Note: everything north of title is from reflection 1, and everything south is from reflection 2.
References
Reflection 1
Computational Literacy and "The Big Picture" Concerning Computers in Mathematics Education. (2019). YouTube. https://youtu.be/3pnc_ry5Y1c.
Gadanidis, G. (2018). Reforming Secondary School Mathematics Education. White Paper.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33–35. https://doi.org/10.1145/1118178.1118215
Reflection 2
Grover, S., & Pea, R. (2018). Computational thinking: A competency whose time has come. Computer Science Education: Perspectives on Teaching and Learning, (December), 19–38. Retrieved from http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/33300
Sneider, C., Stephenson, C., Schafer, B., & Flick, L. (2014). Computational thinking in high school science classrooms. The Science Teacher, 81(5), 53–60. https://doi.org/10.2505/4/tst14_081_05_53
Burke, Q., O’Byrne, W. I., & Kafai, Y. B. (2016). Computational participation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(4), 371–375. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.496
Searle, K. A., & Kafai, Y. B. (2015). Culturally responsive making with American Indian girls. Proceedings of the Third Conference on GenderIT - GenderIT ’15, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1145/2807565.2807707
Eisenberg, M., Eisenberg, A., Blauvelt, G., Hendrix, S., Buechley, L., & Elumeze, N. Mathematical Crafts for Children: Beyond Scissors and Glue. http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/~ctg/pubs/artmath05.pdf .
Beatty, R. (2014). Exploring the Power of Growing Patterns. WHAT WORKS? Research into Practice. : www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/WhatWorks.html.
Culturally Responsive/Relevant Pedagogy and Instruction in the Cs Classroom. (2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE3J8_9rSdw&feature=youtu.be.
A Mindmap-Reflection
Justin Mawle
Technology In Education
Programs and Tools
Arduino
Includes many motors, sensors, displays, and controls
Gives students experience with circuits, programming and robotics.
Tinkercad has a simulator to test code
Micro:bit
Here is a micro:bit program that I made:
https://makecode.microbit.org/_W2sFvh0dwczL
Use a and b to change the values, hit a+b to set the values, and shake to move into explore mode, where tilting moves along the data. Note you must set at least 5 values before moving into explore mode.
Difficult to find consistent documentation
Website includes a simulator to test code
Gives students experience with and control over relevant technologies:
Accelerometer
Light sensor
Buttons
LED display
Radio signals
Compass
Gives students experience in circuits and programming
Python
Fully legitimate and capable programming language
Jupyter notebooks are useful for implementing interactivity into python code (worksheet style)
Packages for any task:
Numpy - vector and matrix manipulation
Matplotlib - various plotting and graphingv functionality
Turtle - see below
Pygame - Build video games
Etc...
Makey Makey
Some Activities to try:
Interactive posters
Draw your own musical instruments
Build your own controllers
Opportunities to use this software to learn many computer and electronics related concepts (Computer Literacy)
Students learn how grounding circuits works
Turtle Geometry
Gives students immediate feedback so that they can correct their understanding of coordinates and geometry
Artistic outlet and motivation for math
Great as an artistic outlet for math learning. Use algorithms to design shapes and spirals
Scratch
Here is a very simple drawing program I came up with that features some of the main tools of scratch
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/432482965/editor/
Use arrow keys and WASD to draw
Use loops and build your own functions to train computational thinking/programming skills
Include voice recordings into programs for oral assessments in any subject
Other fun functions for aesthetics:
Colour change
"Say" text
Modeling Functions:
set x=200
repeat 400
y=axx
if y in (-180, 180)
go to x, y
stamp
change x by 1
Geometry:
repeat 4
pen down
turn 90
pen up
Boxer
Applied to constant and non-constant acceleration problems
Derivative becomes equivalent to difference between moments
Tick Model:
Discretised time and actions
Motivational and Practical Readings/Videos
Mathematical Crafts for Children:
Beyond Scissors and Glue
Fabrication devices as tools for construction are more affordable these days (laser cutters, CNC machines, etc..)
