Tag: math

coding, Computational Thinking, games, math, Research

Computational Thinking for Preschoolers: Modularity Activities

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Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.

 

Preschoolers can learn modularity and math through these fun activities:

Picnic Packer
Children work together to pack a (pretend) picnic lunch.

Animal Song
Children work together create a song with different animal sounds.

Make a Counting Book
Children create a counting book by breaking down the big job of making a book into smaller jobs.

Plan a Party
Children organize a (pretend) party with cake, balloons, and decorations.

Break It Down
Children put small dances together to make a bigger dance. Get a glimpse of the modularity app in development.


See how these activities are part of a larger computational thinking preschool curriculum in this Teacher Guide.

CT Teacher Guide

CT Standards

 

© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

coding, Computational Thinking, games, math, Research, Uncategorized

Computational Thinking for Preschoolers: Debugging Activities

debugging-blog-pic

Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.

 

Preschoolers can learn debugging and math through these fun activities:

Sound Shakers

Children fix sound shakers that don’t make sounds.

Monkey Dance
Children practice a two-step dance and identify mistakes in the teacher’s dance steps.

Monkey Bridge
Children fix a bridge that won’t stand up.

Colorful Caterpillars
Children debug clay caterpillars with colorful patterns.

Road Repair
Children use geometric shapes to fix holes in a road so a car can get across. Get a glimpse of the debugging app in development.

 

See how these activities are part of a larger computational thinking preschool curriculum in this Teacher Guide.

CT Teacher Guide

CT Standards

 

 

© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

coding, Computational Thinking, games, math, Research

Preschool Computational Thinking

Producers from WGBH and Kentucky Educational Television and researchers from EDC have been collaborating on the research and development of brand-new computational thinking activities for preschoolers! These fun hands-on activities and apps (not yet published) were all created as part of a research project funded by the National Science Foundation called Integrating Computational Thinking into Mathematics Instruction in Rural and Urban Preschools.

Not sure what computational thinking means? Computational thinking (CT) is a creative way of thinking that empowers children to use systematic strategies while solving problems or reaching a goal. CT allows children to identify problems/goals and then brainstorm and generate solutions that can be communicated and followed by computers or humans.

CT can be learned at a young age, and it can be practiced in non-programming contexts (in other words, without a computer). CT is not the same thing as coding or computer programming—instead, it’s a stepping stone that can help children learn these important skills when they get older. Practicing CT skills can also benefit children by strengthening their early math skills.

As children do these activities and play these apps, they will be practicing basic math skills, including: counting, one-to-one correspondence, ordinals, sequencing, and identifying geometric shapes. At the same time, they will be learning three core CT skills: sequencing, debugging, and modularity.

Check out the project in this video.

 

© 2019 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. Funding provided by the National Science Foundation. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1640135. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Uncategorized

Road Trip!

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Our Next Generation Math and Science projects are going on the road. Catch presentations March 2 – 6 at the SITE Conference in Las Vegas, NV; March 9 – 13 at SXSWEdu in Austin, TX; March 30 – April 2 at the National Head Start Conference in Washington, D.C.

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Then it’s April 17 – 18 at the National Math Festival in Washington, D.C. and with our Finnish partners April 20 – 22 at the Cicero Learning Conference in Stanford, CA.

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NGPM, Research

iSea of iPads

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Following two years of intense prototyping, research, and revisions, the Next Generation Preschool Math integrated curriculum is ready to be formally tested in classrooms across the country. Check out team members Ayelet, Jillian, and Jay as they charge, configure, and load the eight NGPM games and teacher’s guide on each of the fifty iPads seen here!

The Next Generation Preschool Math team at WGBH includes Christine, Jillian, Sonja, Dan, Kevin, Frank, Bharat, Caz, Jolin, Ayelet, Amy and Jay.

NGPM

Tech for Tots! Making math apps that tickle the brain!

The WGBH Kids Next Generation Preschool Math development team and research partners want to offer a behind-the-scenes look at making preschool apps for math, and they need your support.

Everyone is encouraged to vote for NGPM to present at SXSWedu to help them shape the future of technology in education: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/15119

(Note: You’ll be asked to sign up and sign in before you can click on the thumbs up to vote for NGPM. Voting ends Oct. 5.)

Check out the NGPM blog or follow NGPM on Twitter!

Apps, NGPM, Work in Progress

Next Generation Preschool Math

Work continues with our Next Generation Preschool Math project, It’s a 4-year, $3.5m research project for which WGBH (in partnership with research scientists from the Center on Children and Technology at EDC and SRI International) is designing a blended learning suite with eight iPad apps for preschool math learning. The apps will be complemented by non-digital materials designed to integrate with the rhythms and spaces that make a preschool classroom tick – learning centers, snack time, circle time, and playground time.

The NGPM team is Christine, Jillian, Dan, Kevin, Jolin, Bharat, Caz, Frank, Chi-Yun, Jeff, Mary, Sonja, & Ayelet.