Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for
K-8 Teachers
I. Key Framework
The inclusion of coding into the curriculum affords students with opportunities for
computational and higher order thinking. Embedding well-designed coding tasks into
student thinking capabilities” (Falloon, 2016). No longer is coding seen as just a means to
benefits for students and potentially democratizes the access of and contribution to knowledge.
Now learners and teachers alike face the daunting prospect of shifting away from centralized,
authoritative knowledge sources and toward an open, more fragmented future that UNESCO
calls a “Knowledge Society” (2005). Education researchers as well as the B.C. Ministry of
Education increasingly recognize the need for teachers to transform their practice in light of
these changes, for teachers to “be designer[s] of learning environments for engaged students,
rather than someone who regurgitates the textbook” (Kalantzis & Cope, 2010, p. 204).
Intro2Coding will empower K-8 teachers to prepare themselves and their students for this
societal shift by becoming the “New Teacher,” particularly in regards to coding resources in the
technology and new teaching-as-designing pedagogical theory, many teachers today do not know
how to effectively integrate technology into their classrooms (Howard and Mozejko, 2015).
Intro2Coding will introduce coding resources freely available online that utilize technologies
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
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lesson plans in Math, Arts, and Socials (for example); however, Intro2Coding’s primary aim will
be to empower its learners -- in this case, K-8 teachers -- to create their own lesson plans, remix
others’ plans and share the resulting projects online. In this way, Intro2Coding models the New
London Group exhortation that teachers should think of themselves as “designers of learning
processes and environments, not bosses dictating what those in their charge should think and do”
(73). Rather than dictate how learners should use Intro2Coding, the website will allow learners to
explore according to their own goals and contribute directly to the shared body of knowledge. As
Intro2Coding matures, it will be a globally accessible knowledge bank built by and for teachers.
majority of resources featured on Intro2Coding will be free and compatible even with older
technologies, ensuring that most schools, teachers, and students will be able to access them.
Rather than directive and linear, Intro2Coding will be a true web of information with some
recommended but by no means required paths to help learners navigate the offerings. Kalantzis
and Cope foreshadowed our project with The Learning Element, which allowed teachers to share
and remix their learning designs with others in an online environment. Intro2Coding aims to fill
the particular niche surrounding the use of and familiarity with computer programming in the
K-8 classroom; we will focus primarily on Canadian curricular requirements, but anyone --
including students themselves in K-8! -- will be welcome to explore, access, and contribute to
the continually growing and changing body of knowledge in this area via discussion board.
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
Our goal with Intro2Coding is to introduce a collaborative digital learning platform that
provides K-8 educators with resources and a framework to design interdisciplinary projects for
their students related to the implementation of the British Columbia Ministry of Education’s new
coding curriculum. In this new curriculum, the B.C. Ministry of Education sets goals for students
to develop, explore, understand, and apply skills in computational thinking via a variety of
their problem-solving, logical thinking, planning, and organization skills (Siegel, 2009). Through
the creation of their own learning environments, students enhance their problem-solving skills by
providing concrete experiences that promote thinking at a formal operational level (Papert,
1980). Intro2Coding will give educators the opportunity to learn, design, and reflect on
technologies related to coding and allow educators to design learning environments that
new coding curriculum by encouraging educators to actively create their own projects while
collaborating, reflecting, and receiving feedback from peers. With the introduction of coding in
the new Applied Skills and Design Curriculum, educators in British Columbia have renewed
interest in best practices to teach programming to students; however, many educators without a
background in computer programming do not feel ready (Chan, 2016) to effectively implement
this curriculum. Educational technology research shows many barriers, misunderstandings and
lack of confidence when teachers encounter new technologies for the classroom (Glassett &
Schrum, 2009; Allen, G., 2008). Zammit (1992) found that a major obstacle to successful
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
technology integration was the lack of teacher confidence and skill when using technology.
Sabzian & Gilakjani (2013) noted that, in regards to computer technology, anxiety, and
integration that teachers need to be provided with explanation, guidance and assistance from
trainers and other colleagues, and also the opportunities to reflect and discuss the integration,
share outcomes and possible problems with each other. With Intro2Coding, educators will
experience a Constructionist learning environment where they can build their own projects,
experiment and collaborate with colleagues, and receive feedback on their work.
number of research-proven ways. For example, recently Yukselturk and Altiok (2016) found that
educators’ negative attitudes surrounding computer programming decreased when they had the
opportunity to try coding with a versatile and user-friendly programming platform such as
Scratch. Taking this study into consideration, we hope to extend these results into other
programming languages and cross-curricular directions. Additionally, Kafai & Peppler (2011)
believe that educators need to be interested in their students’ DIY communities, where these
students voluntarily learn technical skills. Intro2Coding will allow educators the opportunity to
experience and learn about the coding “world” and its DIY communities. Finally, Mouza &
Levigne (2013) classify emerging technologies into 4 classes: Learning to Understand and
Gaming. Intro2Coding will allow educators to participate in different aspects of each of these
many of the skills and strategies that they in turn may encourage their students to acquire.
