Programming | Comenius Logo » Teaching Method and Flexible Tools, Comparative Study, Macedonia

Source: http://www.doksinet ” Teaching Method and Flexible Tools COMPARATIVE STUDY MACEDONIA This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Source: http://www.doksinet ” COMPARATIVE STUDIES 1.2 General description of “computational thinking and coding” Computer programming is the process of developing and implementing various sets of instructions to enable a computer to perform a certain task, solve problems and provide human interactivity. These instructions (source codes which are written in a programming language) are considered computer programs and help the computer to operate smoothly. Coding on a technical level is a type of computer programming that closely or exactly represents what happens at the lowest (machine) level. However, when most people talk about coding, they

usually mean something at a higher, more human-readable level which could be anything from problem-orientated languages like Java, C++ or PHP. Often computer programming (when referring to software) and coding are used interchangeably and refer to more or less the same activities of writing the instructions (recipe) for the computer to perform a specific task following a logic. However, based on the definitions above, coding can also be seen as a specific sub-task of software computer programming which arranges the implementation of the algorithm in the target programming language. Programming/ computational thinking: “to be able to define a set of instructions to reach a given goal from a given starting point; to be able to write a concrete set of instructions for a computer to let the computer run a certain task.” (Belgium Flanders) Programming: “The ability to realise an algorithm in a computer programming language, that is to interpret the steps of the algorithm as

instructions in a programming language, as a computer programme, to compile, run and debug the programme, as well as to identify and reuse common design patterns.” Source: http://www.doksinet ” 1.2 Application of coding in the educational system of the involved countries Each school has to develop the description of the current situation in its country: Basic information Please write here the priorities for teachers and students training, and other relevant policies in your country/region about ICT/informatics in general and coding and computational thinking specifically that you as expert consider useful to include in this research. We identified priorities and objectives to be achieved in accordance to the decisions that the School Board of teachers has reached, taking into consideration teachers needs and the decisions that the European Union has taken in the last years in the field of the educational process. We put a special emphasize to establishing a solid framework for

European cooperation in ICT education and training, based on common objectives with the basic aim to encourage innovative ideas of pupils and teachers and improve the educational system through various computer trainings, developing complementary instruments at European level and adopting it at the same time to our national curriculum. Having into consideration the project of the Macedonian Government for a computer for every child, we recognized the first element of priority in the digital aspect with special emphasize to the field of using computer technology in learning foreign languages at school and chose our partners according to the same priorities. The Source: http://www.doksinet ” second element of priority was based on the recognition of the importance of cooperation among European schools which leads to significant results in supporting of National reforms, regarding the development of common European ICT tools which will be able to promote the quality and promoting

open educational process ready to adopt to the new challenges of our new, digital society, improving competences of both teachers and pupils in a long term learning perspective. The third priority was to strengthen the profile of the teaching profession in order to promote democratic values, social cohesion, active citizenship and integration of new modern approaches and practices, reinforcing transitions between formal and non formal education, training and ICT competences of young people, ensuring a better recognition of the gained competences. PORTAL OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS This educational portal links the teachers and the students from all primary and secondary schools in a virtual working environment. The education portal would provide on-line resources for the school directors, teachers and the students and would enable them to easily share their experiences and practices. The education portal will mark the beginning of a new quality of the education system in

Macedonia, thus bringing it closer to the modern education trends and practices in the world. COMENIUS LOGO AND TOOLKID IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS Because of the Source: http://www.doksinet ” lack of educational software in Macedonian and Albanian language, the e-School.mk project identified ToolKid software represents a comprehensive educational resource center and research tool for the needs of all primary school students from grades I to IV. This software represents the starting point for the future development of similar software by local capacities. One of the main e-School project activities was translation, localization, and adaptation of the software package titled ìToolKIDî, based on Comenius Logo, for use by K-4 children. This educational software, together with four manuals was donated to 100 primary schools throughout Macedonia. Besides, a large number of teachers passed the training for using this software. This process continues. [2] Figure 5: The entry screen of ToolKid

The ToolKid educational software could be useful in all subjects of K-4 education (mother tongue, mathematics, nature and society, society, art education and music education). It organization is such that enable students to acquire firm informatics literacy and culture. The primary education is the right place where the students need to obtain basic informatics knowledge. The curriculum needs to follow the informatics knowledge trends and to be redesigned in compliance with them. In this package are included programs provide all activities implemented in national school curriculum for working with computers in primary school. The software programs included in package are classified in 7 main groups: Educational games, Drawing Source: http://www.doksinet ” Programs, Text Programs, Sound Programs, Animation and Video, Multimedia Programs, Algorithmic and Programming. The resources created with one program, like backgrounds, animation, images; sounds can be used in other in native

