TACCLE3 IST COURSE 2021: How to teach Coding in School education

This training course “Teaching computational thinking and coding in a personalised social way” focuses on introducing computational thinking and programming in primary / lower secondary schools and teaching children how to code. Beside the content this course is given in a personalised way, what refers to instruction in which the pace of learning and the instructional approach are optimized for the needs of each participant. Social learning means that the participants will learn in peer-to-peer or in larger groups that allows participants working in pairs or small groups to discuss concepts or find solutions to problems. This combination of content (computational thinking and coding) and method (personalised social learning) ensures that the learner can return to his or her practice with a wealth of experience.

The training course aims are
• to develop your own competences about computational thinking & coding;
• to learn how to teach computational thinking & coding to children from 3 till 14 years;
• to apply the principles of personalised social learning in your own practice.

There will be five training days during which we will learn together, in order to:
• describe the concepts of computational thinking;
• describe the key principles of coding;
• use appropriate terminology;
• build on activities teachers and children already do;
• develop your own classroom activities;
• measure progression, differentiate and personalise lessons and assess what children have learned;
• link the curriculum to the Taccle3 website;
• learn in a personalized social way.
In addition, there will be specific aims and objectives for each part.

Method: personalised social learning
What is it?
This training focuses on the theme of personalised social learning. But what does personalised social learning mean?
Hargreaves talks about: “Personalised social learning is the matching of didactics, pedagogy, curriculum and the learning environment, for students and by students, in order to meet their different learning needs and aspirations in pairs or small groups.”
Sometimes personalised learning is confused with individual learning but there are major differences between individual learning and personalised learning. Contrary to what is often claimed, personalised learning is not necessarily aimed at the individual learner. It is aimed at developing the participants as much as possible, and an approach is chosen that is in line with the participant.

The benefits of personalised social learning include:
• development of higher-level thinking, oral communication, self-management, and leadership skills;
• increase in participant retention, self-esteem, and responsibility;
• exposure to and an increase in understanding of diverse perspectives;
• preparation for real life situations in the classroom.

What does this mean for you as a participant in this training?
In this training we as trainer will use the possibilities of applying personalized social learning in the training beside the goal to teach you computational thinking and coding. We will give you as learner space, allow you to make choices and tailor the training to your personal learning needs and aspirations. Beside the content you will learn by doing the principles of personalized social learning and how to transfer them to other disciplines.

Target group
• You are:

  • a teacher for children from 3 till 14 years
  • or a trainer or advisor for teachers
  • or a headmaster

• You don’t have experience with computational thinking & coding but you are very interested in the topic.
• You want to explore the principles of personalized social learning.
• You understand English fluently.
• You have basic ICT – skills (working with a browser, save information, switch between windows)

The course will be conducted in cooperation with the Rectorat de l’Académie de Grenoble. Teachers from France are welcome to participate, too. Because they are not eligible for a KA1 grant for a course in their own country, they should look for other funding.
The course programme for November 2021 (this course can also be tailor made to your schools specific demands, please contact us for details)
A next TACCLE3 CODING course will probably be organised in March 2022.

Sunday 21 november: travel day + arrival

Day 1 Monday 22 November 2021

Icebreaker activity
Week overview
Computational thinking as 21st century skill part I
Basic terminology – Computational thinking
Unplugged Activities
How to introduce computational thinking in the classroom
• Decomposition
• Hands-on Algorithm Coding: Scratch Jr. or Scratch

Day 2 Tuesday 23 November 2021

Computational thinking part II
Basic concepts of computational thinking in this part are:
• Pattern recognition
• Abstraction

We transfer the content knowledge by bridging activities to coding and we explore and transfer the principles of personalised learning of this session to other disciplines.

School visits : on the basis of some school visits you will get inspiration about computational thinking in the classroom practice

Day 3: Wednesday 24 November 2021

Robots
During this session you will explore 6 offered robots.
We transfer knowledge of computational thinking to coding Robots and we explore and transfer the principles of personalized learning of this session to other disciplines.
Hands-on: choice between Micro:bit or Lego Mindstorms

Day 4: Thursday 25 November 2021

The principles of personalized and learning and computational thinking & coding
Hands-on workshop

School visits : on the basis of some school visits you will get inspiration about computational thinking in the classroom practice

Day 5: Friday 26 November 2021

Part I: Code.org
CODE.org contains comprehensive lesson plans, plugged and unplugged activities, and support resources for teachers. In this session you will explore the possibilities of online personalized learning about computational thinking & coding.

Part II: workshop: my own lesson

Presentation of your own lesson
Evaluation and farewell diner

Day 6: Saturday 27 November 2021

Departure & travel

Trainers
Anne-Marie Tytgat, Pedagogical expert
Christel Thonnon, GO! PBD
Seppe Hermans, Technical advisor, science teacher, Scientix ambassador

Participation fee

1190 Euro (full board en-suite accommodation in single rooms in four star hotel Lou Capitelle with tuition, excursions and course materials). All meals and drinks are included. For covering the participation fee you can use Erasmus+ KA1 grant money if your school or institutions has received such funding (and if your not from France).

How to apply for KA1 grants for the 2021 course? You cannot apply as an individual, it is your school who needs to apply based on the professionalisation needs of its team. This means a KA1 proposal should start from the ICT professionalisation needs of the teaching team and should propose the TACCLE courses as a way to take care of these needs. You could also apply for other ict-related courses in the same KA 1 grant application for going to an international conference for example.

1. Contact your National Agency for details about KA1 and for the grant application form. Applications have to come from your school / institution and can cover several people for different courses or conferences.
2. Hand in your grant application before the upcoming deadline (probably in May – TBC) 
3. Register for our course

How to register once you are sure of financing? Of course you can also register when you get your funding from other sources than Erasmus+ or if you have a KA1 which is continued from a previous year:

1. Register by completing an on-line-form.
2. We will contact you in September 2021 with practical information.
3. An invoice  will be sent in October 2021

Practical information:

Sunday , 21 November 2021 — Saturday, 27 November 2021

Location: Vogüè (Ardèche), France

Contact for more information: jens.vermeersch@g-o.be – telephone +32 2 790 95 98

Hotel & Training venue : Lou Capitelle