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41

8. What is the difference between these two stacks? Stack 2
Stack 1

9. What is the difference between these two stacks? Stack 2
Stack 1

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Notes: Changing Costumes

Click the Costumes Tab to see and edit the sprite’s costumes. There are
three ways to create new costumes:

Click to paint a new costume in the Paint Editor
Click to import an image file from your hard disk
Drag in an image from the web or your desktop

The Costumes tab
Costumes

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SECTION 3: DEVELOPING A SCRATCH PROJECT
Overview
We will develop a Maze game project with Pico and Cat as the main characters. This step-
by-step tutorial will guide you to create the maze, import and paint the sprites. You will also
be able to create control keys that will direct the sprites to find the way out of the maze.
Scenario
Pico and Cat
Pico was looking for his long-lost friend called Cat. One day, he starts his journey to find him.
After a few obstacles, he finally found Cat. They greeted each other. Below is the illustration
of your final project.

Note:
Before we develop the project, it is a good practice to plan the pseudo codes and construct a
flow chart to visualize the sequence of actions and the decisions made before developing
the actual project.

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Developing an algorithm
An algorithm is a precisely defined sequence of instruction or a set of rules for performing a
specific task. Therefore, before we start the project, we will have to visualise the sequence of
instructions using a graphical presentation in the form of flow chart.

ACTION / Start
EXECUTOR
Click Arrow key
Player

Pico Choose the direction ? No
(Sprite 2)
Yes Wait
Pico
(Sprite 2) Move acccording to the No
selected key
Pico No
(Sprite 2) Touch Wall OR Edge?
Move on
Cat Yes
(Sprite 1)
Bounce back and move
End onyou
(Sprite 3)
Touch Cat?

Yes

Say “Hi, pal! I have found you
yyyouyou !”

Play sound “Meow”
Say “Yes, we meet again!”

Show up

End

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Tutorial : Starting A New Project : Maze Game

Session 1. Rename, resize and relocate the Sprites.

No. Action Illustration

1. Open a New Project.

On the Menu bar, click on the File

tab to display the drop down menu.

Click to choose New.

This is what you will get:

2. Rename the Sprite
i. In the Sprites Pane, click on the
blue “i” button of Sprite1 to view
the Sprite Info Pane.

ii. Change the word “Sprite1” to
“Cat”.

iii. Click the blue arrow button at the
top left corner to close the Sprite
Info Pane.

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No. Action Illustration

Notice that Sprite1 has been
renamed as “Cat”.

3 Resize the Sprite
i. In the Block Palette under the tab
“Script”, click on the “Events”
category of blocks.

ii. Drag the “When Green Flag
Clicked” cap block (Events block)
into the Script area.

iii. Click to choose the “Looks”
category and drag the “Set size to
100%” stack block (Looks block)
to the Script area and stack with
the previous cap block.

iv. Change the size to “35%”

v. Double click on this purple Looks
block to set size to 35%” to shrink
the Sprite’s size to the new size.

4 Relocate the Sprite
i. Under the “Motion” category,
choose the “go to x:0 y:0” stack
block (Motion block) and drag it to
the Script area. Stack it to the
existing stack of blocks.

ii. Change the coordinates to “x:200
y:-150”.

iii. Double click on the blue Motion
block to relocate the Sprite to the
new position.

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No. Action Illustration
This will be your end result:

Session 2. Introduce the new Sprite (The Main Character)

No. Action Illustration

1. Import a new Sprite from the

Sprite Library

i. In the Sprites Pane, click on the

first Sprite icon on the right of the

word “new sprite”.

ii. In the Sprite Library, Under the
label Category, click to select
“Fantasy” and then click to choose

the sprite named “Pico Walking”.

iii. At the bottom of the Sprite Library
windows, click the “OK” button to
confirm your selection.

This is what you will get:

2. Rename the Sprite to “Pico”
i. In the Sprites Pane, click on the
blue “i” button of the new Sprite. to
view the Sprite Info Pane.

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No. Action Illustration

ii. Rename the new Sprite as “Pico”.

iii. Below the name box, for the
“rotation style:”, click to choose the
icon.

iv. Click the blue arrow key to
close the Sprites Info Pane.

