Where I claim to have a deeply thought out, innovative approach to learning and teaching:
The three game changers of 21st learning are block coding, micro-controllers and the Fabrication Lab. These can be integrated in various ways. Bits to Atoms; Atoms to Bits. I agree with Neil Gershenfeld that this is the path to the third digital revolution. Understanding this is a very big deal in my opinion.
My background qualifications are in Science (specialisation in Chemistry). But when computers came along I became an early adopter, particularly of the educational computing language logo (which has since evolved into Scratch). I was persuaded by Seymour Papert’s book “Mindstorms” that logo offered a more engaging way to teach maths, as well as computer science. Fast forward to today and Scratch coding has become a multi media story telling fun machine accessible to nearly all students. Sadly, this still isn’t appreciated by many teachers and school leaders. Block coding (be it Scratch, Makecode or SNAP!) is accessible and enjoyable for 95% plus of students. I call this “the wider walls”.
Seymour Papert was also an educational theorist. He spent some time collaborating with Piaget and developed the constructionist theory, a portmanteau of Piaget’s ‘constructivism’ (learners develop their own meanings) and ‘construction’ (we learn by building meaningful things). I am one of those rare teachers who studies educational theories and selected PhD theses. The constructionist approach continues to grow today led by Neil Gershenfeld (community Fab Lab), Paulo Blikstein (schools Fab Learn Lab) and others (Gary Stager, Sylvia Martinez, Yasmin Kafai, Josh Burker, Mitch Resnick, Brian Silverman etc.). This approach informs us how to design learning environments which promote highly engaging, self directed powerful learning.
However, I am not a one eyed constructionist. After years of searching I was surprised to find Diana Laurillard's integration of a range of different learning theories. Her approach is The Conversational Framework which combines Instructionism, Constructionism, Social-cultural learning and Collaborative learning into a meaningful whole. As well as learning by meaningful building, the social learning and collaboration has to be built into the programme (as well as essential Instruction).
In 2021 I was invited by Gary Stager to contribute to a book, 20 Things to Do with a Computer: Forward 50 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the seminal paper by Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert, “Twenty Things to Do with a Computer.” My contributing article was titled The Wider Walls, which developed the theme of making computational thinking available to all.
A good theory informs and improves practice. However, as well as the right software we also need the right hardware. Furthermore, creative imagination is another essential ingredient.
In my previous school I helped develop a subject called Artbotics (Craftbotics would have been a better name) where year 7 students made their own creations, mainly with cardboard, and controlled them in various ways (motion, lights, sound) with the Circuit Playground Express micro-controller, an appropriate alternative to the microbit.
The micro:bit is the ideal micro-controller. It is far more accessible than the Arduino because it runs on block code (MakeCode) and has controllers on the board.
STEM is a reasonable acronym but it’s better to extend it to STEAM with the amazing Turtle Art software and other ideas. For example, I accomplished this in a subject named Inventiveness. This took the form of the “Turtle Art Tile Project”. Students used Turtle Art to design attractive geometric shapes, then 3D printed them, then impressed them into clay and finally painted and glazed them. This was an impressive and engaging exemplar of digital fabrication or the bits to atoms approach.
Perhaps my most successful recent work was when my school experimented with the curriculum to setup my Year 8 class with extended learning times (2, 3 or 4 hour lessons became the norm). I created a subject called Fabulous Fabrication where students worked in groups to develop their own designs assisted with the microbit and 3D printing technology. The proof of the pudding here was that students repeatedly asked me if they could keep working through their recess and lunch breaks.
I am always on the lookout for new approaches which combine learning with modern technology. As well as the software and hardware mentioned above I have also experimented with Game Maker, 3D printer construction from kits, laser cutters, Hummingbird bit, ELECFREAKS kits, Spike LEGO, Makey Makey, TapeBlock (electric circuits for the disabled), drones, Raspberry Pi, Wolfram Alpha, CAD software (Tinkercad including CodeBlocks, Inkscape, Lightburn), microBlocks and a range of IDEs (VS Code, Jupyter) and Python libraries (Pygame, Matplotlib, Pandas, Django, Pytorch ...).
I have documented these and other learning experiences on my blog (https://billkerr2.blogspot.com/) Here is one sample article which outlines my preferred approach in more detail: Bits-and-Atoms-part-one
That is possibly enough to flesh out my dot pointed CV, the aim here was to provide more of a big picture overview of my educational philosophy, theory and practice.
