What has England learned (Part 2)? Last week I started a summary of a talk Miles Berry gave in Madrid last October. This week I will cover what he said England has learnt from teaching coding to kids over the last three years in terms of what teachers need and what kids have been learning. Miles Berry made an interesting observation about the development of computational thinking skills and the relationship to coding skills. A research experiment was conducted whereby a group of students was split in half and one half did extra coding classes after school. At the end of the year both groups computational thinking skills were evaluated. There was NOT a significant increase in computational thinking skills by those students who did extra coding. What this showed is that whilst coding is probably the best way to build computational thinking skills if those skills are not being explicitly taught then they wont magically appear. This also reinforced the fact that it is possible to develop computational thinking skills without using computers.  This points to the absolute importance of properly training teachers in not only how to program with something like Scratch but also what are the facets of the skill of computational thinking and how might they be taught. Miles suggested that "Outstanding teaching of computing" = Pedagogy + ICT Skills + Computer Science Knowledge. The English experience was that although teachers ICT skills were OK their CS Knowledge was very low which is likely a situation mirrored all over the world. Thus a lot of support was required and England has started to deliver that through the Computing at School organisation, the use of master teachers and the provision of dedicated professional development. Australia has provided some similar resources such as the free Digital Technologies courses through Adelaide Uni. There are many other resources that schools can avail themselves of which are very cost effective or free (and that interestingly England has in many cases created!). For example: The Computing at School resources are free for all The BBC created the MicroBit was gave them to all years 7 students for free in 2016 (they remain cheap to purchase) The Raspberry Pi is an incredibly powerful, cheap and widely used micro computer.  Whilst England has made great progress a report in November 2017 found that they still had a long way to go to ensure all teachers have the skills and confidence to deliver the computing curriculum. We are three years behind them so it is even more imperative that Australian schools get planning and training now. So in summary, there were three standout messages from England's experience. Schools have to plan to deliver these new subjects, they must provide comprehensive teacher training not just in coding but also in computation thinking and lastly teachers must be given the resources they need to deliver the subject adequately. How is your school going?

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Stuff in the News Promoting STEM isn't a fad - it's a necessity - The promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education is more than a fad: it is a much-needed movement to encourage a well-rounded education that is essential to Australian students.An article from the Brisbane Times 22 March 2018. Eight ways to introduce kids to STEM at an early age - New report finds that even preschoolers are capable of understanding basic science and math concepts. An article from The Hechinger Report 5 March 2018. Realising the promise of STEM education - The lack of students studying the so-called STEM subjects  is a perennial issue in Western countries – and Australia in particular. An article from EducationHQ Australia 25 September 2017.

Stuff to buy These 8 Toys Can Make Your Kids Smarter - Well maybe but they are cool regardless! *At this point in time I earn no money from any product I list and I am not affiliated with any other company.

Stuff in education How Do Teachers Integrate STEM into K-12 Classrooms? - New teaching standards call for weaving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) into classrooms better. What makes this integration effective? An article from Michigan Tech 27 February 2018 Science experts 'walk the talk' to improve primary STEM learning - The involvement of “community science experts” in primary school classrooms can transform students’ views about and understanding of science, a leading STEM researcher says. An article from EducationHQ Australia 6 November 2017.

Stuff to do Australia Wide 2018 Australian STEM Video Game Challenge - The Australian STEM Video Game Challenge is completely free to enter. This year’s competition will run from Tuesday 20 Feb – Friday 3 August 2018 CSIRO CREST Program - CREativity in Science and Technology. Engage your students with open-ended science investigations and technology projects through the CREST program. - - - Fizzics Education - Mobile workshops & shows by dedicated science educators NSW, VIC & QLD & ACT Bricks 4 Kidz® | Awesome Fun With LEGO® Bricks  Young Engineers Australia - Provides an engaging, hands-on learning platform using LEGO® and K’nex® assembly kits CoderDojo - A volunteer run programming club Code Club Australia - A global network of coding clubs for kids aged 9 to 11.

Stuff to do in Brisbane RoboGals Brisbane Robotics Days - Robogals has various workshops programmed throughout the year. QLD Premier's Coding Competition - Students need to create a digital solution that meets the theme of ‘stand up to cyberbullies’ using Anti-Bully Girl - one of the Cyber Heroes. Closes 19 June 2018 - - - Street Science - Street Science provides captivating and curriculum aligned school Incursions and community entertainment, to excite and engage Australia's youth! STEM in a Box has ongoing coding, robotics and 3D printing activities Brisbane Library Service has purchased the very flash NAO Robot and is showing it off in various libraries. The Cube at QUT has a number of changing programs.  Brisbane Planetarium - Features entertaining and informative shows for adults and children STEMPUNKS STEM classes for kids in Brisbane STEAMPUNX - Not to be confused with the organisation above! Offers in-school and out of school workshop programs Flying Fox Studios - A studio offering programs in the arts, music and construction areas from babies to teenagers in Brisbane Building Block Studio | Learning Activity Centre in Brisbane For Budding Coders And Engineers Fun Chess Classes For Kids in Brisbane | Chess Mates Red Cat Science | Kids get to do what they can't at school It's Rocket Science School Incursions - Educational and fully interactive project based rocket science incursions for primary and secondary schools in a safe and empowering learning environment.

