STORYTELLING

STORYTELLING IN COMPUTING EDUCATION

Children’s traditional stories, nursery rhymes, and literature provide a rich source of sequences and repetition. At the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education in Glasgow in 2019 (WiPSCE’19), Sarah Twigg and colleagues presented an approach that uses children’s literature to teach computing to primary school pupils. The team from Lancaster University hopes the familiar contexts of children’s stories will engage pupils and raise the confidence of non-specialist teachers in delivering the curriculum.

Identifying computing concepts in children’s literature

The team reviewed 50 popular children’s picture books to identify key computing constructs, namely sequencing, repetition, and selection. The books included programming constructs to varying degrees, but 16 books included all three constructs, and all 50 could be used to demonstrate sequencing. Several books were then used as the basis for sample teaching resources, which were trialled in some classrooms and code clubs.

The teaching approach: Read, Act, Model, and Program (RAMP)

An approach named RAMP builds up subject knowledge and appropriate vocabulary in a storytelling context. The format begins by reading through the story; the teacher asks questions about what is happening, and introduces computing terminology. Children then act out the story and are asked about repeating patterns of behaviour and what triggers them. The model element of the approach then involves constructing the sequence of events in the story, using either images from the book, or printouts of lines of code or blocks from Scratch. Children are asked to identify repeating patterns and choice points in the story, making links to the computing terminology throughout. The program step is supported by the sample lesson resources developed for specific books. It involves using the computer to produce the program that has been designed through the previous unplugged activities.

STORY BY Hayley Leonard

Teachers’ evaluation of the resources

Responses from teachers who were asked about their experiences were highly positive. In particular, teachers said that the first three stages (Read, Act, and Model) were very engaging for the pupils. They provided multiple opportunities for differentiation and working together at different levels of ability.

Some teachers suggested, however, that some non-specialist computing teachers might find the step up to the Program stage daunting. The authors are using this feedback to help them develop the teaching resources. They are continuing to work with teachers

LESSON EXAMPLE

Computing concepts represented in We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen: Sequencing: A list of events order. On their way back home, they go to be followed in order. through the environments in reverse order. Example: The characters on the bear hunt Repetition: At least one example of a go through six different environments in pattern of repeated dialogue, actions, or environment. Example: Repetition of particular phrases in each environment, for example, “We’re going on a bear hunt.” Selection: At least one example of a choice of dialogue, actions, or environment. Example: The end of the repeated dialogue varies depending on the environment; for example, in the river they say, “Splash splosh!”

n Text © 1989 Michael Rosen, Illustrations © 1989 Helen Oxenbury,

From WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT by Michael Rosen. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ, www.walker.co.uk

THE APPROACH IS LOW-COST AND USES FAMILIAR CONTEXTS

to investigate whether more support is required for the transition to the final stage, or whether this should be separated from the other elements of the approach.

An inclusive approach

Teaching computing principles to young children can be a challenge. A creative storytelling approach is low-cost and uses familiar contexts that are intuitive to teachers and parents. Twigg and her colleagues suggest that this approach has benefits for diversity in computing, and they are particularly interested in its use with disabled students. The collaborative activities and active discussion involved could also be beneficial in engaging more girls in computing. A pilot study testing this approach more widely started in England in September 2020, as part of the Gender Balance in Computing programme of research (helloworld.cc/genderbalance).

FURTHER READING

Twigg, S., Blair, L., & Winter, E (2019). Using children’s literature to introduce computing principles and concepts in primary schools: work in progress. Proceedings of the 14th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education (WiPSCE’19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 23, 1-4.

helloworld.cc/literature