Notice that the new Sprite in the
Sprite Pane has been renamed as
“Pico”.

3 Resize the Sprite
i. Under the “Events” Category, click
to choose the “When green flag
clicked” cap block (Events block)
and drag to the Script Area.

ii. Under the “Looks” category, select
the “set size to 100%” stack block
(Looks block) and drag it to the
Script Area.

iii. Change the size to “30%”.
iv. Double click on this purple Looks

block to shrink the size of Pico.

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No. Action Illustration

4 Relocate the Sprite
i. Under the “Motion” category, select
and drag the “go to x: _ y: _” stack

block (Motion block) to the Scripting
area and stack it to the existing
block.

ii. Change the coordinates to” x; -209
y: 136”.

iii. Double click on the blue “go to...”
Motion block to relocate Pico to
the new position.

This will be the end result:

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Session 3. Create the Maze Illustration
No. Action
1. Import a new backdrop from the

Backdrop Library
i. In the Sprite Pane, click on the

“Stage 1 backdrop” icon.

ii. On the Palette, click on the
“Backdrops” tab so that you will be
able to view all the backdrops
available in the project.

iii. Import a new backdrop by clicking
on the library icon under the label
“New backdrop:”.

iv. In the Backdrop Library, click to
choose “blue sky 2”.

v. Click the “OK” button to confirm
your choice of the new backdrop.

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No. Action Illustration

vi. Rename the new backdrop as
“Maze”.

vii. Delete the first backdrop by
clicking on “backdrop1” and then
click on the icon.

This is what you will see:

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No. Action Illustration

2 Creating the Maze.
You are required to draw five (5)
rectangles to create this maze:

3 Draw rectangles
This is the Paint Editor.

The canvas is in the middle.

On the right-hand side, you will find
the tools for drawing.
i. Click to choose the Rectangle

drawing tool.

ii. On the colour palette,
click the box on the top then click
choose the royal blue colour.
Then click on the lower box and
then click to choose the royal blue
colour, too.

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No. Action Illustration

Both of the boxes should be of the

same colour.

iii. On the colour palette, click to
choose the solid fill option.

iv. Drag your cursor to draw the blue
rectangle on the canvas.

You will be able to view the
handles (circles at the edges of the
rectangle drawn).

Before you click away from the
rectangle, the handles remains.

The rectangle will appear on the
stage.

You may customize the size and
position of the rectangle as long as
the handles are still visible.

v. Draw the second rectangle as
shown.

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No. Action Illustration

vi. Draw the third rectangle as
shown.

vii. Draw the fourth rectangle as
shown.

viii. Draw the last rectangle as shown.

Your maze should look like this.

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Session 4: Save your Project Illustration

No. Action

1. On the Menu bar, click the down
arrow of the tab “File” and choose
“Save as”.

2 Name the project as “Maze” and
save it on the Desktop. Click on
the “Save” button.
Your project will be saved as
“Maze.sb2” on the desktop.

3 The name of the project shall
appear on the title bar.

Optional:
You may create a new folder in the data directory to keep your project as a more effective
folder management practice.

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Session 5: Paint a new Sprite “End”. Illustration

No. Action

1. Paint a new Sprite
In the Sprites Pane, on the
right-hand side of the label
“New sprite:”, click to select the
pen icon for “Paint new sprite”.

2 Rename the Sprite.

A new sprite will be created,
and the canvas shall appear on
the right-hand side.

Rename the Sprite as “End”.

3 Choose the Text tool.

On the left-hand side of the
canvas, click to choose the “T”
icon to start using the Text tool.

4. Choose the text colour.
On the right-hand corner of the
color palette, click the box on
the top and choose the red
colour.

Repeat the procedure so the
lower box is red, too.

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No. Action Illustration

5. Type the text “The End”.
Place your cursor on the
canvas and type “The End”.

Click on the bottom right
handle and drag towards right
to enlarge the font size.