What are other schools doing? You might be happy with what your school is doing with STEM or you might not. However I think the best way to form an opinion is to know what other schools are doing around Australia and then you can yardstick your school against them. So I will now do a short tour around Australia to showcase what some schools are getting their kids into. Gordon East Public School in NSW runs a robotics program as part of the curriculum. All students from 2-6 get one hour per week in a dedicated "Lego Robotics Room". The school has an excellent array of resources and steps the children through the Lego Wedo platform in years 3 and 4 before moving to the more advanced NXT robots in years 5 and 6. Rostrata Primary School in WA is fortunate to have on staff a Science Specialist Support Teacher who was a top ten finalist in the Global Teacher Prize awards in 2016. Rick Johnson's students get to work in the school's (and Australia's first) science laboratory designed specifically for young children.They work with augmented reality, 3D printing and robotics. Holy Family Primary School in the ACT has collaborated with the two local universities to develop key learning experiences which become the STEM units that the children work through. The outcomes of these are monitored and measured by the universities for the growth in ‘thinking’ generated by the activities.  Woodend Primary School in Victoria has facilitated the training of two maths and science specialists who then mentored other teachers in the school. They provide a rich science program and run regular STEM days and a STEM club. The newest primary school in QLD is near Caloundra and is set to open in 2018 and will have a robotics lab, recording studio, innovation hub and an indoor sports and performance centre. IONA Presentation Primary School in WA has created a Makerspace which is equipped with resources to allow learning in coding and robotics, engineering and electronics. The school also has teams which participate in the Australia wide First Lego League robotics competition. What sets these schools apart is a willingness to embrace the advice of experts and the direction given by government that STEM literacy is vitally important to the children of today. They have come up with not just a vision but a plan of how to realise that vision and they are implementing it. The students then reap the rewards! If your school is not Transforming STEM Teaching then there are extra-curricular activities you can do at a cost.

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Stuff in the news Apple CEO Tim Cook: Learn to code, it’s more important than English as a second language - what I am saying is that this is a language that you can [use to] express yourself to 7 billion people in the world. An article from CNBC 12 October 2017 STEM enrolments show shift in gender equity - It’s gone widely unreported that the new data from the Department of Education and Training’s u-Cube stats shows rare good news in changing perceptions of STEM. An article from EducationHQ 16 October 2017 This is the one skill your child needs for the jobs of the future - The World Economic Forum has just released its Human Capital Report with the subtitle “Preparing People for the Future of Work”. An article from the World Economic Forum website 15 September 2017

Stuff to buy Coding Books for Young Kids - The Tech Age Kids Blog has put together a list of coding related books for younger kids. *At this point in time I earn no money from any product I list and I am not affiliated with any other company.

Stuff in education How to Flatten Your Classroom and Encourage Authentic Writing Through Blogging - Blogging allows connections with others and can provide immediate feedback. It is one way to encurage kids to write. An article from Edsurge 7 December 2016. We must get school leaders to see the value of investing time and money into Professional Development - Keeping up with the latest skills and technology is challenging, and many times, educators simply don’t know what technologies are available to help them in their classrooms. An article from Daily Edventures10 October 2017. Twenty ideas for our schools and politicians in the new machine age - 20 ideas for how our schools, policies and mindsets need to change if Australia is to best prepare for the changes to come.An article from the Brisbane Times 20 October 2017

Stuff to do Australia Wide Code Camp - Three day holiday program is now open for bookings. RoboGals - Register to be the first to book for workshops on 15 and 16 December 2017. 5 Podcasts That Will Change The Way Your Kids See The World (and that you’ll enjoy too) - A list of five podcasts that will entertain your kids and they will learn something along the way! Give a Child the Gift of Science - A great collection of activities you can do at home CSIRO CREST Program - CREativity in Science and Technology. Engage your students with open-ended science investigations and technology projects through the CREST program. - - - Bricks 4 Kidz® | Awesome Fun With LEGO® Bricks  Young Engineers Australia - Provides an engaging, hands-on learning platform using LEGO® and K’nex® assembly kits CoderDojo - A volunteer run programming club Code Club Australia - A global network of coding clubs for kids aged 9 to 11.

Stuff to do in Brisbane Brainiac Live - Join the Brainiacs for an actioned-packed hour of incredible experiments and explosive high energy entertainment. 9-13 January 2018. - - - SLQ Digital Futures - Each year the State Library of Queensland presents a theme of interest to the Queensland community. Throughout 2017, they invite you to join in exploring Digital Futures. STEM in a Box has ongoing coding, robotics and 3D printing activities Brisbane Library Service has purchased the very flash NAO Robot and is showing it off in various libraries. The Cube at QUT has a number of changing programs.  Brisbane Planetarium - Features entertaining and informative shows for adults and children STEMPUNKS STEM classes for kids in Brisbane STEAMPUNX - Not to be confused with the organisation above! Offers in-school and out of school workshop programs Flying Fox Studios - A studio offering programs in the arts, music and construction areas from babies to teenagers in Brisbane Building Block Studio | Learning Activity Centre in Brisbane For Budding Coders And Engineers Fun Chess Classes For Kids in Brisbane | Chess Mates Red Cat Science | Kids get to do what they can't at school It's Rocket Science School Incursions - Educational and fully interactive project based rocket science incursions for primary and secondary schools in a safe and empowering learning environment.

