Didactic projects developed by a first-year technology teacher.
Between April and May, workshops for Project CS First were held in Reggio Calabria, Campofelice di Roccella (Palermo), Rome, Grosseto. Today, with an interview conducted by Onelia Onorati, we bring you to Sant’Elpidio a Mare, in the Province of Fermo in the Marche.
Serena Cossa, a technology teacher at the istituto comprehensive institute, tells us about the first CS First Platform workshop, which she considers a “an ace up one’s sleeve to drive one’s education style.”
How was your experience with the project?
This was my “test” year, my first at a lower secondary school as a professor. The school proposed that I participate in CS First and I grasped the opportunity to learn about a tool that can integrate coding into various subjects. Indeed, I was thinking about starting a similar course as the first-year classes use Scratch. I found CS First particularly interesting because it is integrated with Google and does not require any further registration for privacy issues. In terms of the project, I followed the webinars in a multidisciplinary perspective that will be ableo to involve professors of other subjects.
Did you already have experience applying coding to other subjects?
Having just started, my teaching experience only concerns secondary school. So, I needed to adapt my computer science education to a different reality and calibrate the language and notions to the age of the students. In this context, thanks to the power of history and images, CS First is a facilitator. Moreover, it has an advantage over Scratch: work is saved on the platform. And as it’s not always possible to use the same pcs, this is fantastic. CS First allows one to work on any pc at school or at home and the students can work independently even after school.
What activities did you participate in and how useful were they for teaching?
The introductory webinar was conceived to begin using the platform and worked very well. The coaches were able to show us how to operate the platform as they explained it. And this is far better than traditional learning in which one applies what has been learnt at a second point. This is a far more heuristic approach. Moreover, I found it very interesting that there are activity proposals that only need to be developed. Indeed, when one only has an hour of time, projects are often barely introduced and then left incomplete.
Have you already tested the CS First Platform with your students?
Yes. The experience concerned a “fashion design” project on textile fibres, the last curricular topic for the first year. I chose the first-year classes as they are more attentive and stimulating and have a healthy dose of competition. Unfortunately, we had connection issues and were not able to complete the project. I had divided the students into groups to work in the computer lab after having seen the tutorials on the multimedia board. However, due to the issues, I asked the students to complete the projects as part of their summer homework.
How is your project organised?
The activity on fashion, which is part of the platform proposals, allows for the creation of a character and their clothing, along with a final catwalk. In this case, the group projects will be completed during the summer vacations. I will provide a final prize based on the ability of the students to work as a group.
Does any particular story or episode come to mind?
As soon as I proposed the students complete the CS First project as homework, they asked if it would be graded. And this is how competitive they feel the activity is. Then, they asked if they could meet and also get together with other groups, demonstrating to unconsciously adopt the Jigsaw classroom work technique, also known as cooperative learning.
Do you believe the platform had an important impact on your teaching style?
I certainly understood that the answer to coding on this platform was positive and exciting. Moreover, the possibility of working from home without time constraints is extremely important for a more relaxed and creative approach. As far as I’m concerned, I explicitly included the CS First in the skills I used during my first year. I consider it optimal for all subjects, including cultural, computer, pedagogical didactic and methodological skills.
Do you have any suggestions to improve the platform with new applications?
Its functions must be explored calmly, so a few extra tutorials would be useful as it’s not easy to remember everything. With just two hours a week, time is very limited!
