students to develop and personalize their

projects further. Other programs, like CS Unplugged, provide learning activities that introduce

users to computer science through puzzles and games, without the use of digital devices.

When we consider interactives for both educators and students, the planned activities will

vary in focus depending on the age group and ability level being targeted. In terms of the

redesigned curriculum in British Columbia, it is expected that students from kindergarten

through grade 12 will be active participants in ADST skill development; however, specific

content is not given for the ADST curriculum for Kindergarten through grade 5, and in grades 6-
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12, the ADST curriculum is concept-based allowing for choice and flexibility in delivery

(BC Ministry of Education (a), 2016). This makes curriculum delivery difficult for educators

without formal training in current digital technologies, computer science or programming

language, especially as they are now required to integrate coding into the current curriculum,

often with limited support or training. In addition to this, educators must be cognisant of privacy

concerns regarding which sites are acceptable according to the Freedom of Information and

Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) in British Columbia, which requires that personal

information for students be stored and accessed only on servers within Canada unless strict

guidelines are met (sec. 30.1), making the process of accessing sites based outside Canada much

more complex.

Our project will take the form of a Weebly website that will provide guidance and

options for educators who require support in the area of coding. The website will be sectioned

into multiple grade and ability levels, with the understanding that what is appropriate for a

beginning coder in kindergarten is not appropriate for a beginning coder in sixth grade. Our

primary goal will be to introduce educators to computer science and programming language, and

to guide them in their understanding of what coding is and how it can be effectively integrated

into existing curriculums, as well as how to support student exploration and success within the

classroom. The secondary goal of our project will be to create useable take aways for

educators to use within their classrooms with ease.

Verifications

Ideally, activities that reflect whether the designed environment has worked as planned

should be both quantitative and qualitative. The number of visits to the website is one indicator
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of interest in the subject matter. This number, along with the number of unique visitors to the

site, should be indicated to the developer when signing in to the Weebly site.

Our intention is to add a feedback box on the main page which will give visitors an

opportunity to leave comments and suggestions. Positive comments may indicate that the site is

useful and fulfills the needs of the visitors. Comments may also indicate suggestions for further

development, which is also positive as one of the purposes of the site is to provide a space for

teachers to share ideas and to be inspired. A Google form may be provided as a means for giving

the developer an opportunity to ask specific questions about whether the site meets the needs of

the user. This form, would allow for more detailed suggestions and ideas to be sent directly to

the developers, although fewer visitors may complete it due to the extra time required. A self-

assessment rubric could also be suggested for teachers to use with their students. The rubric

could be attached to the various activities to determine whether the students enjoyed the

activities. The data collected by the rubric could be used to improve future use of the tools, as

well as help us consider new tools which would better suit the task.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is hoped that this project proposal will support teachers within the

province of BC to develop a skill set to deliver coding instruction. Interactivities will be play-

based and exploratory in nature, becoming more technical as students progress in

grades. Leveled activities or tasks, will help develop confidence in learning and teaching code

within varying classroom environments, for those eager to be engaged with the 21st Century.
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