STEM and the Growth Mindset Growth Mindset is a term doing the rounds of education circles. The terms "Fixed Mindset" and "Growth Mindset" were coined by Professor Carol Dweck, a psychologist, when she explored why some students rebounded after failure while others seemed devastated by small setbacks. She formed the view that people have underlying beliefs about their ability to learn and their intelligence. Those with a Growth Mindset believe they can get smarter and they understand that effort makes them stronger. Therefore, they put in extra time and effort and this lead to higher achievement. It is thus that having a Growth Mindset is a valuable trait and one that is to be fostered. It is not desirable to praise a student for being smart for solving a problem but to praise their perseverance and highlight how their effort has produced an excellent outcome. When a student fails encouragement to try again is what is needed. What has STEM got to do with this? STEM can help foster the Growth Mindset. This is particularly true when learning to code. Miles Berry, an influential University lecturer from England, wrote about this in his blog post Debugging and the Growth Mindset. He points out that in music, sports and computer games the difficulty is part of the appeal. Coding is difficult and it rarely works perfectly the first time. Debugging is the process of finding errors in the code using Logical Reasoning and then fixing those errors. It takes time and usually many iterations to get the program running just right. As children persevere through this process and see their success at the end this will shift their mindset towards the growth end of the spectrum. More broadly in STEM, have you ever heard someone say "Its OK maybe your not a math person". This is the antithesis of the Growth Mindset. The following cartoon, I think, illustrates the problem. STEM is viewed as hard and if you don't fit the profile of someone from "The Big Bang Theory" you aren't going to get it. However, this is not true and with support and encouragement many students will be able succeed in the STEM subjects. What is needed is engaging well structured lessons which are challenging (hard but not impossible!) and rooted in the real world.

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Stuff in the news Fostering a Growth Mindset is Key to Teaching STEM - Sure STEM can be hard, but telling kids "not everyone can do it" may make both boys and girls less inclined to try. An article from US News 10 July 2015 Giving STEM meaning - STEM education is about more than playing with robots. An article from EducationHQ Australia 18 September 2017 How Janese Swanson Brought Tech Toys to Girls - An article from the Tynker Blog STEM critical, but not the sole solution - This professor agrees increased STEM skills are critical to the future of the country, but believes we need to ensure every student leaves education with a really solid skills mix. An article from theAustralian Financial Review 11 September 2017

Stuff to buy Littlebits Droid Inventor Kit - Kids can create their own custom Droid and bring it to life it with littleBits electronic blocks. *At this point in time I earn no money from any product I list and I am not affiliated with any other company.

Stuff in education School chosen for Federal STEM program - East Waikiki Primary School, which was selected by the Federal Government to take part in the Early Learning STEM Australia pilot, will see its preschoolers become involved with a series of play-based apps starting next year. An article from the West Australian 12 September 2017 SUBS in Schools program gets expert support - In support of Australia’s naval shipbuilding agenda, ASC Shipbuilding has backed the STEM education SUBS in Schools program, mentoring one South Australian high school team. An article from the Defence Connect website 12 September 2017.

Stuff to do Australia Wide Contemporary practices in STEM education - This will be a live streamed event of interest to teachers and parents. It is part of Monash University's "Engaging STEM Education. Keeping Teachers at the Cutting Edge" series. 9 November 2017 CSIRO CREST Program - CREativity in Science and Technology. Engage your students with open-ended science investigations and technology projects through the CREST program. - - - Bricks 4 Kidz® | Awesome Fun With LEGO® Bricks  Young Engineers Australia - Provides an engaging, hands-on learning platform using LEGO® and K’nex® assembly kits CoderDojo - A volunteer run programming club Code Club Australia - A global network of coding clubs for kids aged 9 to 11.

Stuff to do in Brisbane - - - SLQ Digital Futures - Each year the State Library of Queensland presents a theme of interest to the Queensland community. Throughout 2017, they invite you to join in exploring Digital Futures. STEM in a Box has ongoing coding, robotics and 3D printing activities Brisbane Library Service has purchased the very flash NAO Robot and is showing it off in various libraries. The Cube at QUT has a number of changing programs.  Brisbane Planetarium - Features entertaining and informative shows for adults and children STEMPUNKS STEM classes for kids in Brisbane STEAMPUNX - Not to be confused with the organisation above! Offers in-school and out of school workshop programs Flying Fox Studios - A studio offering programs in the arts, music and construction areas from babies to teenagers in Brisbane Building Block Studio | Learning Activity Centre in Brisbane For Budding Coders And Engineers Fun Chess Classes For Kids in Brisbane | Chess Mates Red Cat Science | Kids get to do what they can't at school It's Rocket Science School Incursions - Educational and fully interactive project based rocket science incursions for primary and secondary schools in a safe and empowering learning environment.