Shot of a teacher and five students sitting around a table in a computer laboratory.
TEACHER: We're gonna play a little game before we start coding. I'm gonna be the computer and you're gonna be the programmers.
The teacher gestures to some styrofoam cups on the table and holds up a paper card showing three cups arranged in a pyramid.
TEACHER: OK, you've got to tell me what to do with these cups to put them in a pattern like this.
Carey Baldwin, ICT teacher at Doncaster Gardens Primary School, speaks to an offscreen interviewer, while the students work together in the background.
CAREY BALDWIN: So the activity the kids are doing now is what we call an offline programming activity.
Shot of the Carey and the students discussing the activity and working through it.
CAREY BALDWIN: And that's great for if you don't have access to computers but it's also a really good introductory activity, because what the students get out of it is a real understanding they're meant to be very specific with their commands. And they were programming me as the computer, so I was being very careful to do exactly what they said, even if that was wrong.
Shot of Carey and the students performing the activity. Carey holds a cup in his hand and moves it around according to the students' instructions.
STUDENT1: And put it in…
CAREY BALDWIN: Put it down as well?
STUDENT 1: No, no, facing down.
STUDENT 2: Facing down.
STUDENT 1: Move it a bit on your… on the left. Towards me.
CAREY BALDWIN: Your left or my left?
STUDENT 1: Get another paper cup. Make a big…
CAREY BALDWIN: In the middle.
STUDENTS: No, no, on top.
CAREY BALDWIN: On top of.
Shot of Carey speaking to an offscreen interviewer.
CAREY BALDWIN: They were shouting out different commands and it was just chaos, basically. And then I introduced some set codes that I as the computer understood.
Shot of Carey and the students working at the table. Carey points to a sheet of paper on the table that contains up, down, left, right and curved arrows.
CAREY BALDWIN: So, using these codes, tell me what to do to make this pattern.
Shot of Carey holding a cup and moving it around as the students instruct him.
STUDENTS: (In unison) Pick up cup. Step forward. Step forward. Step forward. Put down cup. Pick up cup. Step forward. Step forward. Step forward. Step forward. Put down cup.
CAREY BALDWIN: Well done.
Shot of Carey as he speaks to an offscreen interviewer.
CAREY BALDWIN: They're also learning that they can create their own codes so they can save a bit of time. One of the students decided we should invent a new code to repeat the instructions because it was getting too laborious to write it all out longhand.
Shot of Carey and the students at the table.
STUDENT 2: Could we just put 'step forward times two' and then 'step forward'…
CAREY BALDWIN: Is that a good idea?
STUDENTS: Yeah.
CAREY BALDWIN: OK. So you're inventing a new code.
STUDENT 1: Yay.
CAREY BALDWIN: We better write on our sheet here.
Shot of Carey as he speaks to an offscreen interviewer, interspersed with shots of the students discussing and creating more complex pyramid shapes with the cups.
CAREY BALDWIN: So one of the most powerful lessons an activity like this teaches the kids is that they have a real agency over technology, that they have the power to make the computer do what they want it to do. And that's where we love to hear the little cheers going around the room of 'Yes! I did it!' when they solve their challenge and they have programmed the computer and they have made it do that they wanted, which I think is really powerful for them to not just be passive consumers of technology but they're actively controlling it. An activity shows kids that really anybody can do programming. It really demystifies it, because at heart of programming it's really just a bunch of basic steps. You don't need expensive technology. You don't need a background in computer science. And really any teacher can teach this activity. All you need is a packet of cups.
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