This is what your will get:

5. Hide the Sprite.

i. On the Block Palette, click to
select “Script” tab. Under the
“Events” category, select and
drag the “When green flag
clicked” cap block into the
Script Area.

ii. Under the “Looks”
category, click to choose and
select “Hide”.
Drag it to the Script Area and
stack it with the Events block.

iii. Relocate the Sprite to x=”-
45”, y=”0” by choosing the
Motion block “go to x: _ y: _”.

iv. Change the coordinates to
x=”-45”, y=”0”

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No. Action Illustration

vi. Double click on the cap
block to execute the
algorithm.

This is what you shall see:

Session 6: Set the actions

1. Sprite “Pico” (The Main Character)

No. Action Illustration

1. Select the Sprite “Pico”.

In the Sprites Pane, click to
select the Sprite “Pico”.

2 Let Pico bounce whenever

touches the wall.
i. Under the “Control”

category, drag the
“If...then” C block
(Control block) to the
script area, away from
the existing stack of
blocks.

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No. Action Illustration

ii. Under the “Sensing”

category, select and drag

the “touching color?”

Boolean block (Sensing

block) to the script area,

away from the other

blocks.

iii. Click on the colour box on

the Sensing block, then

move to the stage and

click on any part of the

Maze wall to pick up the

colour of the wall.

The colour box on the

Sensing block shall change
to the same colour as the
Maze wall (royal blue).

iv. Drag the Sensing block
(Boolean block) into the
hexagon shape of the
“if…then”Control block.

v. Under the “Motion”
category, choose and
drag the “Move 10 steps”
stack block (Motion block)
into the space in the
middle of the “if…then”
Control block.

vi. Change the value of the
steps from “10” to “-10”.

vii. Under the “” category,

choose and drag the
“forever” C block into the
scripting area.

viii. Stack the “if...then” C
block inside the middle of

the “forever” C block to
form one stack of blocks.

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No. Action Illustration

ix. Stacks all the blocks
together.

3 Make Pico changes
costumes.
i. From the “Events”
category, drag another
“When green flag clicked”
cap block to the side of
the existing stack of
blocks.

ii. Under the “Control”
category, click to select
and drag the “Wait 1
secs” stack block to the
Script Area. Stack it to the
new cap block.
Change the time to “3”
seconds.

iii. Under the same
category, click to select
and drag the “forever” C
block, stack to the
current stack of blocks.

iv. Under the same
category, click to select
and drag the “wait 1
secs” block into the
middle of the “forever” C
block.
Change the time to “.3”
secs.

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No. Action Illustration

v. Now click to select the

“Looks” category. Click

to select and drag the

“next costume” block into

the Script Area.

vi. Stack it into the “forever”
C block, beneath the
“wait .3 secs” block.

4 Control Pico’s movement
using the Arrow Keys.
- Up Arrow Key
i. Under the “Events”
category, click to choose
and drag the “When space
key pressed” cap block
(Events block) to the Script
Area away from the
existing stack of blocks.
ii. Click the downwards
arrow to display the drop
down menu. Click to select
“up arrow”.

This is what you will get:

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No. Action Illustration

iii. Under the “Motion”
category, click to select
“point in direction 90o”,
drag into the Script Area
and stack it to the new
Events cap block.

iv. Click the down arrow
to display the drop down
menu, click to select “(0)
up”.

This is what you will get:

v. Under the same
“Motion” category, click to
select and drag the “move
10 steps” stack block into
the Script Area. Stack it
underneath the “point in
direction 0o” stack block.

vi. Under the same
“Motion” category, click to
select the “if on edge,
bounce” stack block and
drag it into the Script Area.
Stack it beneath the “move
10 steps” stack block.

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No. Action Illustration
This is what you will get:

5. Control Pico’s movement
using the Arrow Keys.
- Down Arrow Key

Repeat the same process to
assign the Down Arrow key
to move Pico downwards.
Change point I direction to
180.

6. Control Pico’s movement
using the Arrow Keys.
- Right Arrow Key

Repeat the same process to
assign the Down Arrow key
to move Pico to the right.
Change point I direction to
90.

7. Control Pico’s movement
using the Arrow Keys.
- Left Arrow Key

Repeat the same process to
assign the Down Arrow Key
to move Pico to the left.
Change point I direction to
-90.
Note:
Duplicating blocks

i. You may duplicate the
whole stack of blocks by
right clicking your mouse,
click on the “duplicate”
option.

