Coding at a Crossroads

In this episode I unpack Resnick and Rusk’s (2020) publication titled “Coding at a crossroads” which discusses challenges in CS and coding education, and summarizes the four guiding principles that educators can use when engaging in coding practices in their classroom.

Welcome back to another episode of the
CSK8 podcast
my name is jared o'leary in this week's
episode i am unpacking some scholarship
the last couple of months i was
unpacking the book pedagogy of the
oppressed by paulo freyri however today
i'm going to unpack a short article
by mitch resnick and natalie rusk the
article is titled coding at a crossroads
and it is available for free for anybody
to read
if you visit the link in the show notes
you will find a link to the author's
google scholar
profiles as well as a direct link to the
paper itself so you can read it
on acm's website alright so there is no
abstract for this particular paper
however if i were to summarize this
paper into a single sentence i would say
that this short article
discusses some of the challenges in cs
and coding education
and summarizes four guiding principles
educators can use
when engaging in coding practices in
their classroom
alright so at the start of this
particular article the authors mentioned
that schools and policy makers are
actually starting to embrace coding in
the class and computer science
and acknowledging that this should be
something that is available to all
students
however despite the success of cs and
coding in the schools
resnick and rusk point out that we still
have a lot of work to do
quote if we do not think carefully about
the educational strategies and
pedagogies for introducing coding
there is a major risk of disappointment
and backlash end quote from page 120.
now this is something that really
resonates with me and is actually
something that i talk about in an
interview with gt roble
which the interview has not released yet
i believe it will come out on december
so stay tuned for more on that
particular discussion
the authors of this paper point out that
the skills people use when
they are coding are not just useful for
a career
in coding or computer science quote but
also for personal fulfillment and civic
engagement
end quote that's from page 120 and these
skills
specifically are thinking creatively
reasoning systematically and working
collaboratively
the authors describe some ways people
are using the platform scratch to engage
in civic engagement
such as creating projects around how
technology could transform society
supporting movements like black lives
matter or projects about the threat of
climate change
so in this introduction they're
basically saying hey we've made a lot of
ground
we've done some great things with
computer science and coding and made it
so that a lot of people
are much more aware of what's going on
however we as a field
need to start having a conversation
about the ways that we teach
and the rest of this article talks about
the potential direction that we can go
as a field
okay so the next section of the paper is
titled opportunities and challenges
so the authors point out that kids are
not just learning coding for the sake of
learning coding
so instead they are engaging in coding
in order to learn something
quote they are not only learning
important mathematical and computational
concepts
they are also deepening their
understanding of ideas in other
disciplines and developing a broad range
of problem solving
design collaboration and communication
skills
unquote from page 121 however the ways
in which we teach or facilitate coding
classes
has an impact or at least can have an
impact on not only how well
kids understand coding concepts and
practices but whether coding itself is
viewed as an expressive act that kids
can engage in
all right so there are four main
challenges that are presented here one
is decontextualized learning the next
one is replication
next one is not enough time and the last
one is automated assessments
and those category names by the way are
names that i've provided
just for clarification purposes all
right so the first challenge
decontextualized learning here's a quote
from pages 121 and 122.
quote too often schools are introducing
students to computer science by teaching
them definitions of words
associated with computing without
providing them with opportunities to
learn
and apply computational concepts and
practices in the context of meaningful
activities
for example some school districts
introduce computing to elementary
students
by teaching them the definition of the
word algorithm and the differences
between hardware and software
instead of engaging students in active
learning through computing activities
such as coding an animated story or
programming a robot
to dance end quote so this particular
challenge of decontextualized learning
is something that
myself and many of the guests on the
show have also talked about so
i strongly agree with this as a
challenge that we need to talk about as
a field so the next one is
replication so rather than encouraging
kids to
like tinker experiment debug prototype
etc
coding is often introduced as
replicating existing code
or solving problems with one correct
solution so the authors
provide an example of 30 identical
projects being shared all at once
and they initially thought that this was
like a bug on their website that they
needed to address
but they then realized that it was 30
different usernames from the same class
so this approach of having kids in a
class all create the exact same project
in the same way prevents the opportunity
for kids to express themselves
through creative coding and thinking
again this is also something that
really resonates with me as i mentioned
before my
classes that i previously worked with
kids were not replicating projects they
were
creating their own projects and in the
boot up lessons that i have designed
they're all supposed to be interest
driven now unfortunately i have seen
some people actually teach the lessons
so that every single kid recreates the
example project that i created
but that's not the intention with these
lessons so again
this challenge really resonates with me
and i agree
we should avoid as a field replication
for replication's sake and instead focus
on creating with code
all right so the third challenge that's
presented in this paper is not enough
time
and by not enough time they mean not
just for coding
but also coding with one language or
platform
quote within this limited time students
might learn some basic terms and
concepts
but they don't have the opportunity to
put the ideas to use in a meaningful way
and thus are unlikely to be able to
apply the ideas in other contexts in
other subjects
and in situations where coding is
allocated more time the curriculum often
pushes teachers and students to shift
from one coding tool to another
rather than providing time for learning
a tool well enough for designing
projects
solving problems and communicating ideas
end quote page 122.
you're going to hear me say this a lot
but again this really resonates with my
own approach
so the kinder and first grade kids that
i work with they all use
scratch junior the second and third
grade classes that i worked with i'll
use scratch
and then grades four through eight had
the opportunity to pick
from scratch to use sonic pi which used
the language ruby and allowed you to
