1. Confluence 2018
The future of computing and educational technologies – learning computing from 5 years of age?
Don Passey
Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning
Department of Educational Research
Lancaster University
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2. Summary
Background
Arguments for an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum
Arguments for a Computer Science (CS) curriculum
National policies and directions
School practices and needs
Questions to shape the future

3. Background - history
In 1962, Purdue and Stanford Universities established perhaps the first departments of computer science
The first PhD in computer science was awarded in 1965 by the University of Pennsylvania
A robotic hand was developed in the same year at the University of Belgrade
Since the 1980s, there have been concerns that computing and technologies should play a major role in school curricula and practice
The Department of Trade and Industry supported the first microcomputers in schools in the UK

4. Arguments for an ICT curriculum
economic argument - education should support learners in a curriculum most likely to support a future economy, where young people meet the needs of current and future jobs and their skill requirements
organisational argument - industries and institutions are increasingly engaging and employing learning technologists to support their own individual local needs
community argument - computing facilities are increasingly being and will increasingly be used for social purposes but also by ‘communities’, including social communities
educational argument - with new developments and new areas being opened up, education should appropriately support and fulfil these needs
learning argument - current and new facilities require users to have technical, operational and application skills and competencies if they are to use and apply such facilities to support themselves and others
learner argument - learners should be enabled to engage not only in what are considered to be generic areas of future need (such as numeracy and literacy), but also in areas that interest them
Source: Passey, D. (2017).

5. Arguments for a CS curriculum
economic argument - education should support learners in a curriculum most likely to support a future economy, where young people meet the needs of current and future jobs and their skill requirements
organisational argument - industries and institutions are increasingly engaging and employing learning technologists to support their own individual local needs
community argument - computing facilities are increasingly being and will increasingly be used for social purposes but also by ‘communities’, including social communities
educational argument - with new developments and new areas being opened up, education should appropriately support and fulfil these needs
learning argument – computer science activities demand creativity and problem-solving approaches
learner argument - learners should be enabled to engage not only in what are considered to be generic areas of future need (such as numeracy and literacy), but also in areas that interest them
Source: Passey, D. (2017).

6. Curriculum change – future needs
A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world
Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems
The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming (DFE, 2013: n.p.)
England is not alone in curriculum changes of this type

7. National policies and directions
Country CS
Austria (Futschek, 2015)
Informatics Education is only in grade 9 (age 14 years)
Finland (Koivisto, 2015)
In secondary schools, there are quite a number of specialised courses like programming, and robotics has become very popular
France (Grandbastien, 2015)
Computer science has been an elective subject for students in the scientific stream in general high schools. The May 2015 plan includes “coding” for elementary schools, “programming” for all students in middle schools, and there will be an elective course in computer science for all students
Ireland
(Leahy, 2015)
In primary schools, activities are incorporated into the timetable informally by ‘champion’ teachers, including those programming with Scratch. In secondary schools, computing activities are mainly in the 4th Year (optional year – 15/16 year olds)
Italy
(Bottino, 2015)
For computer science education, a policy is present for specialised education (e.g. upper secondary technical schools). A national optional initiative (“coding the future”) has been launched with the aim of introducing primary school pupils to basic computer science concepts through coding
Japan
(Saito, 2015)
No special course for learning informatics or ICT is stated officially at the elementary stage. Lower secondary schools have informatics and programming curricula as a part of ‘Technology and Home Economics’, one of the compulsory subjects determined by the Ministry
Lithuania (Dagiené, 2015)
In secondary schools, a large number of ICT learning objectives are included in central steering documents, which include less common objectives such as programming skills and knowledge of computer hardware
Republic of Korea
(Kimn, 2015)
Basics and how to use algorithms, programming, problem solving, representing information, computer networks and computer ethics are taught as an elective course within the curriculum revised in 2009, but new national curricula with a compulsory course from 2017 will be introduced
South Africa (van Niekerk, 2015)
Computer science, informatics or ICT taught or used in secondary schools focuses on programming in Java and Delphi, but there is pressure to drop Java in favour of Delphi. There is a large focus on database development