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No. Action Illustration

ii. Drag the new block to the

appropriate location.

iii. Change the values of the
choice of the arrow key
and its direction.

8. Make Pico speaks when he
touches Cat.
i. Under the “Events”
category, choose and
drag the “When green flag
clicked” into the Script
Area away from the
existing stacks of blocks.

ii. From the “Control”
category, drag the
“forever” C block into the
Script Area.
Drag and stack it under the
Events cap block.

iii. From the same “Control”
category, drag the
“if...then” C block to the

Script Area away from the
existing stacks of blocks.

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No. Action Illustration

iv. Under the “Sensing”

category, drag the

“touching mouse-

pointer?” Boolean block to

the Script Area away from

the other blocks.

v. Click on the down arrow
key to display the drop
down menu. Click to
select “Cat”.

This is what you shall be
getting:

vi. Drag the “Sensing”
Boolean block and stack it
into the hexagon space of
the “if...the” C block.

vii. Under the “Looks”
category, drag the “say
Hello! for 2 secs” block
into the Script Area, away
from the other blocks.

viii. Change the word “Hello”
to “At last, I have found
you!”.

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No. Action Illustration

ix. Drag the “Looks” stack
block in the middle of the
“if...then” C block.

x. Drag and stack the whole
“if...then” C block into the

middle of the “forever” C
block.

9. Broadcast the ending
message.

i. Under the “Events”
category, drag the
“broadcast message1 and
wait” block into the Script
Area.

ii. Drag and stack it
underneath the “Looks”
stack block that lies within
the “if...then” C block.

Session 7: Sprite “Cat” Illustration
No. Action
1. Select the Sprite “Cat”.

In the Sprites Pane, click to
select the Sprite “Cat”.

2 Let Cat play sound when Pico
touches him.
i. Under the “Events”
category, select and drag

the “When I receive
message1” cap block into
the Script Area away from

the existing stack of blocks.

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No. Action Illustration

ii. Under the “Looks” category,
drag the “play sound meow

until done into the Script
Area.

Stack it under the “When I
receive message1” cap
block.

3. Let Cat speaks.
i. Under the same “Looks”
category, drag the block
“say Hello! for 2 secs” into
the Script Area.
ii. Stack it under the “play
sound meow until done”
block.
iii. Change the word “Hello!” to
“Yes, we meet again!”

4. Cat broadcasts a new
message.
i. Under the “Events”
category, drag the
“broadcast message1 and
wait” block into the Script
Area.
ii. Stack it beneath the “Say
Yes, we meet again! for 2
secs” block.

iii. Click the down arrow to
display the drop down
menu. Click to select “new
message...”.

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No. Action Illustration

iv. In the New Message dialog

box, change the Message

Name: to “End”.

v. Click the “OK” button.

This is how it should look:

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Session 9: Sprite “End” (The closure) Illustration

No. Action

1. Click Select the Sprite
“End”.

In the Sprites Pane, click to
select the Sprite “Pico”.

2 Let Sprite “End” reappear
when the game is over.
i. Under the “Events”

category, click to drag the
“When I receive End” cap
block into the Script Area.

Keep it away from the
existing stack of blocks.

3. ii. Under the “Looks”
category, drag the “go to
front” stack block and
stack it to the “When I
receive End” cap block.

iii. Under the same category,
drag the block “show” into
the Script Area and stack
it under the “go to front”
block.

3 Stop all scripts.
Under the “Control”
category, drag the “stop all”
block into the Script Area
and stack it under the block
“show”.

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No. Action Illustration

Save your project. Instructions

Session 10: Play the game You may click the full screen button to
Title: Everything comes alive! view the stage in full screen mode.
Outcome: Evaluate and review the project.
Click the Green Flag to start the game.
Instruction:
Let’s try out your project to see if it works. Click the Red button to stop.

Illustration Does your project run as expected?

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Challenge 1

Instructions for Challenge 1:

This challenge requires you to create a new maze by painting a new backdrop.

Illustration Instructions

Can you create a more complicated
layout for the maze?

How would you shrink Pico’s size?