Go beyond "recipes" when having students design mathematical artifacts.
Hyper Gami - tool for exploring 3D shapes
Popup Workshop - tool for virtual popup construction
Exploring the Power of Growing patterns
Teachers should "make explicit the connection between the position number and the number of tiles" and design inquiring/problem solving questions
"Research has demonstrated that even very young students can develop an understanding of functions"
Difficult for students to see beyond the simplicity of adding to get from entry 'n' to entry 'n+1'
Discuss ways to tie growing patterns to a function of the entry number using computation or assistive programs
Culturally Responsive Making
Studies showed that this boosted female-indigenous interest in programming because it was less tedious
Used LilyPad Arduinoto make interactive "E-textiles", like smart clothes
Using the skills of Indigenous girls to educate and inspire them to get involved in programming.
Culturally Responsive/Relevant Pedagogy and Instruction in the Classroom
Whiteness
Nuanced, leveraging my privilege
Anti-biased education
Discuss differences between people explicitly
Promotes humanity, self-awareness, and ally-ship
Social Justice in the Classroom
Use relevant topics to the locality of the class.
No reenactments/debates that could lead to questioning peoples humanity
Culturally responsive pedagogy addresses cultural ways of learning and progressing
Is a subset of differentiated instruction tailored to be culturally responsive
Culturally relevant pedagogy addresses the cultures of people in the classroom as well as voices of those who are not represented in the classroom
Computational Participation
Discusses a shift of focus from computational thinking to computational participation
Since programming is such an integral part of our society, we can train computational thinking by going straight to the top - by teaching students to program.
Discuss examples of training for computational thinking without the use of computers
Concept of literacy should be extended to include programming
Components of Arduino Uno/
Programming a Simple Application with Arduino Simulator/
Controlling an LED with a Button on the Arduino Simulator
Example of simple Arduino code
Explanation of Tinkercad
Breadboard components
USB, Power Socket, Pins, LEDs, Microcontroller, etc...
Computational Thinking in High School Science Classrooms
Highlights the importance of data mining, data collection, and data analysis
Highlights the applicability of simulations in education
Starlogo
TNG simulation software (biology)
A goal for CT is to think of how computation can assist with a particular problem
Mathematical/computational thinking is developed when you approach a problem with math/computational techniques in mind
Comparison between mathematical and computational thinking, and examples of how they are both used in all subjects
Computational Thinking - A Competency Whose Time Has Come
Includes examples of the use of CT in other subjects
Programming is not the only way to foster CT - includes examples of practicing concepts of CT with non-programming activities
Lists "Concepts and Practices" of CT
Logic & logical thinking
Algorithms & algorithmic thinking
Patterns & pattern recognition
Abstraction & generalization
Automation
Problem decomposition
Creating computational artifacts
Testing & debugging
Iterative refinement
Collaboration & creativity
Discusses the relevance of AI, and computation in general, in this day and age.
Integrated Mathematics and Computer Studies
Visual representation of data as often as needed
Incorporates project-based learning
Helps reference the community of mathematicians
Bringing math concepts to life
Power of computational modelling
Computational Literacy and The Big Picture
4 R's to focus on for "literacy-relevant agenda:
Re-mediation - new possibilities
Reformulation - formulate with tech
Reorganizing - intellectual terrain in education
Revitalizing - better learning activities
MMVSSs:
Memes
Movements
Values
Sensibilities
Sensitivities
Toy model of social change, elements of society that are influenced by computational literacy and similar social changes
Using computers to facilitate learning of concepts, mathematical and otherwise
Computational Thinking, Wing
Thinking at multiple levels of abstraction
"...involves solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science."
Skill not just for computer scientists, can be implemented in many if not all subjects.
What is computable?
Human Capabilities vs. Computer Capabilities
