Implementing Donaldson – the story of PLAN C

Peter Donaldson23rd September 2015

Scottish Learning Festival 2015

About The Core Team

Peter DonaldsonPrincipal Teacher of ComputingCrieff High SchoolPerth and Kinross

Quintin CuttsProfessor of CS EducationUniversity of Glasgow

Sophie Murray SmithPLAN C Local hub coordinatorUniversity of Glasgow

Kate FarrellComputing TeacherCastlebrae High SchoolEdinburgh City Council

Digital Creativity Project

Special Mention To

Derek SummersPerth UHI

Roger McDermotRobert Gordons

University

Kirsty McFaul & James Lally

Education Scotland

Alan BundyUniversity of

Edinburgh

Judy RobertsonMoray House

Janet HughesUniversity of

Dundee

Craigmount High School

Edinburgh City

Karen PetrieSICSA

Education

Richard Connor

University of Strathclyde

Michelle Wallace and Barbara

MortonLearning

Directorate

During this sessionPast

1. Professional Learning Challenges

2. Key Features of Effective PL

3. CS in Scotland

Present

1. The PLAN C Model

2. Impact of the programme

Future

1. Exploiting network effects

2. What we’ve learned about TLC’s

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING CHALLENGES

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

Can You Relate To Any of These Issues?

I tried the technique/activity once but it didn’t quite work.

It’s not for me. It’s a great idea but I don’t have time to put it into practice

How did my colleagues apply that professional

learning? Wish I had time to ask them

I could change but the pupils I teach do ok already.

If it ain’t broke!

I don’t see how this professional learning

will improve my teaching

Some pupils just don’t get my subject. It’s not

for everyone.

KEY FEATURES OF EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

• Generic aspects of pedagogy must be related to specific subject content

• Self-evaluative

• Work in partnership with other professionals

• Engage with well-researched innovation

CPD most effective when peer-led, collaborative and

sustained2010 Teaching Scotlands Future

• Is sustained over time• Has multiple, iterative

activities and reflection• Explores and challenges

existing theories, beliefs and practices

• Has peer support to encourage risk taking

• Directly relevant to day to day teaching

• Combines pedagogy with subject knowledge eg PCK

• Has input from external experts2015 Developing Great Teaching

Key Design Features of Effective PL

• Generic pedagogic CPD on it’s own

• Telling teachers or giving materials without a chance to develop skills or explore impact.

Failing to provide • Strong focus on

aspirations for pupil learning

• structured opportunities to engage with, understand and reflect on implications of new approaches

What Definitely Doesn’t Work

Activity

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Inspiration From Existing Communities

ADiCOST- strong support & sharing

ethos- long-lived

Perth and Kinross Curricular Improvement Networks-supported by local authority

-regular meetings

Regional Hubs

SETTING THE SCENE- COMPUTING SCIENCE IN SCOTLAND

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

Particular Difficulties• Many existing

approaches don’t work that well

• Continuous change in underlying technologies

• Teaching novices to solve problems using computation is hard

• Confusion between using existing technology and understanding the underlying principles

Experiences of Being Taught CS Ourselves

1. Shown one or two examples using new concept

2. Write code of our own that makes use of it

3. Rinse and repeatAssumption that a brief explanation of the concept and how it works is enough

• Examples were often mathematical in nature or artificial and lacking broader connections

• Competitive nature of course meant limited discussion

• Priority often on creating a working program

Why Don’t Others Understand CS?

Computational Thinkers

Large number of people in

Scotland

Long learning path – hidden behind the cliff, most people focus on the device not the thinking skills required

Gulf of Confusion

A kind of amnesia causes them to forget their early learning

The Language BarrierNatural LanguageLots of built in redundancyForgiving of grammatical mistakes and missing information.Reliance on external context and prior knowledgeConversational in natureCan be interpreted in many different ways

Formal LanguageEvery single symbol and word is importantUnforgiving of any mistakesPrecise language definition determines how it’s interpreted.Command orientated.Language defines a specific hidden mechanism.“Can you go over there” “Speed = Distance / Time”

THE PLAN C MODEL

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

Why PLAN C ?

CS in the Curriculum

Group

CPD Proposal

• CommunityBuilding

• Useful sharing

The model in more detailCS

Education Academic

+Practicing Computing Teacher

Series of activities focused

on CS PCK with

formal evidence

of effectiven

ess

Shared with

groups of lead

teachers over 4

sessions in 3

months

Leads try out

approaches with their

classes between sessions

Provide more

detailed activities

and examples for local

hubs

Leads form local hubs meeting 8 to 10 times

over 12 months

Hub members

try out approaches with their classes

between sessions

Sustainable

professional

learning network

IMPACT OF THE PROGRAMME SO FAR

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

Lead Teacher Hub Results51 lead teachers completed the hub sequence98% of them had tried several different teaching approaches in their classrooms24 active hubs across ScotlandCreation of many additional materials and exercises- TRACS and comprehension exercises

Local Authorities with Teachers Regularly

Involved

Lead Teacher Hub Results

“I am always keen to take on new ideas and approaches to my practice and have done this for most of my 25 years in teaching: however, I have never been as enthused to do so as now, since the techniques I am going to use will not only result in improved motivation due to their engaging nature and the prospect that my pupils will perhaps gain a deeper understanding of key concepts”

“I can honestly say that I will be much more likely to make changes to my practice as a result of hub meetings. I firmly believe that the different approaches and strategies will be successful. I believe that they will mainly help to solve some of the issues that I face as a teacher whilst teaching programming. I am in agreement, alongside many other computing science teachers, that my approach to teaching programming has been fairly flawed.”

Compared to other CPD/PL events are you more or less likely to make changes to your practice

Local Hub ResultsWhat did you find most useful?“Haggis & Tracs. Gave me the chance to look at these from a student's perspective. Gave me an insight into how difficult it was for them.”“Enjoyed using the alternative conception methods. Often use the blind vote. Am using the Block Model and finding it useful.”“TRACS and Peer Instruction. I have attempted to use TRACS with senior pupils to try and understand more fully their approach.”

Acceptance Rate• 84% attended 5 or

more sessions• Mean rate of adoption

79% used successfully or plan to use.

• Mean rejection rate 21% used unsuccessfully or no plans to use.

• Techniques with highest acceptance rate TRACS (Tracing for CS) and Peer Instruction.

N=64 from 23 of 24 active hubs

ADVANTAGES OF THE NETWORK

Potential of the Network

Provide experiences for Masters level

learning

Share new approaches and

ideas

Plan and conduct large scale research.

Access wide scale support and encouragement

from others

Distribute pedagogical content knowledge across

the network

Collectively reflect on our teaching

experiences

Starting to See TeachersExtending the core ideas to invent new exercises in different contexts.

Exploring other research in techniques we didn’t have time to include.

Noticing changes in pupil behaviour and attitudes compared to previous years.

Reporting improved attainment and retention to higher levels of study

Creating larger sets of material for particular qualification levels.

Identifying possible alternative conceptions in topic areas where there isn’t any/much existing research.

Making changes to the BGE to include some PLAN C approaches

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT TEACHER LEARNING COMMUNITIES

www.planforcomputing.org.uk

Combination of practising teacher

and active education

researcher crucial

Strong evidence of effectiveness of an approach isn’t sufficient

All examples of particular

approaches should be pitched at pupil

level

Single shared electronic space

more effective than smaller group

spaces

Leads need way to quickly revisit key ideas from lead teacher

hubs

Face to face discussion with other peers increases rate

of adoption and is highly valued

Developing mechanistic reasoning

crucial for STEM

Give teachers ways of

understanding and diagnosing

difficulties

Questions