Reflection

Let’s ask ourselves these questions:
What computational thinking skills were involved in each step of your Scratch
Programming project?
Which skill(s) had been used most frequently?
How did it help you to solve the problem?
How does it differ from the Higher Order Thinking Skills that you have been using
before the introduction of computational thinking skills?

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MODULE 3

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MODULE 3 - COMPUTATIONAL THINKING (CT) SKILLS INTEGRATION IN
TEACHING AND LEARNING
This part will increase educators’ confidence in applying computational thinking skills
into teaching and learning.
Overview
Just as a chef follows a tested and favourite cooking style for a much-awaited meal,
so does a teacher carefully decides on a “suspenseful” technique that can guarantee
an interesting, enjoyable and objective-driven lesson episode for every school day.
Her primary responsibility is to help learners develop their own learning style.
An effective teaching should consist of a structure, an approach and skills. Here, we
are using the BIC model: (Brain-Based- Inquiry-based- Computational Thinking)

Module 3 consists of three sections:
Section A : Brain-based – as the structure
Section B : Inquiry-based – as the approach
Section C : Computational Thinking – as the skill.

SECTION 1: TEACHING STRUCTURE: BRAIN-BASED

Brain-based learning refers to teaching methods, lesson designs and school programs that
are based on the latest scientific research about how the brain learns, including such factors
as cognitive development—how students learn differently as they age, grow, and mature
socially, emotionally, and cognitively (Great Schools Partnership, 2013).

Brain-based learning is motivated by the general belief that learning can be accelerated and
improved if educators base how and what they teach on the science of learning, rather than
on past educational practices, established conventions, or assumptions about the learning
process. For example, it was commonly believed that intelligence is a fixed characteristic
that remains largely unchanged throughout a person’s life.

An example of a brain-based teaching structure is as shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Brain-based teaching structure

Activation

Use student’s prior knowledge to help them understand the nature and scope of a
problem.

1. Take time to help students activate memory.

2. Understand what students already know

3. Understand misconceptions and incorrect knowledge

How do we understand what students already know?

Develop

How students connect what they have already knew to new information determines
how they learn and apply this knowledge.

1. Communicate goals and expectations for tasks and activities at the beginning of
each module

2. Guide students through the tasks and activities as outlined in the teacher notes

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Try Out
Write down all the words you think about when you think of the World Wide Web.
Now organize these words into a graphic that makes sense to you.
Share your ideas!
Learn-By-Doing
How are you going to provide opportunity for students to learn-by-doing?

How often do you give precise feedback to your students?

Integration
Requires students to generalize their understanding and apply learning across
contexts.
1. Do not skip or rush through key skills and steps that students may not already

know. Help students move through the challenges.

2. How do you train yourself to look for student mastery of the skill before you move
on to the next topic?

Review
1. For students’ retention.

2. Closure.

3. The activity stimulates working memory to summarize the lesson.

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Preview
1. Preview the next topic

The experience helps brain pre-processor and repetition brain to focus on the new
lesson (Shaw & Hawes, 1998)

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SECTION 2: INQUIRY BASED APPROACH

Building a Culture of Inquiry

Think back to your own experiences in school. Do you remember your favourite
project? What was your topic? How did you share your information? What made the
experience so special?
This kind of learning remains a strong and compelling memory for those of us lucky
enough to have experienced a self-directed or inquiry-based project. The feelings
are the same whether we experienced this learning in the early elementary grades,
as a high school student or as a graduate student. Many of us, when asked about
positive memories of school, will remember a project with real-world applications that
engaged our emotions and our thinking. Often, it was a research project that we
shared with friends and family.

Some teachers have not had the experience of a research project in their own
schooling, but they have taken up the challenge of creating inquiry-based learning
experiences for students and are aware of the wonder and excitement that an inquiry
project can bring to learning.

What is Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL)?

