Day 8. Computational thinking

                         Day 8: Computational thinking

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

"A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems. A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution." MoE (2018).

I think the biggest thing for me, was understanding how important the role of the teacher is in integrating and instilling the knowledge that students will need to become technologically capable and digitally fluent. We as educators need to make sure that we are constantly moving with the times, educating ourselves and providing students with what they will need for their ever changing future.

We keep hearing again and again that the jobs students are preparing for now may not even exist. As a kid, growing up in the 90's I grew up with the technology boom. We were on the cusp of huge computers with green screens. We saw the first gameboys, playstations and the internet kind of evolve into what it is today. I know that I did not have much of an education around technology - until my intermediate and high school years, but I know that the education I did have around it made me think outside the box. I was able to be creative, able to design and have access to so many resources and devices I previously had not had. It is through Manaiakalani and through these amazing models that we seek empowerment, that we provide an opening for students to have true, authentic learning and to see themselves within their learning.

Computational Thinking:

Input

Output

Sequence

Iteration 

Selection

Variables 

Unplugged activities 

Algorithms

Understanding human behaviour

Understanding Binary

Robotics

Sphero

Arduino Lego Makey Makey

Scratch Coding

App Development: code.org

It is really exciting to see what we have at our finger tips now, in terms of coding and having more of an open platform where students aren't just using apps to game, but are creating games themselves.

"It's important that students have opportunities to be innovative designers and creators of digital solutions – moving beyond solely being users and consumers of digital technologies." TKI Design and Developing digital outcomes: Digital learning objects Google slides Google Drawings Animation: Stopframe 
3D modelling environments: Google SketchUp, Tinkercad

Movie making: imovie, Movie Maker

Game Design

Designing systems

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  

Mainly the importance of explicit teaching and how beneficial it will be moving forward, especially in terms of my students getting used to coding and exploring that realm. I have been creating and exploring with my students to get a handle on the basics so it will be awesome to see what they can create, after having the knowledge and confidence moving forward. In terms of filming themselves and making videos they love to get in front of a camera and film themselves but it will be really awesome to see them film something that actually shows a handle on story telling, that an audience would be interested in seeing. What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

I had done it before, but again re-iterating and exploring coding again through Minecraft was pretty cute and fun. I love the gaming dynamics that come into coding and solving little puzzles. It gave me a little bit of confidence as coding is my weakness, but I'm slowly getting there.