Utilizing a Pupil-Centered Method to Promote Computational Pondering — science weblog
How can lecturers interact college students to study problem-solving abilities throughout the curriculum? One program has got down to train computational pondering (CT) and coding abilities in a problem-centered method, fostering a student-driven studying design. Within the course of, college students develop persistence and creativity whereas lecturers join their studying with skilled requirements aligned with ISTE micro-credentials.
Tony Lam, head of arithmetic at Marymount Main Faculty in Hong Kong, acknowledged the mindset change required to create a student-centered coding expertise. As a substitute of merely giving step-by-step directions for college students to develop pc packages in a teacher-centered method, he encourages college students to resolve issues through lively studying.
Lam, who started studying to code six years in the past, developed his abilities on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT) Grasp Coach Program in Boston, an expertise sponsored by his faculty and supported by CoolThink@JC. Now, he hosts skilled improvement workshops and lesson demonstrations for different lecturers in Hong Kong. Just lately, EdSurge spoke with Lam about his expertise as a instructor chief for CoolThink@JC InnoCommunity, a neighborhood supported by over 50 frontline and devoted lecturers, serving over 100 major colleges.
EdSurge: How would you describe the CoolThink curriculum adoption in your faculty?
Lam: Marymount, an all-girls faculty, was one of many first major colleges in Hong Kong to implement the CoolThink curriculum. Professors and lecturers from MIT and the Training College of Hong Kong (EDUHK) supplied 78 hours of coaching to the primary batch of lecturers to discover and study the CoolThink curriculum. EDUHK held common workshops to replace lecturers on any developments and modifications in this system.
The CoolThink curriculum presents a brand new aspect to the general packages of our college and supplies new alternatives for women to develop into digital creators and makers by studying to code. CoolThink is a milestone in STEM schooling in Hong Kong, offering a complete and confirmed framework for computational pondering and coding schooling. CoolThink’s mission of getting ready college students’ computational pondering abilities—important pondering, problem-solving and empowerment—are important for digital competence in at present’s AI-powered world the place the flexibility to suppose critically and decide truth from fiction is extraordinarily vital. AI or ChatGPT received’t substitute you any time quickly, however somebody utilizing AI will.
As soon as we had been accustomed to the CoolThink curriculum construction, we custom-made some elements, such because the themes and problem ranges, to go well with our college students’ studying wants and pursuits. As an example, we created a unit known as Mascot Random Generator, wherein college students create an app that may randomly generate one of many six Faculty Worth Mascots, or they’ll customise the app to randomly generate something, like pop stars or favourite meals. One other instance is the collaboration of know-how and arithmetic panels to information the scholars to create arithmetic packages to resolve specific issues like discovering the best frequent issue.
Finally, I began to coach the trainers and supply assist for others to study the CoolThink curriculum. We collaborated with Hong Kong’s Training Bureau and held instructor workshops to share our experiences. We additionally hosted pupil workshops in different colleges that had not but joined the CoolThink mission to supply studying alternatives for college students and show to the lecturers how CoolThink classes work. We collaborated with MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node to supply skilled improvement for lecturers in blended studying mode. It’s essential to have extra coach mentors in order that the teacher-learning neighborhood will continue to grow and make sure the steady improvement of computational pondering and coding schooling.
How do lecturers and college students profit from a problem-centered coding curriculum?
This curriculum has modified my educating mindset. The CoolThink pedagogy emphasizes To Play, To Suppose, To Code, To Mirror. We encourage college students to discover the apps that they are going to finally create. We information them to watch, take into consideration important options and problem-solve earlier than they begin to code. The CoolThink curriculum is motivating and interactive, inspiring college students to create, experiment and debug with much less course from lecturers.
Such a mindset change can finally produce a extra progressive studying and educating method throughout different areas. I now duplicate the identical framework in my arithmetic classes. As a substitute of merely drilling arithmetic issues, I invite college students to share what mathematical ideas they’ve utilized by way of video games they create.
CoolThink supplies equal entry and studying alternative for college students no matter their backgrounds, particularly these from low-income and ethnic minority teams. For instance, one among our college students didn’t excel within the conventional curriculum regardless of being very artistic and logical. However after we launched the CoolThink curriculum in our college, she did loads of analysis on-line to study and create totally different apps. She joined coding competitions and received a number of prizes. Studying to code additionally motivated her studying in arithmetic and artwork. Now she plans to attend a college and be a scientist.
How does CoolThink assist tackle the digital divide and put together college students for the longer term?
Within the kick-start part, CoolThink supplies support to varsities by hiring extra instructor assistants and buying digital units, which permits college students from totally different social courses to have equal entry to {hardware} and studying sources. A CoolThink YouTube channel with greater than 100 educating movies is on the market for Cantonese-speaking college students. CoolThink supplies equal entry to info and sources for college students so that every one college students can develop into programmers.
CoolThink prepares college students for a lot of pathways by serving to them purchase primary computational pondering ideas and constructing a basis in programming languages early. This helps college students develop into extra enough self-learners in coding and broaden their profession decisions in STEM-related fields. CT practices like testing and debugging and being incremental and iterative additionally develop their perseverant spirit in problem-solving. CoolThink prepares college students for entrepreneurship by empowering them with confidence and creativity, remodeling college students from digital customers to digital creators.