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eSkills 4.2c Coding cross-curricular links

Speaker: Hello and welcome back to Module Four of this eLearning course on developing

digital skills. We e ee looki g at how to programme machines during this unit and the

last ouple of ideos, e e ee looki g at odi g a d a teaching methodology called

pai ed odi g. A d o , hat e e goi g to do, is, e e goi g to ha e a little thi k a out how we might use computer programming or computer coding to be able to link to other

subjects. And the reason that we think this is important is because far too often computer

coding becomes the domain of the computing teacher. And yes, obviously, computer coding

has got a place in computer science education but actually, computer coding in particular, I

believe games design has got a massive potential for cross-curricular project work. Games

desig a d apps de elop e t eall a e at the hea t of this. So, hat e e goi g to do o is e e goi g to hea f o a umber of educators across Europe who are going to be

describing some of the ways the e used computer programming, app development and

games design in a cross-curricular context to really develop powerful learning opportunities

for their students.

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Q: Can you give an example of how we can link computing with other subjects?

Ben Bastiaensen, Belgium: A few years ago, we did a combined project with physical

education and with multimedia here at the school and it was also combined with an

Austrian school. So, it was a project about health and sports and we created a website.

Multimedia pupils did the design. We did the technical stuff. The sport activities were done

during physical education. We had a website. We had a tool that would analyse your health

based on some data input. And it would generate a training plan for you to get fitter.

Ray Chambers, United Kingdom: What we did in our school, is we actually got our students

to approach staff and ask them a out hat apps the ould like. So, it s more about it being

applied so, kind of linking in with the other subjects. So, we had one student went up to his

History teacher and said: If you had an app that would help your lessons and would help

stude ts e o e e gaged, hat ould it e? And he made this awesome app that was all

a out the t e hes so that ou ould so ou ould fi d o e i fo atio . You e hitting the

hot spots a d fi di g all the te h i al te s. So, that s a ki d of p oje t that ou ight do. Obviously, your problem solving links heavily with your maths with s ie e. You e ki d of going to break down why you have this error poppi g up all the ti e: Wh is it happe i g? You e got to kind of take that back and debug it and see why is that

happening. But also, it kind of lands itself to E glish e ause i p og a i g, it s ot all a out just sta i g i that lo k a d aki g su e ou ode o ks. You e got to go out and

speak to testers and speak to other students so it helps them with their people skills and

find out that a of the stude ts, afte the e ee doi g all these p oje ts, ha e o e confidence to speak to people outside the classroom.

Speaker: Well, I really hope that you enjoyed seeing some different people talk about how

they have used computer programming in a cross-curricular context. Of course, you

p o a l ha e hea d the uestio that I a goi g to ask e t a d that uestio is: Ho

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have you used or how do you think you might be able to use some form of computer

programming in a cross-curricular context? How could you link that to digital storytelling?

How could you link that to history, geography, art and design and business management?

That s ou halle ge a d e ll e aski g ou to sha e that o our online community. See

you in the next video where e ll be having a little bit of a think about how we can develop

apps.