code music
to create art and animation with
javascript through khan academy's
program or to create apps using
xcode and swift so they have that
opportunity to pick
four different platforms when they're in
grades four and above however i
encourage them
to pick one and dive deep into it so
some kids would stick with a single
language for multiple years
probably at least 80 percent of most
classes just stuck with scratch
for each grade level however some kids
would shift between
platforms like every semester or so and
what was interesting is
the level of transfer from it so i would
constantly go up to
a computer screen and be like oh how'd
you figure out how to do that
they'd be like oh well i remembered that
i could do this in scratch
so i wondered if i could do something
similar in javascript
or whatever so this particular challenge
that they're highlighting if you are
spending a short amount of time
on one platform and then diving into the
next platform and then the next
odds are you're probably going over the
same surface level concepts and
understandings
in different platforms but are not able
to dive as deep as if you had spent the
same amount of time
on a single platform across the entire
year
alright so the fourth challenge that is
presented is on automated
assessments quote too often researchers
and educators are adopting automated
assessment tools
that evaluate student programming
projects only by analyzing the code
without considering the project goals
content design
interface usability or documentation in
quote
from page 122. here's another quote on
why this is problematic
quote this form of assessment doesn't
take into consideration
what the student's program is intended
to do how well it accomplishes
the student's goals whether the code
works as intended
whether people are able to interact with
it or how the student's thinking
develops over a series of projects
end quote from page 122. so this is one
of the reasons why i actually recommend
if you're going to use an
automated tool use it for reflective
practices rather than for evaluative
or assessment practices so have kids use
a tool
and then use it as a way to guide their
own reflection
so for example the tool might point out
that they don't have any conditional
blocks
and then they would go oh yeah i could
add some conditionals into my project or
they might go
no that doesn't make sense for this
particular project i don't need
conditionals
all right so as a quick summary the four
challenges that were presented by
resnick and rusk
are decontextualized learning
replication not enough time
and automated assessments again those
are my own
summary of each one of those challenges
okay so the next section of this paper
is titled computational fluency so the
authors note that many programs focus
so narrowly on coding fluency or
computational thinking
that they are decontextualized from
application or are situated
within problems that only have a single
correct answer
so in their research and in my own
experience as well
coding can be motivating and meaningful
when kids are able to create projects
that express their own ideas
so rather than using the term
computational thinking on its own
they prefer to quote use the phrase
computational fluency to describe this
ability to use
computational techniques to communicate
ideas effectively and creatively
end quote page 122.
so this situates the idea of
computational thinking within creative
pursuits
and although not everyone will pursue
coding for career related purposes
when quote students create their own
stories games and animations with code
they start to see themselves as creators
developing confidence and pride in their
ability to create things and express
themselves with new technologies
end quote from page 123. now although
the authors are
recommending this approach and i
recommend it as well the authors note
that it takes time to develop this kind
of fluency
and this particular section of the paper
ends with a short example of a kid who
used scratch to become
both a computational creator and
computational thinker
okay so now we get into the main portion
of the paper which is
labeled as four guiding principles and
they also describe it as the four ps of
creative learning
which are projects passion peers and
play
quote these principles provide a
framework to guide the design of
technologies
activities curriculum communities and
spaces to support
coding and learning end quote from page
all right so let's unpack each one of
these four guiding principles
so the first one projects quote provides
students with opportunities to work on
meaningful projects
not just puzzles or problem-solving
activities so they experience the
process of turning an initial idea
into a creation that can be shared with
others in quote from page 124
okay so the authors note that there is
some value in learning how to code
by solving puzzles and that it is
certainly easier for teachers who are
new to cs
to assess and manage that kind of
approach to learning
quote but learning to code by solving
logic puzzles
is somewhat like learning to write by
solving crossword puzzles
that's not the way to become truly
fluent just as students develop fluency
with language by writing their own
stories
not just playing word games students
develop fluency with coding by creating
projects
not just solving puzzles end quote from
page 124
and again this really resonates with my
own approach and
which is why bootup's curriculum that
i've written is 100 project-based
learning
and is what i engaged with in the
classes that i facilitated
across all grade levels alright so the
next guiding principle
passion quote allows students to work on
projects connected to their interests
they will work longer and harder and
learn more in the process end quote from
page 124.
so resnick and rusk mention they value
platforms and approaches to coding
that allow kids to connect with their
interests because it allows kids to
create
and share something that is relevant and
meaningful to them
this is such a high priority for them
that they actually evaluate scratch
classes or workshops by analyzing how
diverse the projects are
that come from that experience so if
there are 30 kids or 30 adults within a
class
on scratch they want to see 30 very
different or diverse projects coming out
of that experience
rather than everyone creating the exact
same thing here's a quote from page 125.
quote we often refer to this idea with a
phrase
many paths many styles some students
make elaborate plans
others explore and tinker some students
enjoy telling stories
others enjoy making patterns some
students are excited about animals
others are excited about sports to
ensure coding is for all it is important
to support these diverse entry points
and approaches
end quote again this sounds like many of
the things that
the guests have mentioned on the show
and things that i have mentioned in
other unpacking scholarship episodes
i'm gonna have to start finding some
papers that i completely disagree with
all right so the third section of the
guiding principles
peers quote encourage collaboration and
sharing and help students learn to build
on the work of others
end quote from page 125. so having a
community-based platform like scratch
allows kids to have an audience to share
creations with
it provides inspiration by seeing what
other people have created in the same
