Steve Coxon, M.A.Ed. Center for Gifted Education Ph.D. student at the College of William and Mary

My background:  English and biology; started to minor in computer science. Loved the logic, hated the tedium.  Rediscovered the enjoyment of computer programming logic without the tedium while coaching FIRST LEGO League while a fourth grade teacher.  Saw that gifted students in particular (but not only) thrived in the challenging and open- ended environment (low floor, high ceiling).

Today:  LEGO WeDo (LEGO robotics for 6-9 year olds: $140 from [be sure to get the version that includes software])  Storytelling Alice (Free product of Carnegie Mellon for middle school students at  Hypertext short stories (Can be done on almost any computer with word processing software [We’ll use MS Word today])

NOT Today, but recommended:  Scratch (Free from MIT at  LOGO (This oldie, but goodie is available in many places, but is easy to use immediately on any computer with Internet access at ex.html )

Why use computer programming in the classroom?  Product ownership  Problem-solving  “Real world” Shumway, S. (2008). Students designing their own video games. Technology & Children, 12(3),

Why use computer programming in the classroom?  Engineering fundamentals  Logic Hixon, R. (2007). Teaching software engineering principles using Robolab and Lego Mindstorms. International Journal of Engineering Education, 23(5),

Why use computer programming in the classroom?  Increases motivation to succeed.  Focus on open-ended problem solving Denner, J., & Werner, L. (2007). Computer programming in middle school: How pairs respond to challenges. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 37(2),

Why use computer programming in the classroom?  Science content Coxon, S. V. (in press). FIRST LEGO League, the sport of the mind. Teaching for High Potential. Waco, TX: Prufrock.

LEGO WeDo

Storytelling Alice

Hypertext Stories

Steve Coxon, M.A.Ed. Center for Gifted Education Ph.D. student at the College of William and Mary