Volume 3 Issue 1 (March 2018)

Editor’s Message

Computational Thinking Activities: Enacting Leveled ConceptsImmaculate K. Namukasa.

Here is one categorization that is applicable to designing computational thinking learning opportunities for students in the elementary grades: Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced. At each of these levels, students may be seen to engage in computational thinking activities in which domain-specific concepts, such as mathematics concepts, are enacted, practiced or consolidated.

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Featured Articles

Review Article for Edison Edblocks — Melanie Drummond

At St. John School in Guelph, Ontario there are quite a few students who had the opportunity to learn and use the coding program “Scratch”. A Coding Club was formed!  These coding coaches are presently in Grade 4. They were interested in trying something a little different and had the opportunity to try a brand-new program involving Edison robots called Edblocks.

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Computational Thinking and Design Thinking Derek Tangredi

With The Hour of Code quickly approaching, both teachers and students will dive headfirst into a world of opportunity through code.  While this monumental event is both exciting and empowering, coding should not be limited to a singular event.  Coding processes surround us each day.  The goal isn’t to simply have students code for one hour, print a certificate and stop.  Coding allows for kids to explore and create authentic, meaningful, and purposeful content while fostering new skills within the 21st century landscape.  The aim should be to create a culture of learning which transcends the walls of the classroom.

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Coding: Where Art AND Math > (Math + Art)  — Iain Brodie and Betty Zhang

Coding allows us to add further dimensions to our learning of mathematics, and it is time that we reclaim it from the computer science field in order to address the needs of our 21st century learners. Incorporating computational thinking into our learning allows us to add wide walls to our low floor, high ceiling mathematics activities. In other words, besides designing learning engagements that are easy to start and get progressively more complex, we need to allow for different approaches and learning styles. Coding and computational thinking allow us to have students practice being resilient through dealing with complex problems that need time to solve.

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End of Year Math  — Vera Sarina

Imagine Grade 7 Math classroom, two last weeks of June. Report cards are done, the curriculum has been covered. It is time to do something fun with your students! Two years ago, I had an idea, “What about introducing my students to coding and at the same time doing a review of the main mathematical concepts learned in Grade 7?” And it was easily done thanks to the guys from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab who developed Scratch, a free visual programming language.

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