Creative Computing Project – Final Report

PSC-IT and ISTE-E Standards Addressed in the Project

6.2/6b Managing Technology & Learning

Candidates manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in a variety of environments
such as digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces, or in the field. (PSC-IT 6.2,
ISTE-E 6b)

6.3/6c Design & Computational Thinking

Candidates create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and/or
computational thinking to innovate and solve problems. (PSC-IT 6.3, ISTE-E 6c)

6.4/6d Creativity
Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge, or
connections. (PSC-IT 6.4, ISTE-E 6d)

In this document you will reflect on the implementation of your Creative Computing Project. This
project could be part of your normal teaching or part of an extracurricular activity in either a formal
(k-12 school) or informal (library, community center, etc.) learning setting. Projects should include some
type of computation (e.g., Scratch, Makecode, another programming languages, or CS Unplugged
Activity.)

Suggestions include (but are not limited to):

o Teaching digital storytelling with Scratch
o Doing a CS Unplugged activity to teach about the steps of an algorithm
o Using the Makecode website to teach block-based coding
o Using your SparkFun Inventor’s kit to teach students how to breadboard (e.g., make their first
LED blink and/or control the servomotor.)
o Creating a robotic pet

This activity could be done with a whole class, or a small number of students depending on your
teaching environment.

Name: Cynthia Aldridge

Grade level: First Grade

Subject(s): ELA & Mathematics (this lesson took place during the math block)

Date of implementation: November 16 and 18, 2021

Description of Your Creative Computing Project
This section should include a detailed description of your Creative Computing Project. What was your
inspiration? Why did you choose this project? What materials did you need? What type of context did it
take place in? (e.g., traditional classroom, after school program, makerspace, etc.)

My creative computing project involved using CS Unplugged activities to help foster mathematical
discourse, generalized expressive language, storytelling, problem solving, and collaboration skills in a
first grade class in my school.
One of the first grade classes is taught by a teacher who is new to our school and has only taught for
one year prior to this school year, in a private preschool. The inspiration for this project was to offer
students the opportunity to engage in collaborative problem solving, while also learning about
computational thinking. Many of the students in this class struggle with expressive language, being
engaged in their learning and related activities, and are demonstrating behaviors that are not
conducive to learning. My goal was to help the teacher see how to use structures of inquiry, shared
investigation, and proactive-positive teacher language to facilitate learning experiences.
I will begin with the Kidbots unit from CS Unplugged. I plan to use sets of grid boards into the
classrooms, along with various Lego figures. I plan to modify the Rescue Mission lesson slightly by using
the paper grid with Lego figures, rather than having students play the role of live bot – this is primarily
because I can support eight groups of three students much better in the classroom than I can outside
on a large chess board with only three students interacting together. Students will use dry erase boards,
markers, Lego figures, and the grid to plan the path for the figure to follow across the board,
communicate the program, and then test the program. I have two learning targets for these lessons: I
can collaborate to problem solve and plan. I can communicate with my Crew to solve problems.

One of things that we’ve seen in our students – even before the pandemic – is that many of our
teachers do not feel strong in mathematics instruction. In truth, many early childhood classrooms jump
directly to algorithm based mathematics without spending sufficient time to develop students’
concrete understanding of concepts. Therefore, many students arrive in first, second, and even third
grade classrooms without strong number sense. As a result, when we ask students to explain their
thinking in how they solved a math equation or word problem, they lack the conceptual understanding
to clearly articulate the steps and their mental processes. I believe that by utilizing strategies to help
students’ collaborative work to solve a problem, I’ll be able to model instructional best practices, while
supporting and strengthening skills that have been underdeveloped over the past 18 months. In
addition to the desire to foster communication and algorithmic thinking, there is also recognition that
many students have spent hundreds of hours online over the past year and a half. As a result, there are
two sets of camps in our community – those that don’t want their child to have any tech time during
the school day, and those that see the value in these tools to help their child learn to read, write, and
become a productive citizen. I believe the CS Unplugged lessons found the sweet spot that helps to
nurture creative thinking and problem solving related to computational thinking, while keeping kids off
of tech. There’s also the buy-in with students that this type of thought process is how game developers
create Minecraft and Mario Kart, so there’s that little bit of intrigue to get six year olds excited, as well.

