Midday Workshop

Coding and Computational Thinking

You may have heard of initiatives like the Hour of Code or have read articles that argue that all students should learn how to code. Coding and Computational Thinking are now included as core concepts in the new Digital Technologies learning area of the national curriculum. BOSTES has also recommended incorporating Coding and Computational thinking across the NSW syllabuses and has created a guide to help teachers do this.

In this workshop we will work through two activities that can be used to teach Coding and Computational Thinking. The first activity is titled My Robotic Friends. This activity has been designed to demonstrate the importance of the need for precision when Coding. The second activity is an Introduction to Scratch. Scratch is a tool for creating interactive stories, animations and games that is often used for teaching Coding and Computational Thinking in Primary Schools.

The materials for these activities are available on the activities page.

Who We Are

We are Dr Elena Prieto and Mr Daniel Hickmott, from the School of Education at the University of Newcastle.

November Primary School Workshop

We will be running a free two day, BOSTES accredited professional development workshop on November 21 and 22 for pre-service and in-service Primary School teachers. This workshop will involve:

• An introduction to Coding, Computer Science and Computational Thinking
• Hands-on activities with Coding, Robots and AppInventor
• Presentations from educators that have integrated Computer Science activities into their classrooms

You can find out more about these workshops and find a link to the registration form on the University of Newcastle CS4S Website.