and easy way by children. It is important and creative for them when they are going to work on it. The current state in the informatics education of in Macedonia does not correspond with the objectives Macedonian society has. In the time when all government efforts leads to the building of information society, the number of classes for the subject informatics is lowest comparing with any other subject. In particular, under the current curriculum, the informatics is taught with 2 classes per week in the 6th grade and 1 class per week in the 7 grade of primary school and between 2 and 6 classes in all for years of secondary school . In 2010/11 the Minister of Education brought amendments to the curriculum of the eight years primary education. By this decision, the new subject Programming was added to the list of elective subjects in VII and VIII grade with 2 classes per week, i.e 72 classes per year This supplement is essential for the education in informatics, because pupils in primary

education will be introduced to the basics of programming, as one of the most important parts in computer sciences. Moreover, this subject will stimulate the algorithmic thinking of students, as a creative component that successful experts possess. Additionally, this way of thinking and reasoning should be encouraged Source: http://www.doksinet ” at a younger age, so the efforts are towards the inclusion of programming earlier as an obligatory subject as well as the inclusion of elements of logical algorithmic thinking in the lower grades. According to the new curriculum for the nine-year primary education, elective subjects in informatics are offered from third grade. The subject “Work with computer” is a facultative for the pupils in III grade and elective in IV or V grade. In the last three years of primary school pupils have the opportunity to elect two subjects related to informatics and computer sciences, Project in Informatics and Programming. In the Secondary schools,

the content for the mandatory subject Informatics in the first year and the mandatory subject Informatics and elective subject Information Technology in the second year of studies was rather the same as the content of subjects in primary education and only involved teaching computer applications for word processing, work with spreadsheets, basic graphics and presentations. Because changing the curriculum is much more complex process, the first step was directed in modification of the content of these subjects, incorporating topics from other areas of computer science. After modifications, one half of the new curriculum in the first year is mostly concentrated on deepening the knowledge gained in primary school about office applications and Internet. The second half introduces programming (in C++). Since the programming is the hardest part and most of the students are introduced to it for the first time, it is divided in two Source: http://www.doksinet ” parts, one in the first

semester and the other in the second semester. Topics that are treated in the first year are: Hardware (6 classes), Software (6 classes), Program for text processing (6 classes) , Programming in C++ (36 classes) , Program for spreadsheet calculations (10 classes), Computer networks and Internet (8 classes.) In the second year, the emphasis is again placed on the programming, and there are other topics covering different areas of computer science. The topic Multimedia and computer graphics is prevalent in number of classes, as the topic which would be interesting for students and will awaken their creativity. The topics in the second year are Databases (12 classes), Programming (22 classes) , Multimedia and computer graphics(24 classes),HTML(14 classes).Therefore, except the set of key concepts that are essential if schoolchildren to understand the networked world in which they are growing up our children need to learn a new way of thinking about problem-solving - computational

thinking, understand the difference between human and artificial intelligence, learn to thinking recursively, being alert to the need for prevention, detection and protection against risks, using abstraction and decomposition when tackling large tasks, and deploying heuristic reasoning, iteration and search to discover solutions to complex problems. Source: http://www.doksinet ” Strategies Please, describe here how these policies are developed and implanted in your country/region Every school tries to promote innovative approaches and programs incorporated in every subject with 30 percent, which address the pupils, by using ICT-based methodologies. It also caters students’ needs of adopting new and easier ways of linguistic and language learning, taking into account each others diversity. Recently available communication technologies, particularly associated with the Internet but also with tablets and smart phones are being integrated into the conventional modalities of the

teaching/learning process. Teachers can benefit from the students ability in using computers and Internet devices since modern students belong to the 3rd generation of digital natives in order to develop students skills in speaking English , to develop and improve their information processing skills by introducing coding activities and to critically investigate the Internet, so both teachers and learners can take advantage of technology and of the new learning opportunities offered by it. There are many things that moved the things in the right direction in Source: http://www.doksinet ” the last two years in Macedonian education. The new computers and computer equipment, and broadband fast speed Internet are now reality in the most of the Macedonian schools. This is a result of the outstanding efforts of the Government, as well as, previous and current projects in the field of ICT in Macedonian education. The largescale computerization of the Macedonian education is a crucial

part of the process of creating and development of the Macedonian Information Society. The situation with software is quite different There is an evident lack of educational software on Macedonian language. The ToolKid package is a good example of such software, but its target groups are just K-4 teachers and students. The educational portal is also very useful, but it needs further development and improvements. This situation is a great challenge for university teachers, primary and secondary teachers, and business IT sector. Teachers, parents, students, educational authorities, managers of the ICT projects in education, are the main actors in the process of computerization of the Macedonian education. They are faced with many challenges: creation of education software and digital educational material, proper implementation of ICT in education for learning, teaching, managing and administering, trainings for teachers in the framework of their professional development and continuous