8. School practices and needs
Computing can be applied in different situations
Formal – in classrooms, focusing perhaps on the learning of the individual
Informal – in home and community, focusing more on application, identifying practices and needs
Non-formal –in groups or clubs, supported, but focusing on, working together, on tasks or projects
Example image

9. School practices and needs
Example image
Formal – class work and ‘knowledge’
E.g. Scratch or Game Maker
Informal – engaging with others
E.g. Raspberry Pi, Lego Robotics or micro:bit devices
Non-formal – projects or interest-groups
E.g. Video games such as Little Big Planet 2

10. The micro:bit
A BBC Partnership has developed a new, more powerful resource for school-aged learners, called the micro:bit:
it is low cost, designed to be owned and used by children
designed as an entry device, without need for existing specialist knowledge
can be used as a stand-alone device with the option to connect to other devices, via Bluetooth and via the internet and networks
can directly engage with the physical environment through onboard sensors
can be coded through a range of coding environments
external providers can develop accessories that can be connected to the device

11. Deployment of the micro:bit in schools
Available to all year 7 learners (11 to 12 years of age) across the United Kingdom (UK) in March 2016, some 750,000 in total 
In Singapore, 35,000 have been distributed to schools, with a Digital Maker programme to support educational approach
In Iceland, in 2017, every 11- and 12-year-old school pupil was given a micro:bit, and every year this will be repeated. Teachers were given training and support for using these devices
In Croatia, 20,000 micro:bits have been distributed to schools and libraries
Other countries are looking to follow these examples

12. Examples of micro:bit uses to date
A pupil wrote a program using a heat sensor to log changes in temperature and show the current reading on the computer’s LEDs, attached to a helium balloon that flew upwards more than 32km (20 miles) into the air
Pupils helped people with autism recognise other people’s emotional states, allowing the user to scroll through a series of graphics, shown via LEDs, of faces presenting different moods
Pupils kept a small aircraft on track as it headed toward the North Pole, with the computer programmed to trigger one of two motors whenever the vehicle drifted off course to steer it back to its destination
Pupils carved their own model cars out of foam and blasted them along a track using black-powder rockets fitted to their rears, slotted computers inside to measure the rocket cars’ fastest speeds, average speeds and changes in thrust, to use the feedback to improve their designs
Source:

13. Questions to shape the future
The economic argument. Does a school have access to knowledge about the ways that CS and ICT are being used and developed in employment situations, and what future needs might arise?
The organisational argument. Does a school understand how CS, computing and ICT skills are deployed and managed in organisations, and do they have facilities to undertake team work or group work activities of this form?
The community argument. Can a school manage and support activities that are undertaken in non-formal or informal situations, linking with community or organisations to engage with their needs through problem solving and creative solutions?

14. Questions to shape the future
The educational argument. Does a school have the flexibility to support a curriculum that can provide activities for all learners across certain age ranges, but offer elected courses for those beyond those age ranges?
The learning argument. Does a school have the facilities to enable teachers to access and use technologies to support both an ICT focus and a CS focus?
The learner argument. Does a school enable its learners to engage at times when their interest might be stimulated in CS or computing or ICT?

15. References
Bottino, R. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Italy. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Dagiené, V. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Lithuania. Accessed 1 July 2015.
DFE, Statutory guidance – National curriculum in England: computing programmes of study.
Futschek, G. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Austria. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Grandbastien, M. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: France. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Kimn, H.J. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Republic of Korea. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Koivisto, J. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Finland. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Leahy, D. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Ireland. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Passey, D. (2017). Computer Science (CS) in the Compulsory Education Curriculum: Implications for Future Research. Education and Information Technology, 22(2),
Saito, T. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: Japan. Accessed 1 July 2015.
Van Niekerk, J. (2015). National Report on Education and Technology: South Africa. Accessed 1 July 2015.

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