I have been observing my students mathematical processing as they explore coding using “Scratch Jr.” and “ Kodable”. Each of these programs has provided another opportunity for the children to develop skills in all seven areas of the mathematical processes.
Problem Solving
Kodable requires the students to use problem solving strategies to direct the fuzzy character's movements using arrows and coloured squares. The movements become increasingly more complicated as they move into new levels.
The various levels allowed my students to work at their own stages of understanding and to support each other to move to higher levels. In Scratch Jr. the students used problem solving skills as they programmed the game characters to make specific movements.
The various levels allowed my students to work at their own stages of understanding and to support each other to move to higher levels. In Scratch Jr. the students used problem solving skills as they programmed the game characters to make specific movements.
Clip: Kodable – Using arrows to direct the characters http://tinyurl.com/nz2cpsq
Reasoning and Proving
Scratch Jr. allowed my kindergarten students to build programming pieces like a puzzle. The reasoning process is ongoing as the students explore the various possibilities of the pieces. They can change or keep the pieces together or apart based on how their character moves and if they are happy with the movement. The program is built to allow the students at this age to make their own decisions.
Scratch Jr. allowed my kindergarten students to build programming pieces like a puzzle. The reasoning process is ongoing as the students explore the various possibilities of the pieces. They can change or keep the pieces together or apart based on how their character moves and if they are happy with the movement. The program is built to allow the students at this age to make their own decisions.
Reflecting
This is an area that requires lots of practice and experience to allow the students to build the language to explain their reflections. While working in Scratch Jr. one of my students was
able to explain how she created a character for her game. She was extremely excited because
this character would be used in her game and was her own creation. Through guided
questioning she was able to explain how she created this character. As we continue to work on statements such as, “what do you think will happen?” and “Is there another way?”, she will continue to develop the language and experience to reflect on how things work together
and affect each other.
Clips: Creating characters for games http://tinyurl.com/nfz4hk5
able to explain how she created a character for her game. She was extremely excited because
this character would be used in her game and was her own creation. Through guided
questioning she was able to explain how she created this character. As we continue to work on statements such as, “what do you think will happen?” and “Is there another way?”, she will continue to develop the language and experience to reflect on how things work together
and affect each other.
Clips: Creating characters for games http://tinyurl.com/nfz4hk5
Selecting Tools
Using concrete and visual coding tools my students are able to plan and adapt instructions to move characters. As they share their strategies peers become engaged in trying new tools to build mathematical understanding around direction, movement, spatial awareness and numeration.
Connecting Using concrete and visual coding tools my students are able to plan and adapt instructions to move characters. As they share their strategies peers become engaged in trying new tools to build mathematical understanding around direction, movement, spatial awareness and numeration.
The students did not all come in to class understanding directions and how we symbolize movement. This required some real life experiences such as using arrows and mapping strategies to move in particular directions. The more real world experience they had with using directional guides or symbols the better they understood the visual codes in the coding
programs.
Representing
Both Scratch Jr. and Kodable are designed to use simple mathematical representations and connect them to ideas, such as jumping, turning, etc. They also allow for the flexibility of thinking as the child or children develop harder or more complex models.
programs.
Representing
Both Scratch Jr. and Kodable are designed to use simple mathematical representations and connect them to ideas, such as jumping, turning, etc. They also allow for the flexibility of thinking as the child or children develop harder or more complex models.
Communicating
Communication was a natural process when the children were using coding programs as they started to teach each other what they had learned. Some students naturally gravitated to those they thought could help them when they were at a point of struggle. Some did give up and then returned to trying again at another time. Most asked a peer or an educator for support. They continue to work on developing the language to communicate their representations. Those with the language were more at ease to explain their learning. Questioning was also a component of the communication. Whether it is questions from students to peers or from educator to students, both allowed the language to be heard in context to the coding development.
Communication was a natural process when the children were using coding programs as they started to teach each other what they had learned. Some students naturally gravitated to those they thought could help them when they were at a point of struggle. Some did give up and then returned to trying again at another time. Most asked a peer or an educator for support. They continue to work on developing the language to communicate their representations. Those with the language were more at ease to explain their learning. Questioning was also a component of the communication. Whether it is questions from students to peers or from educator to students, both allowed the language to be heard in context to the coding development.
The amazing outcome has been observing how four and five year olds can collaborate and support peer learning and thinking. They can develop mathematical reasoning skills in a context that is of interest to them and at their developmental stage of learning.
So exciting to have your students immersed in coding and relating many concepts and skills through the designing computational language.
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