A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School

Andrew Connell, Anthony Edwards, Alison Hramiak, Gavin Rhoades, Neil Stanley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317613992
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School offers straightforward guidance and inspiration to support all trainee and newly qualified teachers, as well as their tutors and mentors. It will also be a source of support and ideas for qualified teachers who wish to develop their teaching of Computing as a subject, in light of recent changes to the National Curriculum.

Grounded in the best research and practice available, it focuses on the key pedagogical issues which arise during teacher training and offers stimulating activities based on tried and tested strategies. Comprehensively updated and restructured to reflect recent changes in the curriculum, Initial Teacher Training Standards and classroom technologies, it covers key aspects of Computing and ICT teaching:

• 
  
  

• Planning pupil learning and progression

• 
  
  

• Managing the learning environment

• 
  
  

• Using assessment to improve pupil learning and your own teaching

• 
  
  

• Developing pupils' understanding of key concepts and ideas in Computing, including Computational Thinking and Programming

• 
  
  

• Pupils' common misconceptions and how to avoid them

• 
  
  

• Helping pupils appreciate good and bad effects of computing.

A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School, written by experts in the field, provides detailed examples of theory in practice, enabling you to analyse and reflect on your own teaching in order to ensure pupil learning is maximised.

Part 1

Your Development as a Teacher of Computing

Introduction to Part 1

Your Development as a Teacher of Computing

This section aims to provide you with practical advice and guidance on the key areas of developing your expertise as a Computing specialist, planning Computing lessons, managing the learning environment, and the assessment of Computing.

Chapter 1 focuses on helping you to develop your capacity to teach Computing. Specifically, it deals with the challenges you will face, understanding what you already know and what new expertise is required, the relationship between knowledge and the ability to apply it in a learning and teaching context, plus success strategies.

Chapter 2 explores planning. It discusses why you need to plan, identifies the challenges and different approaches to planning, and provides specific help in understanding how to plan a Computing lesson. In particular, it focuses on common mistakes made, the key questions to ask, and coursework and project-specific planning in Computing.

Chapter 3 considers many factors which have an impact on the quality of learning and teaching, including welfare, the physical environment, classroom layout, computer systems’ layout, working patterns and organisation, resources and other adults in the classroom. The combined effect of all of these factors has a significant impact on the quality of the learning and teaching experience.

Chapter 4 discusses what we mean by ‘assessment’, the different types of assessment techniques, the need for structured assessment based on learning objectives, and outcomes that can be assessed. It provides guidance in developing practical strategies to help you collect evidence and judge pupil progress, including the important role of moderation. Assessment has a particularly important influence on learning, as well as providing information that you can use to improve your teaching.

Chapter 1

Developing your capability to teach Computing

GAVIN RHOADES

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we will examine:

• The challenges of developing your capability

• Strategies for developing your Computing subject knowledge

• Why you need to update your Computing knowledge and skills

• The difference between Computing subject knowledge, skills and understanding and knowledge for teaching (pedagogy)

• How to cope with the changing nature of Computing as a subject.

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Assess your current Computing subject and pedagogical knowledge, skills and understanding and identify areas for development

• Identify a range of approaches to support the development of your knowledge, skills and understanding

• Appreciate the need to continue developing your knowledge, skills and understanding throughout your career.

THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPING YOUR CAPABILITY

As you begin training for your new career in teaching it is important to realise that you now have a new specialism, in addition to your existing subject knowledge expertise. Your specialism now is ‘teaching’, or more specifically, ‘pedagogy’. There have been many books devoted to discussing the meaning of the word ‘pedagogy’. Here it is intended to mean any conscious activity by one person to develop learning in another (Watkins & Mortimore, 1999). The main focus of your initial teacher training will have a particular emphasis on learning in children and young adults related to Computing.

As a prerequisite for entry into your form of teacher training you will already have a degree of subject expertise, and you will almost certainly have been through an assessment exercise as part of the admissions process. Whilst you will be provided with advice about the areas you need to address and develop, it is highly likely that there will be very limited time on your course available for specifically developing subject knowledge and computing capability. Colleagues in schools will also expect you to have a certain level of subject knowledge and will have little time at their disposal to develop your expertise. Therefore, the onus for ensuring you develop appropriate and sufficient subject knowledge will be your responsibility.

Your ability to respond to this challenge and develop the relevant Computing subject knowledge effectively depends on a number of factors, including:

• conflicting priorities, such as existing family responsibilities

• lack of familiarity with what is expected, both in terms of the level or depth of knowledge, and the range of topics and skills you will need

• your existing skills set may be specific to particular areas of the Computing curriculum

• access to the range of software or hardware used in schools.

STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING YOUR COMPUTING SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE

How effectively you deal with these issues will depend on when you start to address them. If you are fortunate enough to have some time before your training, then you have a number of options open to you, including:

• arranging for a visit/shadowing experience in a local school. You will be able to learn a great deal about what they teach and the hardware/software they use

• accessing documents on curriculum content from the various agencies that oversee them, including Examination Boards

• using the Internet to identify reliable sources, such as professional teaching or subject organisations

• talking to practising teachers

• undertaking a subject knowledge audit.

The opportunity to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding through working with others who are undertaking the same training should not be overlooked. People enter teaching training from a variety of backgrounds, bringing to the profession a wide range of experience, training and qualifications: some trainees come straight from university, full of new ideas and enthused by the latest research into their subjects; some will have undertaken graduate or postgraduate Computer Science degrees, or even subjects as diverse as Business Information Technology or Multimedia; others bring a wealth of career experience, often having substantial knowledge and understanding of the commercial or industrial sectors; some will be largely self-taught. This diversity of expertise is a tremendous asset that can be shared readily through your network of peers. It can also support you in other ways.

When you are on your placements you will have the chance to observe teachers delivering some of the topics that you will need to teach. They will be able to warn you about misconceptions the pupils may have, and about quirks or issues to watch out for with specific software or school equipment, and can guide you towards useful resources.

There is another and perhaps more surprising useful source of support that you should not overlook: learning from your pupils. Some have areas of interest related to Computing in which they have developed a good range of knowledge or skills beyond what they have already been taught in school. If you are unfamiliar with a particular piece of software don’t be afraid to use such pupils in your lessons, encouraging them to share what they know with both you and the rest of the class. This can be a great learning opportunity, providing it is approached suitably. You will need to structure the learning activities to ensure appropriate issues are covered. It is helpful if you can talk to the pupil prior to the lesson about this sort of activity. The issue of finding the time to do this developmental work can be a difficult one depending on your circumstances. The importance of good time management cannot be overestimated. There are many tutorials and learning resources available on the Internet, some of which are excellent. Joining an online support community for teachers can help point you in the right direction. Accessing particular pieces of software that are used in school can also be a challenge as they can be expensive. There is a flourishing open-source community devoted to developing software for education and a wide range of other purposes; for example, Open Source Schools offer valuable advice on making the most of what is available for free. Depending on their software-licensing arrangements, schools may be able to install certain software on your mobile device for the duration of your placement with them. Likewise, your training provider may have certain software available for you to use in schools during your training, again subject to licensing. If this is not possible, and you decide you need to buy som...