An introduction to Scratch and Python was on the agenda when around a hundred primary and lower secondary school teachers gathered at Campus Johanneberg in August for a full day of programming.
“The aim is to help teachers become more confident with programming so that they can teach it to their pupils, but also to inspire them to create their own digital teaching materials that can be used to engage pupils and explain concepts in the classroom,” says doctoral student Tora Bodin.
The initiative, known as Teachers Coding Club, is a newly established collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the City of Mölndal. Alice de Jesus Kozakevicius is a Senior Lecturer in mathematics at the City of Mölndal, where her role is to coordinate and strengthen mathematics teaching. She explains that the initiative was inspired by Ana Bove and her work with Girls Code Club, where young girls learn programming for a few weeks during the summer holidays.
“We at the City of Mölndal are delighted to have got this initiative under way and, in doing so, opened up an important forum for collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Giving our teachers the right conditions and continuing professional development in programming is absolutely essential if we are to strengthen pupils’ knowledge and achievement in mathematics in different contexts,” says Alice de Jesus Kozakevicius.
Start at an introductory level
The collaboration began in the spring, and the workshop on 13 August was the first activity for primary and lower secondary school teachers. Lecturer Inari Listenmaa and doctoral student Tora Bodin from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering worked with Alice de Jesus Kozakevicius to develop the material, which is intended to be expanded as the teachers’ needs grow. The first workshop brought together teachers working with pupils from preschool class to Year 9. Tora Bodin explains that this presented a particular challenge.
“Approaches to programming naturally differ greatly between preschool class and Year 9. But regardless of what pupils are ultimately expected to learn, all teachers have to start somewhere to build their confidence. We therefore chose to pitch the material at an introductory level, with the option during the afternoon session either to continue working on the basics or move on to more advanced tasks.”
Often a of confidence among teachers
Programming is part of the curriculum, but did not become mandatory in compulsory school until 2018. This means that many teachers did not learn about programming as part of their teacher education.
“There are still major challenges in the classroom when it comes to teaching programming, largely due to both a lack of teaching materials and a lack of confidence among teachers themselves. As a university with extensive expertise in both coding and teaching programming, it is only natural that we should step in and provide support,” says Tora Bodin.
The project is currently limited to Mölndal, but there may be opportunities to offer Teachers Coding Club to more municipalities in the future.