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
Instructionist lessons lead to a single desired finished product that can be summatively
Constructionist mindset both in its delivery and its sample lesson plans for teachers.
Intro2Coding will form a collaborative online ecosystem to educate and support those new to this
this paradigm. Our community will emphasize the diversity of experiences, knowledge, and
participation of its learners, including “an emphasis on the social and interactive context, or the
and Resnick, 2013). Intro2Coding will not provide pre-made lessons, but rather give teachers
tools to remix and explore, then feed back into the site for others to explore. Intro2Coding
focuses on Brennan and Resnick’s (2013) concept of design as “an iterative approach that
involves design cycles of imagining, creating, playing, sharing, and reflecting,” best achieved
when “designers of all ages and backgrounds can find support for their learning experiences in
contexts where they have access to others.” Intro2Code’s online space means that ideas can be
Our Intro2Coding project objective aligns with the British Columbia Ministry of
Education Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies goals (2016) and to have educators deliver
this curriculum effectively and efficiently. This Intro2Coding platform intends to foster teachers’
comfort, skill, and knowledge of the ADST curriculum by learning and subsequently applying
their knowledge in a collaborative digital environment. Teachers are able to develop their own
lesson plans or to remix and repurpose existing lessons to make them applicable to their
particular K-8 educational environments. We are promoting a new media literacy in coding and
technology that centers student needs as participatory learners who work across multiple
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
modalities. Critical, ethical, technical, and creative participatory competencies are at the heart of
our desire to help teachers learn this new tool. Currently there is no “one stop shop” to bring
educators together to collaboratively discuss and practice coding, and we hope to bridge this gap.
The new generation of learners in our schooling system is significantly different from
previous students in terms of both learning preferences and habits. Teachers who use traditional
teaching methodologies may now struggle to engage these students, who are accustomed to using
(Kalantzis & Cope, 2010). Intro2Coding will help teachers more accurately target lesson plans to
spark the students’ interests, develop intrinsic motivators and help students develop
self-regulation. Calling these new students the “Net-Generation,” Tapscott writes that educators
need to have a deep awareness of the N-Geners’ digital lived experiences (2009). N-Geners have
a number of key characteristics; for example, they customize things to make them their own,
naturally collaborate with others, and prefer speedy innovation over tradition.
Intro2Coding will challenge educators to design and share lesson plans where they
incorporate coding into different subjects, using best practices based on current research. For
example, Burke showed that learners best access the information in which they are interested
when the content follows a horizontal flow (Burk, 1999). In improving how knowledge is created
and shared in the classroom, teachers can effectively raise the level of expertise in a classroom
and provide equal learning opportunities for their students (Rajan et al., 2004). This idea is true
for both students learning new knowledge in a classroom, and for teachers who are learning to
become more technologically fluent. Intro2Coding will include a collaborative space where
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
educators can share their lesson plans and comment on how the plan was executed in order to
the classroom and transition teachers to the new “Knowledge Society”; as teachers engage with
the N-Geners, it can be daunting for teachers whose authority is challenged when students ask
questions about technologies and coding beyond the teacher’s expertise. To combat this issue,
educators should strive to be technologically fluent and also comfortable with democratizing
knowledge sources. This can be achieved when educators learn to design rather than spout
knowledge, and also learn to produce and reformulate knowledge (Kafai & Peppler, 2011).
Intro2Coding will allow registered users to contribute to the knowledge base, regardless of
background or experience with technology. This knowledge-sharing friendly design will boost
may include uploading lesson plans, providing feedback on or remixing others’ lesson plans, or
submitting links to what their students produced as the outcome of a lesson plan.
Intro2Coding will also emphasize developing students’ and teachers’ creativity with
technology. Kalantzis described “school knowledge” as a rigid list of information that students
simply had to memorize in order to excel (Kalantzis & Cope, 2010). This kind of education
worked well in an era where school graduates were not required to demonstrate creativity in the
workforce, but social changes have brought us to a time where knowledge and creativity take a
“uniquely central place” (Kalantzis & Cope, 2010). Success now belongs to problem solvers,
innovators, risk takers, creators, and collaborators. Intro2Coding will encourage these behaviours
by incorporating a remix functionality, where one teacher may add onto or redevelop another
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
teacher’s lesson plan. Individuals will be able to customize their learning experience based on
their needs. The original lesson plan and the remixed versions will be placed into different
categories of the website, so it will be easy for users to navigate according to their skill level and
interests, allowing them to customize their learning experience on the site. In this way,
Intro2Coding models how educators more generally should start to value the advantage of
customization through using technology in the classroom (Collins & Halverson, 2009).
