Teaching Computer studies

overview
W.KI
 The changing notion
• 70 Programming (computer literacy)
• 80 Application software (Information literacy)
• 90 Multimedia & Internet (ICT across the curriculum)
• 00 ??? ( ???)

• In most countries: hybrid (IT as a subj. + across subj.)

Computing teachers: always in the process of change
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UK national criteria
• Key stage 1 pupils explore ICT and learn to use it
confidently and with purpose to achieve specific
outcomes. They start to use ICT to develop their
ideas and record their creative work. They become
familiar with hardware and software
• Key stage 2 pupils use a wider range of ICT tools
and information sources to support their work in other
subjects. They develop their research skills and
decide what information is appropriate for their work.
They begin to question the plausibility and quality of
information. They learn how to amend their work and
present it in a way that suits its audience.
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UK national criteria
• Key stage 3
– better understanding of how ICT can help their
work in other subjects and develop their ability to
judge when and how to use ICT and where it has
limitations.
– They think about the quality and reliability of
information, and access and combine increasing
amounts of information.
– They become more focused, efficient and rigorous
in their use of ICT, and carry out a range of
increasingly complex tasks
 UK national criteriaskip
• key stage 4
– pupils become more responsible for choosing and
using ICT tools and information sources.
– They use a wide range of ICT applications
confidently and effectively, and are able to work
independently much of the time.
– They choose and design ICT systems to suit
particular needs and may design and implement
systems for other people to use.
– They work with others to carry out and evaluate
their work.

http://www.nc.uk.net/servlets/NCFrame?subject=ICT&KeyStage=4
 Hong Kong: as a subject & acrossskip
subjects

Computer F1-3 Free, computer concept, programming, Free

Literacy software, collaboration with other
subjects
Computer F4-5 Computer concept, application Paper
Studies software/cases, programming

Information F4-5 Computer concept, application Paper,

Technology software/cases, Project
(2001) Application project
Computer and F4-5 Core and options Paper,
Information (2003) Project
Technology
Computer AS Application software, Computer TAS, Paper
Application concept, Computer in society,

Computer AL Computer systems, programming paper

Studies algorithm,.. Very demanding
 What values
• Knowledge
– Process and products
– Understanding
• Thinking
– Logical relations (some/all, must/can, this/others)
– Productive thinking processes
• Efficacy
– The confidence to face / explore new things
• Also increasingly awareness about the importance of Social
and Cultural dimensions of technology, its actual impact on
disciplines & on one’s life
Behaviorist Approach to instruction
1. The idea of task analysis and learning hierarchy:

task A (subskills 1,2,3)

/ \
task B (1,2) task C (3)
/ \
task D (1) task E (2)
2. What constitute the expertise
in performing programming / using of a software?

Strategic knowledge Whether and how a goal can be achieved

as a series of tasks allowable on the device;
evaluation and adjustment
Schematic knowledge Generic plans: ‘chunks’ reusable to
achieve certain kinds of tasks

Semantic knowledge What does the computer do with a

command or an action on the interface

Syntactic knowledge How to write a command, which button to

push to execute an action
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Strategic knowledge Can this be done with the animation

program? Should I modify it a bit to make
it feasible? Why this does not work well ?

Schematic knowledge What are the major steps involved?

Can this trick be used or modified to work
for some other similar cases?
Semantic knowledge If I delete the object in this frame will the
object also disappear in the frame that
follows it?
Syntactic knowledge How can I insert a frame?
About understanding

Parts and Whole, the invisible links

Cognitivist’s approach to instruction:

to provide an effective mental model /organizer

The teacher shows a short program of three steps
1. Copy the value of cell B to cell A
2. Copy the value of cell C to cell B
3. Copy the value of cell A to cell C

T: lets dry run the program and see the result

Following is a dry run table
A B C
initial situation 1 2 3
After Copy the value of cell B to cell A 2 2 3
after Copy the value of cell C to cell B 2 3 3
after Copy the value of cell A to cell C 2 3 2

T: so now you understand

it is a program to exchange the content of the values of the cells B & C
T: So we have a difficulty here.
Now think about an analogical scenario.
You have a glass of orange juice and a glass of lemon juice,
How can you swap the content between the two glass?
Can we make use of another spare glass?
What is the method?
Analogical models are often useful in teaching about software /
algorithm which are designed by human

Or we start first by bring out the ‘pre-X’:

T: Try the following steps.
1. Copy the content of Cell A to Cell B
2. Copy the content of Cell B to Cell A
3. Do you think
you can swap the contents of the cell A and B with these steps?
 Enactive iconic symbolic representation (J.S.Bruner)