A student-centred, active learning approach focusing on questioning, critical thinking,
and problem solving is as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 : Inquiry-Based Learning Cycle
Source: Queen’s University, Belfast
www.qub.ac.uk

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What Does The Research Say?
Research suggests that using inquiry-based learning with students can help them
become more creative, more positive and more independent (Kuhne, 1995). This is
true for all students, including those with special needs who require more individual
attention during the process.
Other academic research shows that inquiry-based learning improves student
achievement. Some of the research on this effect comes from studies of effective
school library programs that are centres of inquiry-based learning.
Building a culture of inquiry also means recognizing, supporting and teaching the
role of metacognition as in Figure 3. Metacognitive skills are part of the “learning to
learn” skills that are transferable to new learning situations, in school and out of
school. Through reflecting on the process during inquiry-based learning activities,
students are given opportunities to explore and understand both the cognitive and
affective domains of “learning to learn”. Understand and dealing with thoughts and
feelings makes inquiry-based learning a powerful learning experience for students
and teachers.

Figure 3: Metacognition Skill in IBL

Why Inquiry-Based Learning?
Inquiry-based learning provides opportunities for students to:

Develop skills they will need all their lives
Learn to cope with problems that may not have clear solutions
Deal with changes and challenges to understandings
Shape their search for solutions, now and in the future
Develop problem solving and lifelong learning
Internalize a variety of inquiry skills and strategies for independent and group
use
Adapt procedures to various inquiry situations
(Adapted from Alberta Education, 1990, p. 9)

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Tips for Teachers

Building a culture of inquiry which includes:

Approach inquiry with enthusiasm and excitement
Admit that inquiry involves the unexpected for you and for students
Model the inquiry process in your instruction (show as well as tell)
Use the language of inquiry
Facilitate the process – discuss, clarify, support and monitor
Evaluate the process (and make it really count)
Use technology to do what would be impossible otherwise
Set a specific time for inquiry-based learning

Metacognition:

Pose questions about thinking and feeling, and allow students to reflect upon
their learning progress
Model the diverse learning styles and perspectives
Model the inquiry process out loud on a consistent basis
Explicitly call the students’ attention to the Inquiry Model and to the particular
phase at which they are working
Set timelines
Review the inquiry process through class discussion, journal writing and
ongoing and retrospective analyses of the data generated throughout the
inquiry process

Suggestion for Practise

The following example elaborates on the practical steps teachers can use for inquiry-
based teaching method:

Step 1: Questioning
Concept development phase
Example: “Did you ever wonder why gum gets smaller when you chew it?”
Stimulates student interest in the topic for exploration

Step 2: Planning and Predicting
Listen to student’s answer (their prediction)
Pick a few of students’ answer and form hypothesis
Create activity for investigation

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It may take some times until students are used to this method
It is important that teachers model this process, asking questions that can be
investigated, and eliminating or rewording those that can’t be investigated
easily

Step 3: Investigating
Students become involved in their inquiries
It is vital to give them ample time to complete their investigations

Step 4: Recording and reporting
Students record and communicate their findings in this stage of inquiry
learning
They can report their findings in a variety of ways

Step 5: Reflecting:
Students revisit the phenomenon and plan further investigations
New questions may occur as a result of the inquiry and the process is
repeated

Inquiry Process
The inquiry process in Inquiry Based Learning are as in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Inquiry Process in Inquiry Based Learning
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Questioning Technique
Mistakes that teachers make while questioning are:

Asking too many irrelevant questions
Asking a question and answering it yourself
Simplifying the question when students don’t’ immediately respond
Asking questions of only the most able or likeable students
Asking several questions at once
Asking only closed questions that allow one right/wrong possible answer
Asking “guess what is in my head” questions, where you know the answer
you want to hear and you ignore or reject answers that are different
Judging every student response with “well done”, “nearly there”, “not
quite”. “Well done” can discourage alternative ideas being offered
Not giving students time to think or discuss before responding
Ignoring incorrect answers and moving on

What kinds of questions promote inquiry?
The teacher plans questions that encourage thinking and reasoning
Everyone is included
Students are given time to think
The teacher avoids judging students’ responses
Students’ responses are followed up in ways that encourage deeper
thinking

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Summary
The Overall Plan for Inquiry-Based Learning Activity is shown in Table 1.