platform
and allows kids to connect and
collaborate with others who have shared
interests
now that being said i would argue that
we could have all of those things
outside of scratch or in something that
is completely offline
so for example if you downloaded the
offline version of scratch you could
have it so that kids have an audience to
share with inside of their class or
school
allow them the opportunity to be able to
share and learn from others
and to be able to connect and
collaborate with other kids within their
class or across
other classes or grade levels we have
similar interests
so as one example of that kids in the
classes that i worked with could choose
who they wanted to work with or work
independently on projects
and there were two kids who actually
decided to work together
on the same project however they were
both in two different classes
so one kid would come to the class
earlier in the day
they would then meet together at lunch
and talk about what the first kid worked
on
and then the second kid would come into
a class later in the day
and one continue the work they would
then meet after school and talk about
the projects changes that were made to
it so it's this interesting form of like
asynchronous collaboration
where there was time to work time to
collaborate time to work
and then time to collaborate again each
day so it's pretty cool process that
they came up with
alright so the last guiding principle is
play quote
create an environment where students
feel safe to take risks
try new things and experiment playfully
end quote from page 126
so play is not viewed as an activity but
as an
attitude by the authors and the authors
note that although it may appear
more efficient to do direct instruction
they found that
quote many students became more engaged
and gain a greater sense of agency and
confidence when they learn through
playful experimentation and exploration
end quote from page 126 i totally agree
with this approach and it's what i did
in the classroom
i will say that i did create some
resources to help guide students with
specific and common questions
but kids walked into class and
immediately started working on their own
projects without me having to
demonstrate anything to the full group
there was very little direct instruction
and whenever there was
it was usually one-on-one and it was a
form of guided direct instruction
whereas guiding them to
a solution to their problem without
giving them the answer right away
all right so a quick summary of the four
guiding principles
so they were projects passion peers and
play
and they are recommending that educators
and learning spaces have those four
guiding principles
so the next section is titled putting
the four p's into practice
and although they recommend the four ps
they do acknowledge that it's hard to
actually do this in some formalized
learning context
so to help educators see how the four ps
can all work together within a
formalized space they provide
an example case study of what one
teacher did in tacoma washington so if
you're interested in that i highly
recommend reading that section of the
paper
so the last main section of this paper
is called the next decade
quote we need to break down barriers
across disciplines
providing students with opportunities to
work on projects that
integrate science art engineering and
design
we need to break down barriers across
age allowing people of all ages to learn
with
and from one another we need to break
down barriers across space
connecting activities in schools
community centers and homes
and we need to break down barriers
across time enabling children to work on
interest-based projects
for weeks or months rather than
squeezing projects into the constraints
of a class period or curriculum unit
end quote from page 127. this obviously
really resonates with me
as i mentioned before kids were able to
learn from and share with different
grade levels and across different
classes
so we broke down some of the barriers by
age kids we're sharing not just with
the classes in the schools but also with
the community and other schools as well
we're looking at some of the projects
that the kids in my classes made
and there were no constraints in terms
of having to finish a project by a
specific time
so some kids literally worked on
projects for multiple years
like those two kids who were working on
the project asynchronously
the reason why they started doing that
is because the previous year they are in
the same class together and they worked
on a scratch project
all year long and then they wanted to
continue to work on that project but
they were in two separate classes
in the same grade level the next year so
they came up with that creative
asynchronous form of collaboration so i
hope when you're listening to this
episode and other episode you're
thinking of
how can i apply what is being discussed
in an interesting way in the classes
that i work with
but again this is difficult especially
if we're going to change the field as a
whole because the authors note that
it requires a shift in how many people
think about education
not just educators not just
administrators but also like politicians
and parents community members etc
alright so here's the final closing
statement from page 127 of this article
quote we are at a crossroads 10 years
from now
we hope we can look back and report on a
decade of educational change
in which schools have provided students
with the time
space support and encouragement they
need to become fluent with new
technologies
so that they can help shape tomorrow's
society end quote
all right as always with these unpacking
scholarship episodes i like to end
with some of my lingering questions or
thoughts so one of the questions that i
have is what principles are missing from
the four ps of creative learning
so for example if an administrator would
look at these principles
what would they think is missing what
about a student
what about a parent and another question
we might ask is what word
might exist that describes a principle
that doesn't start with the letter p
maybe this is a fifth one that starts
with the letter r i don't know
so another question i have is how might
we incorporate each of these principles
in different learning environments or
context so for example
if you have kids at home how could you
encourage projects
passion peers and play in informal
learning
or for leisure so one framework that has
been helpful for me
with thinking about some of these
principles in relation to informal
learning context
is participatory culture which is what i
will discuss two weeks from now
now with that being said i hope you
enjoyed this quick summary of this
particular paper
i highly recommend reading it it's only
eight pages long so it's a quick read
and you can find that in the show notes
again by clicking the link in the
description
of the app that you're listening to this
on or by going to jaredoleary.com
and then clicking on the show notes for
this episode or a link directly to the
article
i hope you enjoyed this episode and i
hope you stay tuned next week for an
interview
and two weeks from now from a discussion
on participatory culture
if you did enjoy this episode please
consider sharing with another educator
or cs educator who might be interested
in these concepts
i hope you're all having a wonderful
week and are staying safe