This is an algorithm for sorting

What is the mode of representation?
(Enactive / Iconic / Symbolic)

FOR I = 1 to 4
FOR J = 1 to 4-I
If A[J]>A[J+1] then
{swap the content of A[J] and A[J+1]}
NEXT J
NEXT Ｉ

A[1] A[2] A[3] A[4] A[5]

The use of Enactive Mental model.
"If the organism carries
a small-scale model of external reality
and of its possible actions within its head,
it is able to try out various alternatives,
conclude and react to future situations before they arise..."
(Kennth Craik 1943)

e.g. Using a high-low game

as the induction to the idea of binary search.
 Cognitivist’s approach to instruction:
to provide an effective mental model /organizer

• Advanced organizer
– Main ideas before details
– Analogy (e.g. flip book  animation program)
– The ‘pre-X’ that engender X
• Analogical Enactive model
– Enactive iconic symbolic representation
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Try to do these procedures :

1. Turn the number cards (1,2,3,4,5) face downward
2. A student compare the first two cards,
swap them if necessary
so that the left one is small and the right one is large
3. A new student works on the cards in the 2nd & 3rd positions
4. Then a new student proceed to work the 3rd and 4th positions
5. Another new student proceed to the 4th and 5th positions
6. Open the last card after all these procedures
7. Randomize the cards and try the procedure again.
8. Do you get the same result? Explain why?
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T: Now instead of randomizing the cards after you finish,
You try to do a second round.
S: There is in fact no need to compare the last two cards!
T: OK, do one less then.
T:What would you expect to get in the end?

T: Can you then think of a systematic method

for sorting all the five cards?

T: will the method guarantee correct result for
different possible cases? (concept of algorithm)

T: Can you write down you method in some form?

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iconic Symbolic (pseudo code)

if card1>card2 then swap

if card2>card3 then swap
1st round if card3>card4 then swap
if card4>card5 then swap

if card1>card2 then swap

2nd round if card2>card3 then swap
if card3>card4 then swap

if card1>card2 then swap

3rd round if card2>card3 then swap

if card1>card2 then swap

4 round
th
What if there is no available model that match?

Then the learner has to directly confront the object of

learning.
According to the variation theory of learning, (F.Marton),
and effective way of seeing the phenomenon can be
developed if the learner can experience important
variations of that phenomenon.
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Theory about the structure of our

Awareness (Gurwitsch)
– One cannot be attend to everything
equally at the same time. ( a difference
in the degree of prominence)
– At any instant, some aspects come to
the fore as figure ( with focal attention)
– and others recede to the background
– Yet things in the background skip
co-exist, though not directly
focused upon. (peripheral
attention)
– The part-whole relationship
sustain: the foreground stand
out from and in relation to
the background.
– Without this relationship, the
foreground will lose its
meaning. (Dialectic
relationship).
– When some new situation
pops up, the structure of
awareness can change
dramatically. something that
was very peripheral becomes
very central.(dynamic.)
 • Orthogenetic Law of Development
(Hernz Werner)
– Borrowed from biology
– Organic development of the whole, from an
undifferentiated whole, to greater and greater
differentiation and integration of the parts
– Continual holistic development.
– All the way the whole changes as a system*.

*Remark:
For example, when one learns “1”,
it must be against something else which is “not 1”,
And when he learns “2” in addition to “1”,
then the “2” must mean something in relation to “1”,
and the idea of “1” also changes

Very Different from a cumulative,mechanistic views on development

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Discernment through variation

• To discern something is to be able to perceive

• its internal elements and configuration (structural
aspects ) and how the thing relates to a certain
‘external horizon’ ( referential aspects ),
• both have to be present in the awareness at the
same time.
• Variation will helps the discernment
– the object (its presence and absence)
– aspect of the object (diff examples, non examples)
• Variation should be done in context (not losing
the ‘whole’)
For example
Within the context of the whole program,
you vary its elements and see how it changes the
behavior of the whole program.
In so doing you develop from a fussy to a refined
understanding about the program:
What elements are there and how they relate to each
other

Variation should be done in context

(not losing the ‘whole’)
Because an accumulation is an accumulation
not only if it has a certain internal structure of
A:=A+B.
It also depends on its external linkage,
I.e. what A, and B are in the whole program.s
One real challenge to teaching is that the teacher and
the students are seeing the thing in very different
terms, but It is often easy for the teachers to take
things for granted. and hence not too sure why is it
worthwhile to teach something. (seems just a matter
or knowing more..)
Create situation to Expose the different way of
seeing
by creating situation that can allows different
approaches in doing the same thing
E.G.
(1) How one count the cubes in a rectangular block..
(2) How one list all the possible combinations…
(3) Different ways of structuring branchings to do categorization
(4) What sort of questions can you ask based on a Dbtable
(5) How students interpret what a program/ action does

