DFI Session 8: Computational Thinking

This is a screenshot of what I created in the Scratch site today.

The connecting with Manaiakalani session today was about Empowerment. Empowerment was translated in terms of giving back control to lives. This means empowering teachers and learners. Dorothy explained that the 5+ a day slogan can be reused here to think about language. She said that many students in decile one schools come to school short of hearing 32 million words and introducing the 5-way conversations in schools can help to shift the language balance. Dorothy explained that access to devices, to the internet, is not 'just a tool' but is so much more. It is about a connection, a path forward, a way to overcome barriers, a way to transform how children learn.

In our session today we also had plenty of time to explore. It was great to explore various places and gather ideas for how to implement the new Digital technologies curriculum. There are so many valuable and practical resources out there. I really enjoy and learn a lot from listening to other teachers share. It was interesting to see lessons shared where computational thinking and that it can be explored without the use of devices.

I really enjoyed playing around with the Scratch site. I can see so many ways to integrate this into a multitude of curriculum areas.