Computer Science Education for elementary school students.

1
Computer Science Education for elementary school
students. Curriculum Development and
Implementation
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
1. Introduction
3. Research Gap
5. Three Dimensions of Computer Fluency

• Issues like
• Absence of clearly defined computer science
  curriculum, inappropriate teaching sources.
• Computers being used mainly as entertainment
  devices.
• Can be addressed by
• Clearly defining Computer Science Curriculum.
• Providing appropriate teaching resources.
• Development of algorithmic thinking.
• Improving organisational, programming skills.

COMPUTER FLUENCY

• Computer education provides unique opportunity
  for boosting natural ways of learning.
• Integration of ICT into the school curriculum is
  instrumental in developing a culture of
  thinking, lifelong learning and social
  responsibility .
• However, less than 10 of all the schools have
  a computer.

a) BEHAVIOURAL

• Computer ethics, health safety
• share resources
• posture exercises
• Internet safety

• Computer skills
• skills that are currently essential
• e.g. basic OS features, Internet

2. Rural Urban Divide
4. Actions Taken
of schools having computers in rural areas
of schools having computers in urban areas

• Developed Computer Science Curriculum for
  Elementary and Middle School.
• Developed Teaching Material
• Prepared Teachers handbook Level I to IV
• Textbook for Level I printed
• Conducted Pilot test in one school (July 2007
  April 2008).
• Assess impact of Curriculum
• Iterate curriculum based on feedback

c) EFFECTIVE

• Positive attitude towards computers/Internet,
• information process
• Increased interest in learning about
  computers

Source Mehta, A. (2005). Elementary education in
rural/urban areas Analytic tables. Where do we
stand?
6. Curriculum
8. Field Survey
7. Teaching Material

• Field work for 10 months. Participants of study
  105 students of class 1 -5 - divided into
  mixed-sex groups of five to eight students.
• One session per week of 30 minutes for each
  class, 4 laptops provided hands-on experience to
  students.
• Students were taught basic computer skills,
  ergonomic/ safety values, applications such as
  paint, word processor, media player. Exercises in
  algorithmic thinking and logical reasoning
  through computer based and paper-pencil
  activities.
• Class III and IV - Scratch - a tile-based visual
  programming with intuitive user interfaces - was
  taught.

• For each standard, syllabus is defined by
• the topics that should be taught (what).
• the reasons for doing so (why).
• the plan (how).
• Three aspects addressed within the syllabus
• Concepts Learning computer science concepts that
  are generally useful in many areas as well as
  some concepts that are specific to computer
  usage/functioning.
• Usage Skills Developing hands-on skill in the
  use of various hardware/software and programming
  packages/languages.
• Social Aspects Understanding ethical and
  security related issues of computer and Internet
  usage.
• Spiral organization of the curriculum.
• Detailed syllabus available online.
• Download curriculum from
• http//www.cse.iitb.ac.in/sri/ssrvm/

• FOSS used Edubuntu operating system and Open
  source educational games.
• Creative commons license.
• Team comprised people from varied disciplines.
• Download Book I from http//www.cse.iitb.ac.in/s
  ri/ssrvm/Computer-Masti-Book-1.pdf

9. Structure of each lesson
10. Sample Content from Computer Masti
11. Field Insights
12. Future Plans
Contact Details

• Sridhar Iyer is an Associate Professor in the
  Department of Computer Science Engineering at
  IIT Bombay. His research interests include
  eLearning technologies, networking protocols and
  multimedia tools for distance education, wireless
  networking and applications. He can be reached at
  sri_at_iitb.ac.in
• Farida Umrani is a post-doc fellow at Department
  of Computer science and engineering, Indian
  Institute of Technology Bombay. She can be
  reached at farida_at_it.iitb.ac.in
• Malathy Baru is a project manager at the Computer
  science and engineering, Indian Institute of
  Technology Bombay. She can be reached at
  malati_at_it.iitb.ac.in

• Elementary school students are avid learners
  and explore the various computer applications
  with minimal assistance
• Computer-based activities interest the students
  and can be used for developing skills in
  other subjects.
• Collaborative learning enabled students to
  proactively explore various applications.
• No gender differences are observed in computer
  proficiency and usage, likely reason -
  controlled exposure in the school setting
  ensures equal opportunity to use the technology.
• Confidence of teacher with the technology has a
  positive impact on confidence of students.

• Rural/ adult adaptation for Information Literacy.
• Multilingual content translation in vernacular
  languages.

13. School Implementation