Intro2Coding will challenge educators to take a step towards being technologically fluent,
flourish when coding is incorporated into subjects such as math and language arts. Intro2Coding
will be a platform where educators become learners themselves in order to truly understand the
new generation of learners, through adopting their proactive, collaborative, and design-thinking
learning styles. In this way, Intro2Coding will push teachers away from Instructionism and
toward Constructionism where mistakes are valued, knowledge is constructed and shared, and no
one person or source is the knowledge authority. Instead, Intro2Coding will encourage teachers
to make mistakes in front of their students and to join their learning journey. With our model we
own path of inquiry, knowledge-making, interpretation, and analysis -- their “sense of identity as
IV. InterActivities
Intro2Coding will utilize a Web 2.0 platform that supports learning in a knowledge
community, an activity system that expands into “a complex social organization that contains
learners, teachers, curricula, and technologies” (Mouza & Lavigne, 2013). Intro2Coding’s
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Connecting through Coding: A Constructionist Proposal for a Collaborative Coding Resource for K-8
Teacher
purpose is to encourage teachers to grow comfortable with, create, and share lesson plans that
integrate coding with other subjects; therefore, our platform must combine personal and
successful applications of coding in the classroom. We chose Wix.com as our design platform as
it balances Brown’s three basic needs for Design: Desirability, Feasibility and Viability (Brown,
2009). Firstly, Wix is an accessible and beginner-friendly platform for those with limited to no
coding or web building experience. Customization options are plentiful and it boasts an intuitive
GUI (Graphical User Interface). Wix is also a flexible system, allowing users to upload video,
insert PDF’s, add apps and blogs, create contact forms, and build comment areas. Fortunately, it
also has a large storage space! External applications can be added as well such as embedding
other websites, linking buttons to other web resources, or adding customized HTML code to the
In Intro2Coding, teachers will plan an activity-oriented lesson plan, which will follow the
Understanding by Design (UbD) lesson planning process in order to enhance the student’s
learning outcome (McTighe & Wiggins, 2012). Teachers will plan their lessons “backwards” by
first identifying student’s desired learning results. In this lesson planning process, teachers
should be answering questions backwards from final objective to initial lesson activities. Some
examples are “What will your students know and be able to do after this lesson?”, “What will
your students do to understand or apply the concept?”, “What products will reveal evidence of
meaning-making?”, and finally “What activities, experiences, and lessons will lead to
V. Verifications
Our assessment of Intro2Coding can be divided into two broad categories: firstly, its
overall outreach to teachers in British Columbia and beyond, and secondly, whether participation
in Intro2Coding improves teachers’ confidence with coding, the design cycle, and the
outreach will be accomplished by recording logged-in users’ statistics (such as location), using a
Google Analytics plug-in to track website traffic and demographics, and creating a Google Map
to track when and where projects and lesson plans are remixed. In the interests of transparency,
usage statistics like location, frequency and type of use may be recorded into an Excel document
implemented separately. Wix affords several types of comment boxes to allow users to provide
formative feedback on different components of the site. For example, lesson plans will allow
comments and rating scales where other users may comment and rate the lesson. Wix also has
third-party apps that generate feedback forms, allowing us to assess our learners’ goals, interests
and skills when they first register at Intro2Coding and then to re-assess their progress three
months later. This allows us to evaluate Intro2Coding’s impact and also to help the learners to
identify their learning objectives and reflect on their experience. Initial questions may include
“What technology-related skill or area of knowledge would you most like to improve?”, while
follow-up questions may include “Were you successful in achieving that goal?” Some of this
assessment is hypothetical due to the limitations of ETEC 510’s timeline; Intro2Coding’s true
impact will not be known until months or even years after its creation as the community matures.
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References
Allen, G. (2008). Practicing teachers and web 2.0 technologies: Possibilities for transformative
Brennan, K. & Resnick, M. (2013). Chapter 17: Imagining, Creating, Playing, Sharing,
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British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2016). Goals and Rationale. Applied Design, Skills and
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Brown, T. (2009). `Design thinking meets the corporation’, in Change by Design: How Design
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Collins, A., & Halverson, R. (2009). Rethinking education in the age of technology: The digital
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Teacher
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