education. We need the synergy of all actors, mentioned above, in order to follow the way of the developed countries. Source: http://www.doksinet ” Links Sources : websites, e-mails, studies ,etc Janceski M. and Pacovski V, Macedonian experience, needs, challenges, Selected papers of the International Conference Olympiad in informatics-Country experiences and developments, Zagreb, Croatia, pp. 66−78, August 2007 *2+ USAID Macedonia press releases http://macedonia.usaidgov/english/EDU/Macedonia Connectshtm http://macedonia.usaidgov/english/EDU/E-schools enghtm http://macedonia.usaidgov/English/EDU/pephtm [3] M KonPopovska, M Janceski and M Jovanov, ìICT trends and challenges for research in Macedoniaî in Proceedings of the III Balkan Conference in Informatics (BCI 2007) WorkshopîBridging the Digital Divide in South Eastern Europe (SEE), Sofia, Bulgaria, pp. 35-111, September 2007. [4] Portal of primary and secondary schools in Macedonia http://schools.edumk Source:

http://www.doksinet ” questionnaire to teachers who have used the coding Please, collect at least 5 questionnaire submitted to teachers who implemented computational thinking and coding activities Questionnaire no. 1 General information 1-Name, Surname: Elizabeta Filipova 2- Name Of The School: Tode Hazi Tefov 3- What level of education DO you teach? a) Primary education; First stage of basic Education b) Lower secondary education; Second stage of basic education c) (Upper) secondary education 1. Does your school offer IT / Informatics / coding lessons? a) Yes b) No If your answer is yes, CE? Informatics lessons 2. When schools participated in the development of the code, how would you judge the involvement of the following actors? very important not very important important Headteacher 5 School board/council Teachers 5 5 not important at all Source: http://www.doksinet ” Parents 4 Students 5 1 3. What level of education are these lessons? a. Primary education;

First stage of basic Education b. Lower secondary education; Second stage of basic education c. (Upper) secondary education 4. Please describe the content that you teach I teach English (vocabulary and basic grammar for younger learners) 5. Are your students interested in ITC/Informatics/Coding lessons? A. Yes B. No Questionnaire no. 2 Lower secondary education; Second stage of basic education Source: http://www.doksinet ” (Upper) secondary education 1-Name, Surname: Nikolinka Ilieva 2- Name Of The School: Goce Delcev 3. Does your school offer an AP Computer Science Java Course? a) Yes b) No If your answer is yes: 4. What is the number of pages of the code? a) Less than five pages b) Between five and 6 pages c) Between ten and twenty pages d) More than twenty pages 5. Do you think it is useful to teach students create games by using Java? a) Yes b) No 3.1 Interpretation questionnaire to teachers who have used the coding Source: http://www.doksinet ” Source:

http://www.doksinet ” Searching and sharing of good practices Please, describe 5 good practices with selection of innovative tools for students and teaching methods for teacher 2.2 Primary education; First stage of basic Education 2.3 Lower secondary education; Second stage of basic education 2.4 (Upper) secondary education NAME of the PROGRAM/PROJECT 1. Microsoft Visual C++/C # 2010 Express Edition RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION Visual Studios PARTNERS Kids, teenagers, parents and teachers 1.SHORT DESCRIPTION: This program allows you to make a model(Form) of a program and then give commands to it so it can be used in practice. Its smart system allows it to adapt to mathematical problems such as making a calculator or many different things. Name of the method/tool: The name of the method that I used is called event click which allows you to do one code for every number/click on the program essentially getting smarter with the studio and create newer ways of coding than just making one

for all of the buttons. We focus on Microsoft Visual C++/C#2010, the programming language and online community developed by Microsoft. It makes it easy for young people to create their own interactive maths projects - like maths games, maths calculations through discovering ne ways of codes - and then share their results with others in an active, online community. https://www.youtubecom/watch?v=QirqrcOVeXU First what you need to do is get some buttons, label, Text Box etc then Source: http://www.doksinet ” rename the buttons. After that you need to start the codes by making an event click for the operators and for the Arithmetic keys. Then you open the key you want to start coding and start the line of codes. Which is the student s role? Pupils have fan with games that offer many possibilities for solving mathematical problems through the language of coding Which is the teachers role? GUIDE – FACILITATOR WEBSITE www.microsoftcom (Visual C++ Restributable) CONTACTS FOR

