#tcdsb21

[rayferaday]

Part 2: Coding to Learn and Autism

I've been experimenting with the concept of Coding to Learn with some of my students on the Autism Spectrum. Just for added interest we've been using a Raspberry Pi mini-computer hooked up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse from a defunct computer in my room, but we've also used a conventional PC, as well as my iPad for some of the activities. We started with the tutorials from the "Hour of Code" (http://csedweek.org/learn) and on printed Scratch Cards available from MIT (http://info.scratch.mit.edu/Support/Scratch_Cards). To increase the level of engagement, I tried making simple games with them, first using text tutorials and then video tutorials on YouTube.

We were able to build the classic "Pong" game!

We are in the process of building our own game console for Pong using a Makey Makey, but more about that in a later post. We've also tried some "unplugged" activities (http://csunplugged.org/activities), with my colleague, art teacher Patrizia Coiro.

The level of engagement has been better than I'd hoped for. One student, who is prone to bouts of vocalizing and jumping was able to sit for sessions of over an hour, productively engaged and without any outbursts. This is all the more exciting given that he usually tries to get on to sites that fuel his outbursts when he is allowed on a computer. I hope to be able to continue with these activities at summer school this year. I also have some interest from my colleagues at York University, Melanie Baljko, Foad Hamidi, and Toni Kunic, in helping me develop curriculum ideas and testing them out. Foad will come with me to the Scratch Conference at MIT in August. Melanie, Foad and Toni are participants with me on the TalkBox project (see http://rayferaday.tumblr.com/post/88262173589/projects-1-talkbox-aac-device-2-teaching-coding-with and also http://talkbox.apps01.yorku.ca)

[rayferaday]

Coding to Learn

The movement to teach kids coding may have been born of nostalgia for the wide open days of hacking in the 70s and 80s, or of a business agenda and fear of technological obsolescence in the 21st century, but there are also solid pedagogical reasons for it. The TCDSB 21st Century Learning & AICT group has identified 6 Competencies for 21st Century Learning: Communication, Collaboration, Self-Regulation, Knowledge Construction, Creative Problem Solving & Innovation, and Use of ICT for Learning. These skills are familiar to me as a Spec. Ed. Teacher teaching students with special needs, including students on the Autism Spectrum, many of whom are non-verbal. These are the skills that Psychologists, Speech and Language Pathologists, and other professionals typically identify as the key foci for academic programming for these students. In his TED Talk, Mitch Resnick from MIT, one of the developers of the Scratch modular programming language, has identified similar skills that children learn from coding. They learn in a meaningful context and come to realize learning is a process and not a product. They learn to break complex ideas or problems into simpler parts, to collaborate, to keep persistent and persevere in the face of difficulty. Becoming fluent with technologies allows them to open up and express themselves, to be creative and to interact with the world around them. Resnick and the MIT team's goal is not so much to have the kids learn to code as it is to USE CODING TO LEARN. Learning to code is seen as an essential 21st century literacy around the world. See: "Year of Code" in Britain, "Hour of Code" in the United States, and others. The Scratch programming language, as well as similar block programming platforms, take away the tedious concerns about programming syntax and allow the student to focus on using the computer to express themselves. New iterations of Scratch (Scratch Jr.) get away from using text altogether and just use the block symbols to communicate with the computer. I can't help drawing comparisons to the communication symbols that many non-verbal students use to augment their communication.