[MIT Building E15, Room 318 (Common Area)] Computer programming is an
essential skill in the 21st century and new policies and frameworks
are in place for preparing students for computer science. Today, the
development of new interfaces and block-programming languages,
facilitates the teaching of CODING AND COMPUTATIONAL THINKING STARTING
IN KINDERGARTEN. However, as new programming languages that are
developmentally appropriate emerge, it is not enough to copy models
developed for older children, which mostly grew out of traditional
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines and
instructional practices. In this talk, Prof. Marina Bers will describe
current research on a pedagogical approach for EARLY CHILDHOOD
COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION CALLED “CODING AS ANOTHER LANGUAGE”
(CAL), grounded on the principle that learning to program involves
learning how to use a new language (a symbolic system of
representation) for communicative and expressive functions. Due to the
critical foundational role of language and literacy in the EARLY
YEARS, the teaching of computer science can be augmented by models of
literacy instruction. Case studies of young children using either the
KIBO robot or the ScratchJr app, designed by Prof Bers, to illustrate
the instructional practices of CAL curriculum will be presented, as
well as novel approaches using fMRI to explore what regions of the
brain activate when CODING. Marina Umaschi Bers
(https://www.tufts.edu/~mbers01 [https://www.tufts.edu/~mbers01]) is a
professor at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human
Development and an adjunct professor in the Computer Science
Department at Tufts University. She heads the interdisciplinary
Developmental Technologies research group. Her research involves the
design and study of innovative learning technologies to promote
children’s positive development. She also developed and serves as
director of the graduate certificate program on Early Childhood
Technology at Tufts University.
culture
1566
Views
28/02/2020 Last update