Before Activity During Activity After Activity
What I know: What skills will I use: What did I learn:
1.
How I know: 2. How well did I achieve
my goal:
What else I need to know: What resources do I need:
What changes did I have
Why I want to know: What procedures or steps to make to meet my
do I follow: goals:

Goal of Activity For next time:

Main Goal: What might go wrong: Where else can I use
Sub-goals: these strategies

Date due:

Ideas and feelings to
put on the notes:

Table 1 : Overall Plan for Inquiry-based Learning Activity

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CT Rubrics
Introduction
A rubric is a coherent set of criteria for students’ work that includes descriptions of
levels of performance quality on the criteria. The genius of rubrics is that they are
descriptive and not evaluative. Of course, rubrics can be used to evaluate, but the
operating principle is you match the performance to the description rather than
“judge” it. Thus rubrics are as good or bad as the criteria selected and the
descriptions of the levels of performance under each.
The main purpose of rubrics is to assess performances. For example, how are
students performing when using an electric drill or discussing an issue? Another
purpose is to assess the product, which is the result of the students’ work. For
example, we can use rubrics to assess students’ finished bookshelf or a written
report.
Design Rubrics
Use the below questions as guide to design your rubrics:

What you are assessing?
What criteria you are looking for?
How do you want to scale these criteria?
Is the description clear and objective

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Criteria Definition Measures Beginnin

Creatively develop, Ask probing No or limited log
select and test questions to connection of ide
relevant hypotheses uncover details of Few questions for
the problem. Expects others to
Logical questions. Does n
Reasoning Clearly defines understand the ce
the problem. problem.
Problem is define
Defines clear or too narrowly. K
success criteria information is mi
for the project incorrect.
including Fails to formulate
measurable to test.
objectives
Unable to make c
Abstract Ability to visualize “Sees the big previous knowled
Thinking the whole and identify picture” Unable to make c
the relevant parts and Decomposes the between informat
relationships of those problem into and the problem.
component parts. Unwilling to revie
parts in order to solve Correlates the summaries of prio
a problem. relationships knowledge for use
between information.
Ability to select and components and Fails to gather inf
execute appropriate prior knowledge or obtains it from
steps to solve a inappropriate sou
complex problem. Identifies the Creates a vague f
steps required to that doesn’t move
Algorithmic solve problem. problem-solving p
Thinking Identifies the along.
sequence of steps Doesn’t seek help
including others.
possible Team spends time
decisions and that interfere with
branching. problem-solving p
Identifies normal Team members d
and exceptional who is responsibl
behaviour of a task.
solution.

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gical Most information and ideas Accomplished
eas. are presented in a logical
rmulated. and effective manner. Logical connection of ideas.
o define the All questions may not be Questions are probing and
not seem to relevant. May have some help clarify facts, concepts,
entral difficulty formulating and relationship in regard to
questions to move toward problem. Follow-up
ed incorrectly better understanding of the questions are gleaned from
Key problem. appropriate sources.
issing or Problem statement has Clearly defines the problem
some ambiguity or misses and outlines necessary
e hypotheses some important issues. objectives in an efficient
Formulates and relates manner.
connection to hypotheses to test. Formulates and relates
dge. hypotheses to test as well as
connections Applies limited amount of relating them to previous
tion gathered prior knowledge to current knowledge.
problem. Does not
ew consistently apply Effectively applies
or information effectively. previous knowledge to the
eful Information gathered may current problem. Integrates
not be extensive, or may with new information to
formation, have occasional difficulty assist the problem solving
m limited or using information process.
urces. effectively in problem Consistently gathers a
framework solving. broad spectrum of
resources and information
e the Can create a framework but and integrates it with prior
process may not use it consistently knowledge and problem-
in an effective manner, or solving strategies.
p from revise it as needed.
All team members Creates and applies a
e on tasks generally cooperate and framework (e.g. diagram,
h the prioritize tasks, but may flowcharts, algorithms)
process. not consistently rotate throughout the process and
don’t know responsibilities or work out revises it as necessary.
le for which most effective strategies for Team takes the initiative to
success. define tasks, match
assignments to expertise,
rotate responsibilities,
maintain open
communication, and
develop strategies to
enhance group success.

