Tag: research

Jobs

We’re Hiring a Research Director!

Photo: c. Bill Shribman, GBH

GBH Education is seeking a Director of Research and Evaluation. GBH is a public media leader, based in Boston. 

This role reports to the Executive Director of Education and is responsible for leading the department’s research and evaluation efforts across a variety of interesting projects across school-based and out-of-school/community based educational settings. We’re looking for someone with excellent formative, summative, and market research chops, knowledge about edtech (K-12) or educational media (early childhood, youth), and associated quantitative and qualitative research methods expertise. 

The role is social impact oriented, and requires grant writing, communication, and people skills. We need someone who brings a service mentality working with internal clients in multifunctional teams. Good candidates would understand the nonprofit ethos yet be facile with product development research, and be strategic thinkers yet detail oriented. 

Advanced graduate degree in learning sciences, education, child/youth/human development, communication, or social sciences required. Candidates from underrepresented groups are particularly welcome to apply. 

More details and link to apply here.

coding, Computational Thinking, games, math, Research

Computational Thinking for Preschoolers: Modularity Activities

modularity-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 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.