The variation help students learn news ways of seeing

from each other. And let the fundamental idea stand out
from the detail of the procedure. Also let teacher knows
what to teach.
The Theory of Minimalist Instruction

• J. M. Caroll
• Point of departure:
How to write effective tutorial,help document?
How to develop effective user training?
• Through observe users he arrives at ideas
• To resolve the paradox of
(a) Want to act ASAP
(b) The need to learn
• Called a ‘minimalist approach’ to instruction
 Some Basic principles for
‘Minimalist instruction’…….
Choose an action-oriented approach
• Begin early with a simple but realistic ‘step-by-step’
activity, giving Sense of achievement & direct access to
the ‘things’
• Encourage and support exploration and innovation at
certain points along the line.
Support error recognition and recovery
• Prepare for it & Make positive use of it

Very much in line with variation theory and efficacy studies,

Require a lot of empirical studies about the user/learner
 Efficacy
What is Efficacy?
Aiming at Performance or Efficacy?
variation and Efficacy
imagine you follow closely every instruction in
a ‘step-by-step’ Ms Access book until you get
the complete final product up running. You
got good efficacy?
 Productive thinking &
The dynamic process of problem solving

• Perception, idea, trial, new perception …

• cycles
• reactive coaching
• Heuristics:
– G.Polya, S.Papert, variation of the problem
 Different thinking style

• Hard Master (planner, top-down, problem

solving)
• Soft Master (negotiator, bottom-up, exploration)
• A story ‘ 百萬富翁’ in class
• A variation of the task to suite different styles:
– E.g. balancing Bottom-up exploration
with top-down analysis
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Lesson study
• Difficult topics
– SQL: “from…where”, “group by…having”,
– planning before coding,
– while-do loop,
– linked list
• Hypothesis
• Plan a lesson together
• Record, Review, discuss and revise
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Sample output
Take a chocolate
Take one more (Y/N)? Y
Take one more (Y/N)? Y
Take one more (Y/N)? Y
...

Take one more (Y/N)? N

Remember to brush your teeth!
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program eating;
var response : char;
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begin
writeln(‘Take a chocolate’);
write(‘Take one more (Y/N)? ’);
readln(response);
if response=‘Y’ then
begin
write(‘Take one more (Y/N)? ’);
readln(response);
if response=‘Y’ then
begin
write(‘Take one more (Y/N)? ’);
readln(response);
if response=‘Y’ then
begin
write(‘Take one more (Y/N)? ’);
readln(response);
...
end
end
end;
writeln(‘Remember to brush your teeth!’)
end.
 START START
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writeln('Take a chocolate');
writeln('Take a chocolate');

write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');

readln(Response); write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');
readln(Response);

F
if Response = F
'Y' then
While Response
T = 'Y' do
write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');
readln(Response); T
write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');
readln(Response);
F
if Response =
'Y' then
writeln('Remember to brush your
T teeth!')
write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');
readln(Response); END

F
if Response = Identify
'Y' then
the
T repeating
write('Take one more(Y/N)? ');
readln(Response); pattern
…

writeln('Remember to brush your

teeth!')

END
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Some experience
• To be able to try out one another’s ideas can be enjoyable
• May fail, may partly successful, partly fail..
• Feedback mechanism
• Detail recording / reviewing of the classroom is essential
• Should anticipate further exploration
• Basic belief: dialectic relationship between theory and practice
• May start the cycle from an existing lesson ?
 conclusion

• The Expertise of teaching computing?

– 教無定法
– Only serve as heuristics for
– Continuous empirical exploration
Variation theory can explain why some instructed
learning is even poorer then natural learning.
If teacher only gives correct incidences, in a very sterile
way, without the necessary variation that brings more
meaning to the incidences.
[Just imagine someone hold your hand through the
building, and tell you to note down every turn, so that
next time you won’t got lost on your own. Any
comment?]
It also explains why some natural learning is not as effective
as well designed instruction.
Ad hoc encounter vs systematic structuring of variations.
E.g. Teacher can bring into focus contrastive alternatives not
immediately accessible in the natural experience
E.g. Teacher opens up the multiple dimensions layer by layer.
Varying certain aspect while keeping others invariant.
Bring about a spiral continual development: a sequence of
successive opening, closure, opening, closure and so on.

- Learning from students and other teachers

 Questions
• Is the emphases in the teaching and learning of computer
studies / IT similar or different form your subject ?
• How do you observe/review/evaluate lessons?
• What do you think about the variation theory ?
• What do you think about the idea of efficacy ?