Edmonton Primary School (TLIF 5-084) - A collaborative inquiry into the dimensions of effective practice in implementing the Digital Technologies Curriculum Publications
Publication Details
Project Reference: Edmonton Primary School (TLIF 5-084) - The launch of Digital Technologies in the National Curriculum was a challenge for teachers in a school that was lacking in digital resources and where teachers felt lacking in expertise and confidence around new technologies. The school’s TLIF project was part of a whole school effort to address these issues.
Author(s): (Inquiry Team) led by Antony Alexander
Date Published: August 2021
Overview
Three teachers of students in years 5–6 engaged in professional learning in the design and implementation of integrated learning units where students used Scratch to solve problems and design solutions. A group of target students had additional opportunities to become experts in this technology. A key part of the project was the use of the Creative Computer Curriculum developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education to introduce students to computing in ways that foster creativity and agency.
What would a good citizen be like? Of course not a robber pulling heists or trying to shrink the moon, right? A good citizen would be compassionate, kind, and donate to charity. So think about it digitally. Just because you're not face-to-face with a person, doesn't mean you can't hurt them emotionally or cyber abuse them. In a chat room such as Google Hangouts, you can't say something negative about them, you have to be compassionate, like you would to them in person.
It relates to class treaty as well, it's like you're a citizen of the class. Of course, it's sort of like the law, so even though you don't like someone, you still gotta be kind to them.
So it is like you are a citizen of the digital world.
This is crucial in everyday life, because if you are not kind when you're still young, no one will treat you nice later on in life.
Student blog
The project was successful in improving teacher capability and confidence and giving them the skills needed to design and implement learning opportunities that engaged students’ interest and had them collaborating to solve problems and be creative with digital technology. There were shifts in classroom cultures as students learned to collaborate, to develop ideas and knowledge together, and to be responsible digital citizens.
Considerable progress was made through the school’s deliberate approach to accessing both learning resources and the scaffolding that teachers needed to lead learning for their students and to be leaders of learning for their colleagues.
The inquiry story
This project was connected to the school’s strategic plan and led by a team that included senior management. It involves three teachers of students in years 5 and 6. Initially, there were 17 target students. This dropped to 15 in the second year, when two left the school.
What was the focus?
Digital Technologies in the National Curriculum (2017) sets out two new technological areas: (1) Computational thinking for digital technologies (CT) and (2) Designing and developing digital outcomes (DDDO). Its goal is to ensure that all learners can become digitally capable individuals and can use digital technologies to support their learning across the curriculum and in their lives beyond the school.
Teachers at Edmonton School felt ill-prepared to support students in this endeavour. The school had insufficient digital resources and the teachers did not consider themselves to be digitally capable. Students were consumers of digital technology rather than creators, with their use of such technologies mostly confined to writing. Many students had only limited access to digital technologies outside of school.
This project was intended to address these issues while promoting the key competencies required for a group of target students to grow their leadership, problem solving, and communication skills, their ability to collaborate, and their confidence. In the first instance, three classes would be given access to digital technologies and their teachers would be trained in their use. The intention was that these teachers would learn how to use digital technologies to create accessible, relevant, and high-quality learning opportunities that improve student engagement and achievement. They would share their learning with their colleagues who would also participate in some of the related professional learning activities.
The project team devised the following innovation statement:
We would like to know if the class of students who have improved access to digital devices and opportunities to become digitally capable will have an impact on increased student engagement and achievement across all learning areas, including inquiry learning for these Y4/5/6 learners.
What did the teachers try?
At the project’s commencement, the teachers gathered baseline data using a variety of means. This process included using Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko, the National Digital Readiness Programme Survey to understand teacher confidence in the use of digital tools. Sessions were conducted with the project’s target students to elicit their understandings about the role digital technology plays in our lives. Ongoing data collection included teacher and student formative reflective blogs.
The TLIF project was introduced to all staff at a workshop where they were also introduced to the new Digital Technology Curriculum. Further whole staff workshops were held throughout 2019 and 2020. One of these involved using Mindlab’s digital passport modules to broaden teachers’ knowledge of CT and DDDO. The TILF team visited two other digitally orientated schools and learned about the importance of ongoing support for teaching with the new curriculum, teacher collaboration, and being strategic about resourcing.
The team adopted the Creative Computer Curriculum developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education to introduce all their students to Scratch and teach them how computing can foster creativity and agency. The project teachers and their target students had release time to work in small groups with their students and engage in collaborative learning and planning.
The project teachers used what they had learned to design a unit of work in which students used Scratch to construct digital pepeha. This unit involved students learning what a pepeha is and what they should include in their own. The students were challenged to use sprites, costumes, backdrops, looks, and sounds to create an interactive pepeha that would tell others who they are.
The teacher who had most of the target students proceeded with this project in Term 4, 2019. The other two teachers chose to use the Creative Computer Curriculum model to develop new units for implementation in 2020. In one class, the students applied their learning about XY coordinates in mathematics through playing a battleships game designed in Scratch. This led the students to remix a project, imagining they were pirates hunting for treasure and creating a code to guide their character to the treasure marked on the map. Another project completed by this class focused on learning about binary numbers through the context of creative art. The other teacher found herself with a Year 5 class that had not been introduced to Scratch in 2019. She used the Creative Curriculum to help the students build a platform of skills and knowledge. She then designed an integrated lesson that involved students guiding a robot, using coordinates and the language of direction. The students also used Scratch to present their findings from their personal inquiry projects.
