Developing your capability to teach Computing - A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School - page 11

Joining the mailing lists of subject associations, such as NAACE and Computing
and Schools (CAS), industry-focused publications such as Computing Weekly, or
professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute for IT (formerly the British
Computer Society) are great ways of easily finding out about the latest developments.
These and other bodies hold regular training events and seminars, which offer the
chance to network with colleagues and share ideas. During your placement it can be
very useful to have an online forum that you can share with your peers on the course,
and increasingly, trainees are using social media to keep in touch whilst in schools.
A powerful way to remain up-to-date is to become an 'early adopter' of new
technologies and software. The Raspberry Pi is typical of the type of innovation that
you should be familiar with. This device is an inexpensive credit-card-sized
microcomputer, designed to make the user more familiar with computer programming.
It was launched in February 2012, and generated massive public interest. The initial
production run sold out in seconds. Community resources are being developed to
make the device as useful as possible, and early adopters can play an important role in
providing feedback. They can also learn about problems — there are always problems
with anything new — and how to solve them, and can cascade this knowledge to
colleagues and pupils, increasing engagement as they do so. Persistence and resilience
are crucial characteristics for both early adopters and teachers.
Teachers TV produced a treasure trove of quality resources ( see Resources).
Another very thought-provoking site is the Technology, Entertainment and Design
(TED) website ( see Resources). TED is a non-profit organisation that hosts a series of
annual conferences containing fascinating lectures or 'Talks' from cutting-edge
practitioners across a range of fields, many of which will be of direct relevance to
Computing teachers.
Task 1.3
New developments
Consider how programming might be taught to pupils aged 11 to 14. What key
concepts will pupils need to understand? What key processes will they need to
be able to do? What kind of contexts will help them learn these concepts
effectively and engage their attention?
You might want to look at the Computing at School Group's Curriculum for
Computing, which can be downloaded from http://www.computingatschool.
org.uk/index.php?id=cacfs
COMPUTING SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING
AND KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING (PEDAGOGY)
Subject knowledge, skills and understanding that are sufficient for an individual's
personal or even professional use of Computing technologies are not enough on
their own for teaching Computing. It has been suggested (Shulman, 1986) that there
are three domains of subject knowledge that teachers need, in order to teach
effectively:
• Content Knowledge. This is the depth and breadth of subject knowledge the
teacher has, and how it is organised into a coherent understanding of the
discipline as a whole, such that the teacher can not only explain 'what
something is', but more importantly 'why it is' that way.