Computing in Primary Schools

  Concrete coding Within computing, I have learned about concrete coding and why it is important to learn in Primary school. This blog will explain detailed examples of what I have learned about concrete coding and how examples of concrete coding can be used to teach children about computing.    How are Bee-Bots used in Computing?   A Bee-Bot is an example of concrete coding as it is an object that you put the algorithm in for it to move. Bee-Bots can be taught in both KS1 and KS2. W ithin KS1 children will learn to “ understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions” , “create and debug simple programs”, and “ use logical reasoning to predict the behavior of simple programs” ( DfE). Within KS2 children will learn how to “ design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve pr...

  Computational Thinking (Simon, p7, 2011 ) Computational thinking refers to "solving problems,    designing systems, and understanding human behaviour, by drawing on the concepts fundamental to computer science”(Baroutsis, p10, 2019). Computational thinking concepts are logic, algorithms, decomposition, abstraction, patterns, and evaluation.  Logic is when you predict and analyse what to do and what will happen. Algorithms are "step-by-step instructions" and rules. Decomposition is when you "break down the problem into smaller parts", and abstractions refers to "focusing on what is important and ignoring what is unnecessary"   (www.youtube.com, 2017) .  Patterns can be seen through spotting and seeing similarities, and then evaluation is when you make a judgment on what has happened. Below is a video which has been useful in helping me understand what some keywords relating to computational thinking are. This can be useful to show a class as they rep...