At the beginning of 2020, the teachers supported all years 5–6 students to use a rubric to unpack and track their progress in relation to the key competencies. The intention was for the students to select a key competency fortnightly and self-assess their progress. Students collaboratively developed success criteria, such as “My project images and audio synchronise to communicate my pepeha clearly to others.” Unfortunately, this process was interrupted by the Covid lockdowns.
Throughout the project, there were additional foci on the concept of a ‘digital citizen’ and on safety. Other actions included:
- looking at password security and how to make strong passwords
- sourcing resources to incorporate into class treaties for Term One 2021
- exploring how to be supportive and constructive when commenting in their blogs.
Owing to a shortened year, the team was unable to arrange Netsafe and whānau meetings regarding safety and digital citizenship.
What happened as a result of this innovation?
The project saw a significant increase in teacher’s confidence and expertise in the classroom use of digital technology. The learning had been shared from teachers within the project to their colleagues. The teachers in the project had succeeded in designing and implementing integrated units of learning that challenged students to solve complex problems and find desired solutions.
Both the target students and their classroom peers had taken significant learning steps in their understandings about the possibilities of digital technologies and their knowledge and expertise in computational thinking. As they designed and remixed their projects, the students became more digitally fluent and developed a maker mindset. They have moved from being consumers of technology to creators with technology.
The opportunity to create a digital pepeha spanned multiple disciplines, from language learning to the social sciences and the arts. Because it enables a mixed media mode of expression, Scratch provided some students who had felt whakama about their artistic skills to use the arts to express themselves.
The project teachers witnessed a significant change in their classroom culture. While the students worked independently on their coding, they worked alongside each other and frequently moved around the classroom to share what they had created, give each other feedback, and seek help. Students began to form natural groups as they discovered new ways to create and manipulate code to achieve their desired outcomes. Some of the target students became the ‘go to’ people for help with problem solving. These student interactions meant teaching and learning was happening across the classroom.
An interesting discussion arose when some students initially felt upset that others were taking their ideas. This led to discussion about the concepts of ‘plagiarism’ and ‘open-source communities’ and about knowledge-building platforms, such as Wikipedia. Students came to embrace the idea of their classrooms being open-source communities where they could share and critique their ideas and strategies.
Teachers’ reflective blogs showed that they became more confident and knowledgeable of contemporary education practices and learnt how to integrate relevant technologies and techniques into their classrooms. Students’ reflective blogs revealed how well they embraced a more student-centred and collaborative approach to learning. They enjoyed using Scratch; indeed, one teacher found that just over half their students worked on Scratch at home for fun.
While the Covid-19 lockdown meant the project plan could not unfold as initially intended, it accelerated the need for change, as the teachers started using Google Classroom and digital methods of communicating with students.
What did they learn?
The teachers and students in this project significantly benefited from strategic and focused collaboration and support as they experimented with integrated units incorporating computational thinking and digital design. The Scratch coding platform proved successful in enabling students to be creative and follow their own ideas, while also fostering collaboration and the further development of classroom communities of learning. Digital capability meant more than growing technological skills and knowledge – it also meant growing the competencies of a good digital citizen.
Inquiry team
This project was led by Antony Alexander. He was joined on the inquiry team by Landis Cunningham, Daren Lowndes, Ann-Marie Noble and Margaret Samson.
Michael Stodart (Support IT) was the project’s critical friend and his colleague James Robson, Digital Technology Facilitator, was its external expert.
For further information
If you would like to learn more about this project, please contact the project leader, Antony Alexander, at Antony.alexander@edmonton.school.nz
Reference list
Balch, C., Gung, M., Brennan, K., et al. (2020). Creative Computing Curriculum. Harvard Graduate School of Education https://creativecomputing.gse.harvard.edu/guide/curriculum.html
Kia Takatū ā-Matihiko/Self Review Tool, The National Digital Readiness Programme: https://kiatakatu.ac.nz/en/programme-components/
Much, K., & Collins, S. (2012). Partners in learning: Schools’ engagement with parents, families, and communities in New Zealand. School Community Journal, 22(1), pp.167–187.
Papert, S., & Harel, I. (eds). (1991). Constructionism: research reports and essays 1985–1990 Norwood, N.J: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Resnick, M., & Rusk, N. (2020). Coding at a crossroads, Communications of the ACM 63(11), pp. 120–127.
Stager, G. (2014). Seymour Papert – inventor of everything: Gary Stager at TEDxASB,TEDx Talks. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-dFTmdX1kU
Starkey, L., Eppel, E., Sylvester, A., Daoud, R., & Vo, T. (2018). Equitable digital access to the Internet beyond school: A literature review. Report commissioned by the Ministry of Education │ Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga. Victoria University of Wellington: School of Education.
TKI. Enabling e-learning: http://elearning.tki.org.nz
The Digital Technologies in the National Curriculum (2017) http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Curriculum-areas/Digital-Technologies-in-the-curriculum
Thornburg, D. (2014). From the campfire to the holodeck: Creating engaging and powerful 21st Century learning environments. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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