Article

Resnick, M. & Rusk, N. (2020). Coding at a crossroads. Communications of the ACM 63(11), 120–127.

My One Sentence Summary

This short article discusses some of the challenges in CS and coding education, and summarizes four guiding principles educators can use when engaging in coding practices in their classroom.

Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts

What principles are missing from the Four Ps of Creative Learning?
- If an administrator were to look at those principles, what would they think is missing? What about a student? What about a parent?
How might we incorporate each of these principles in different learning environments or contexts?
- For example, if you have kids at home, how could you encourage projects, passion, peers, and play in informal learning or leisure?

Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode

Other podcast episodes that were mentioned or are relevant to this episode
- Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture
  - In this episode I unpack Jenkins et al.’s (2005) publication titled “Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century,” which summarizes the three challenges in media literacy education and provides several core media literacy skills that can address these challenges.
- Designing Curricula at Scale with GT Wrobel
  - In this interview with GT Wrobel, we discuss the importance of understanding your “why” behind pedagogical approaches and curriculum design, the internal tensions that arise when designing curriculum used by people around the world, the potential for standards and assessment to be a form of oppression, how feedback impacts the evolution of a curriculum, considerations when designing culturally relevant curricula that is used around the world, aligning curriculum development with professional development, the importance of taking a break to prevent burnout, where we hope the field goes in the next few years, and much more.
- How to Get Started with Computer Science Education
  - In this episode I provide a framework for how districts and educators can get started with computer science education for free.
- Lifelong Kindergarten with Mitch Resnick
  - In this interview with Mitch Resnick, we discuss misconceptions people have around the four P’s (Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play) in Mitch’s book, encouraging depth of understanding while playing, what has surprised Mitch during his career, encouraging online communication and collaboration without creating artificial engagement, what Mitch wishes we’d see more of and discuss in CS education, our pet peeves with unplugged activities and computational thinking, accounting for survivorship bias with Scratch, expanding our focus on equity and inclusion to include both the “who” and the “how,” the importance of experimenting and learning through play, and much more.
- Music Making in Scratch: High Floors, Low Ceilings, and Narrow Walls?
  - In this episode I unpack Payne and Ruthmann’s (2019) publication titled “Music making in Scratch: High floors, low ceilings, and narrow walls,” which problematizes the limitations of making music with Scratch.
- More episodes related to curriculum
- More episodes related to engagement
- More episodes related to interest
- More episodes related to interest-driven learning
- More episodes related to Scratch
- All other episodes
Here’s a video of the authors discussing their work
Learn more about participatory culture
Find other CS educators and resources by using the #CSK8 hashtag on Twitter