Computational Participation

Through my experiences as an educator, I have observed computational thinking experiences at the primary level through creating patterns; spotting and using similarities, through the ADST curriculum creating vehicles from recyclable materials, making “Ginger Breadmen Traps” “Leprechaun Traps” using blocks and loose parts in the classroom, and interactive coding games. The lessons were all done with partners or as small group activities and required collaboration and creative and critical thinking skills. The students love these lessons as they are fun and interactive while learning is occurring. From reading Kafai’s article, coding is encouraged to be a collaborative experience “any kids use code outside of school to create and share. Youth-generated websites have appeared to make and share programmable media online” (Kafai, 2016) and create computational participation.

Are their resources for teachers to develop computation participate lessons that include coding?

Are there online coding sites where students can share coding information and collaborate with other students that follow the FOIPPA rules and regulations?

Reference

Kafai, Yasman B. “From Computational Thinking to Computational Participation in K–12 Education .” Shibboleth Authentication Request, Aug. 2016, https://web-p-ebscohost-com.proxy.queensu.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=9d838e27-d6ea-4d42-ba7f-2ffdf9c61e39@redis.