85
Conclusion
Stepping into 21st Century, it is no longer a century of knowledge transfer from
teacher to students. It is about life-long learning because children now live in a world
of almost unlimited streams of trivial and profound information, of enormous
opportunity and difficult choices. Helping students make vital practical, emotional and
social connections to skill and content is more important than ever.
It is important for teachers to:

Make content relevant to students’ lives;
Bring the world into the classroom;
Take students out into the world;
Create opportunities for students to interact with each other, with teachers
and with other knowledgeable adults in authentic learning experiences.
It is important for us to instil Computational Thinking into learners so that they can
really become independent learners, life-long learners.

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SECTION 3 - CT SKILLS INTEGRATION IN TEACHING LEARNING
ACTIVITIES
UNPLUGGED ACTIVITIES

The following are examples of teaching and learning activities that demonstrate the
integration of 4 main computational thinking concepts: decompose, pattern, abstraction and
algorithm.

Subject : Mathematics
Topic : Counting

Objective : At the end of the activity, participants will be able to
i. sum up all the numbers between any two given numbers

Computational Thinking Concepts: Decompose, Pattern, Abstraction, Algorithm

Materials : Chalkboard, markers

Duration : 30 minutes
Activity 1 : Figuring it Out
Steps:

No Teaching and Learning Activity CT skills

1 Write 1, 2,..., 198, 199, 200 on the chalkboard.

Ask participants to sum up all of the numbers between 1

& 200. Let them know that they must do it all in their

heads within thirty seconds. Watch the class as you

keep time. How many are lost in thought?

2 When time is up, ask if anyone was able to get the total.
Ask if there is anyone who thought the problem was so
hard that they didn't even attempt it.
Did anyone attempt it and just not finish? What did they
try?

3 Now, guide participants toward thinking a little smaller. decompose
Tell participants that if we break the problem up into
smaller pieces, it becomes easier to manage.
Let's start at the two ends.
What is 200 + 1?
What is 199 + 2?
What is 198 + 3?

4 Ask participants if they see a pattern? pattern
All the pairs total to 201.

5 How many of these pairs will we have? pattern
What is the last pair we will find? 100 + 101
That means that we have 100 total pairs.
If we have 100 total pairs of sums of 201, how do we
find the final total?
What is 100 * 201?

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No Teaching and Learning Activity CT skills
abstraction
6 Now, what if we wanted to find the trick to do this with
other numbers?
Can we do it easily with 2,000? How about 20,000?
What stays the same? What is different?

7 Make an algorithm that will work for the sum of all the abstraction

numbers between 1 & any number algorithm

You should get :

i. Determine the last number, =“blank”

ii. Determine the number of pairs, = “blank”/2

iii. Determine the sum of each pair, = “blank” + 1

iv. Now find the sum of all the numbers using,

= ("blank"/2) * ("blank"+1)

8 Do a few simple examples to show that the algorithm is
correct for blanks= 2, 3, 4, & 5.

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Subject : Science
Topic : Cardinal directions

Objectives : At the end of the activity, participants will be able to:
i. follow verbal cardinal directions to reach a destination

(North, South, East, West)

ii. distinguish between the four cardinal directions

Computational Thinking Concepts: Decompose, Algorithm

Materials : Student game board, teacher game board, cips

Duration : 30 minutes
Activity 2 : Move it, Move it

Steps :

No Teaching and Learning Activity CT skills

1 Distribute a game board to each group.

H

G

F

E

D

C

B

A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1
0 1 2

Student game board

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No Teaching and Learning Activity CT skills
Teacher has a game board with objects on it.

H
G
F
E
D
C
B
A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Teacher game board

2 Teacher acts as controller. Decompose

i. Controller will specify starting grid. For example : A4. Algorithm

Participants write the word “start here” in the A4 grid.

ii. Controller calls out a direction. Participants move

their cip on their game board according to the direction

given. For example : North. Participants moves their cip

upwards one box above grid A4 on their game board.

iii.Controller calls out other directions one by one until

the desired object (sun, moon, cloud or tree) is reached.

Controller calls out “stop”.

iv. Participants will mark their destination grid.

Participants check answers by revealing their final grid.

3 Game is repeated for each object. This time a
participant plays the role of controller.

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