INFORMATION Visual Studios @GooGle Source: http://www.doksinet ” 2.NAME of the PROGRAM/PROJECT CSUNPLUGGED RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION CS Education Research group PARTNERS Many computer advisers and contributors SHORT DESCRIPTION: Each Unplugged activity is available to download in PDF format, with full instructions and worksheets. Background sections explain the significance of each activity to computer science, and answers are provided for all problems. All you need for most of these activities are curiosity and enthusiasm. There are photos and videos showing some of the activities in action, and also collected links to other useful resources. The activities are primarily aimed at the five to twelve year-old age group, but they are by no means restricted to this age range: It is used to teach older children and adults too, with little modification. Students will: Recognize situations where they can create programs to complete tasks, predict moves necessary to get teammate from

start to finish, Convert movements into symbolic instructions and relate algorithms as programs to teammates. Unplugged presents fundamental concepts in Computer Science such as algorithms,artificial intelligence, graphics,information theory, Human Computer Interfaces,programming languages, and so on. We want to emphasize that programming is a means, not an end The activities tend to be kinaesthetic, often on a large scale and involving team work. The activities tend to allow students to discover answers for themselves, rather than just being given solutions or algorithms to follow. A constructivist approach is encouraged (where the teacher uses the scaffolding provided by Unplugged to ask questions that Source: http://www.doksinet ” lead them to discover the knowledge themselves), as we want students to realize that they are capable of finding solutions to problems on their own, rather than being given a solution to apply to the problem. For example, students don’t

really need to be able to convert numbers to binary, but it is valuable for them to discover the patterns such as the doubling value of bits, patterns when you count in binary, and how the range increases exponentially as you add bits. WEBSITE http://csunplugged.org/activities/ CONTACTS FOR INFORMATION admin@cosc.canterburyacnz 3.NAME of the PROGRAM/PROJECT THINKERSMITH’S RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION CSED Week site PARTNERS Teachers, students and parents Short description: Students will learn to convert real-world activities into instructions , gain practice in coding instructions with symbols , gain understanding of the need for precision in coding , gain practice debugging malfunctioning code . Students will be able to understand the usefulness of functions and parameters (grades 7+). Using a predefined “Robot Vocabulary” your students will figure out how to guide one another to accomplish specific tasks without discussing them first. This segment teaches students the connection

between symbols and actions, as well as the valuable skill of debugging. Students will learn how to convert real-world activities into instructions and the need for precision while coding. After practicing robotics with symbols and plastic cups, children convert our symbol instructions to pseudo codes using the “While -Do Source: http://www.doksinet ” -End While” looping structure for the repetitive actions our robots needed to execute. WEBSITE http://www.thinkersmithorg/ CONTACTS FOR INFORMATION info@thinkersmith.org 4.NAME of the PROGRAM/PROJECT CODESPARK RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION Codespark Organization PARTNERS Computer science teachers and professors from Harvey Mudd, Princeton, and Lincoln Public Schools. Short description: The codeSpark curriculum is based on the same foundational research that Scratch and ScratchJr are based. web and mobile games that teach kids how to code, even before they know how to read and write effectively .CodeSpark’s games were developed

for kids 4 to 9 years old, and with a goal of not just web and mobile games that teach kids how to code, even before they know how to read and write effectively. CodeSpark Academy with the Foos is basically an extended version of The Foos Coding, which includes puzzles and exercises that let kids design, program and share their own games, or “remixes” of games that other kids creaCodeSpark makes its games available for free to public schools, libraries and nonprofits. Individual users, typically parents who want their kids to play the games at home, can buy and download codeSpark games for phones and tablets. The Foos is the most useful way for kids to learn coding and computer science. Source: http://www.doksinet ” WEBSITE thefoos.com/hour-of-code/ CONTACTS FOR INFORMATION support@codespark.org 5.NAME of the PROGRAM/PROJECT CODING WITH PAPER RESPONSIBLE INSTITUTION Fractus team PARTNERS Computer advisers, parents and teachers Short description: While most apps and

tutorials do require internet connected computers or mobile devices, it does not mean that schools without this level of technology cannot get involved. In fact, coding with paper can be an even more engaging and meaningful way to introduce students to early programming concepts. The activities teach students the connection between symbols and actions, as well as the valuable skill of debugging. If time allows, there is an option to introduce functions at the end of the lesson. A heavy emphasis is for the children to start thinking algorithmically and to start “thinking in code”. Being able to do so, and being able to execute code in their head, is one of the core learning objectives and something that they will find useful throughout their programming journey. Fractus Learning is a global team of expert educators, leaders, makers and creators working passionately to share the best techniques, tools and toys for meaningful learning.From coding and robotics, to board games and

books, they work directly with educators, advertisers, entrepreneurs and developers to promote the latest and greatest products and practices impacting learning today. WEBSITE https://www.fractuslearningcom/2014/11/18/coding-with-paper-printablegame/ Source: http://www.doksinet ” CONTACTS FOR INFORMATION https://www.fractuslearningcom/contact/