A year in Computer Science @ The Abbey

That's all folks ... another year of Computer Science at The Abbey School, Reading done.

And what a busy year it has been. And I do mean in Computer Science, not in all the other fun stuff I have managed to get up to 'on the side', but in the fun day-to-day teaching and play of Computer Science.

But, as I have put an image at the top of this post, I really should start by describing the various pictures.

On the left is the "official" school picture that was taken when the Digital Learning team wrote an article for the HMC on the team effort it takes to keep children safe online. (You can read the article here - Keeping children safe online is a team effort at The Abbey School, Reading - HMC (The Heads' Conference))

In the middle is a picture taken at our Musical Interludes at school (essentially a lunchtime a week when students treat other students and staff to musical recitals). Last week a student played a couple of wonderful pieces on the Marimba. I couldn't help but ask for a go at the end, and didn't realise the Marketing Team were on hand to snap a picture.

The outdoors pictures were taken by students during the school's annual Trips Week. I accompanied Lower Four up to the Peak District and was persuaded by my group to take part in lots of the activities, including canoeing, abseiling, and caving.

And, of course, in the top right, a rare picture of me as the Panto Ugly Sister, Griselda from the staff Christmas Assembly.

I wanted the image to show that despite my focus of Computer Science throughout the year, the students are immersed in, not only all the academic subjects, but a wealth of other experiences that, as the Head Girls spoke about at our final assembly of the year, give them memories that will stay with them forever. (Maybe as nightmares in the case of my appearance as Griselda!)

So what did we get up to in Computer Science?

Our focus this year has been on programming.

We want to instill the JOY of programming into our students but also give them the ability to use it effectively (and indeed answer examination questions effectively too!) Now, as Computer Science Teachers know, teaching algorithmic thinking and programming is not an easy task and there are few specific pedagogies that support this.

I often think on why algorithmic thinking and programming is so hard to teach and learn?

Mostly I come back to in order to do it effectively and efficiently you have to work on two totally separate parts; how to actually solve the problem, and how to write the code. Trying to do both of these things together splits the bandwidth of the brain in two, meaning you are constantly battling with two problems.

It has similarities to learning to speak a language (I mean it has its own words and syntax that you have to get right) but it is more like being asked to complete a logic problem in a foreign language. The more comfortable you are in the language, the easier it is to solve the problem. However, knowing the language really well will still not help you solve the problem.

So to build skill as a rookie programmer we have to teach them sufficient syntax in a way that they can remember it, whilst introducing them to small algorithmic thinking problems so that they start building up a memory bank of "how to solve this type of problem" codes.

Learning the words and syntax of a language means reading lots of code and working out what it is doing, something which students (and indeed some teachers) often miss out in their rush to get to solving problems.

This has been the focus of a lot of our programming teaching this year; reading lots of code across all the platforms we use. So, in Upper Three, reading and writing code in Minecraft Education, to make the agent move and build. In Lower Four they start with Python Turtle, creating designs that they print and make into physical badges. In Upper Four, they do some physical computing with the Micro:bit, as well as being introduced to AI and working with APIs.

And then we move to GCSE and A-Level. At GCSE they continue their coding education in Python, but at A-Level and IB we switch to Java so that they become competent in at least two programming languages.

It seems to be working although as a team we agreed to keep our focus on programming next year to ensure the techniques are fully embedded into our curriculum and practices to ensure that they become permanent and our students spend lots of time reading and understanding code as they learn.

Of course, back around Easter, Paty Mogio and myself spoke at a GSA meeting on how to inspire more girls into Computer Science. This was not about how to teach it effectively but rather what other changes we can make to make it more attractive to girls in particular.

What suggestions did we make?

Prioritising the social aspect: doing more paired and group programming. Whilst boys are very happy to sit coding alone, girls tend to want to be more social chatting over the coding and working together on the problems. We need to facilitate this in order that they feel it is not a solitary activity.

Real World Problems: Girls have a greater desire to be "useful" and "caring". They want to know that the careers they choose have an impact. It is important then, that we, as teachers, show them how Computer Science has a positive impact on the world. And even asking them how they might use computing power to solve issues that are important to them.

And Storytelling: Linked with the above, having students tell stories; about the characters in Minecraft and what they will use the agent to build and why for example.

Again, whilst we know this, we do need constant reminders and reflection to ensure we are improving. As we said at the meeting; we are not perfect but we constantly reflect upon our performance and try to improve.

Although, we have had some interesting discussions over the last few months as out students pick their options for GCSE and A-Level. We have seen an increase in out numbers which initially looks good. However, in many cases students are taking the subject because their parents believe in the importance of the subject, not because they want to particularly take Computer Science.

This might mean students in our classes who don't really want to be there and may not be prepared for the hard work needed to learn programming. Just look at the percentages of high grades for Computer Science against other subjects nationally and you can see just what a hard subject it is.

Is this really what we want?

Those in the know will obviously know about the BCS's recent calls for changes to the GCSE including more digital literacy and skills. Will a new government listen?

As I sign off for the Summer Holidays I will tease you all with what is happening next academic year. Fingers crossed, over the summer a new Computing Workshop will be being built, with standalone PCs not on the school network that students can take apart, build, change, and a server rack with switches and servers so that students can build their own networks and play with virtual machines etc.

This will also be a room where students can build robots and IoT as well.

Hopefully this will really allow us to inspire more girls into Computer Science.

And, if you want to see some student builds in the meantime do visit the Computer Science Instagram site at Computer Science @ The Abbey School, Reading (@theabbey_computerscience) ? Instagram photos and videos