Use of Technology and Student Learning Strategies (ISTE-E 6b)

This section should document how you managed the use of technology and student learning strategies
as part of your Creative Computing Project.

ISTE Portfolio Questions

1. What rules, guidelines, and parameters, regarding the use of technology, do you have for your
learners when they are working independently in alternative classroom settings?

The expectations that we establish in our school and in our classrooms revolve around two big
ideas: Be Kind, Be Responsible. These expectations live in all aspects of our lives in the school
building. Along those lines, while using technology students are kind and responsible in the way
they handle their Chromebooks (“use two hands to carry it like a pizza box”; return the device
to the charging cart the way you found it – with the cord plugged in, so the next user has a fully
charged device) and these expectations are modeled and practiced in the first six weeks of
school and revisited throughout the year. Students in our school are encouraged and
empowered to be leaders of their own learning, and with this comes a sense of responsibility
and stewardship for the materials that we have in the building. However, technology devices
will not be directly used by students during this series of lessons.

2. Do you guide learners to reach out to their peers for support and troubleshooting?

Yes, there are often classroom jobs called “Tech support” or “Tech assistant” and these are
students who can support their peers to problem solve. When issues cannot be resolved by or
with a peer, then the teacher’s help is requested. In this way, students have a sense of
responsibility and ownership over the role of knowing how to support other students.

3. What ways do/can they troubleshoot their needs, independently?

Oftentimes students know the steps to follow before the adult even knows that there’s been a
problem. Prior to my arriving to help a student, many have already done things such as: log out
of a program and then log back in, check the settings to make sure boxes are checked, switch
out headphones to see if there’s an issue with the plug adapter on the other set, or turned the
device off and then back on. Students also ask for help from their peers. For example, we have
had an issue with a personalized learning program presenting content to students in a language
other than the preferred setting of English. When this first started in the classroom, students
first asked their peers if they’d had a similar experience. Only after they received feedback from
several peers did students then ask the teacher for support and assistance. In this way, students
showed a high level of independent problem solving in trying to work through an issue on their
own prior to getting an adult’s help to troubleshoot.

4. How do you manage the use of technology in these alternative classroom settings?
 Outside each set of two classrooms in our school building is a “Chromebook cart.” These carts
contain anywhere from 12 to 30 devices for classes to share. As students require devices
throughout the day, they’ve learned how to go to the Chromebook cart, unplug the device and
bring it back into the classroom. Once they’ve completed their activity, students reverse the
process and return their device to the cart. Teachers model appropriate digital citizenship in the
classroom and support the use of Chromebooks throughout the school day.

Design Process (ISTE-E 6c)

In this section you should document the five (5) steps of the design process that you used as part of your
creative computing project. Design processes could include:
● Creative Learning Spiral (Imagine, Create, Play, Share, Reflect),
● Creative Play (Inspire, Imagine, Create, Play Share),
● Engineering Design Process (Ask/Define, Understand, Plan, Create, and Improve), or
● Design Thinking (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test)

ISTE Portfolio Question

1. How do you implement a recognized design-thinking process into your instruction?

My approach to instruction employs the Creative Learning Spiral of Imagine, Create, Play, Share,
and Reflect with one additional step of Improve. This process can be modeled quickly for
students by using a think aloud approach within direct instruction. By using the think aloud
strategy, I am giving students the opportunity to hear my own meta-cognitive process and
rationale for taking certain steps. This helps students to think more critically through their own
problem-solving process and allows them to see that there isn’t one right way to approach a
problem or situation. My use of language needs to be intentional and well planned, and I will
need to practice these steps before beginning the lessons with the students.

Imagine Teacher role: I imagined what my students would be able to do at the

end of the lesson/task. By thinking of the end first, I was able to work
backward in my plan to analyze each component of the lesson. For this
project, I wanted students to be able to understand and describe ways
that problem solving with algorithms, task decomposition, pattern
recognition, and abstraction show up in the simplest of daily tasks. I
imagined support that I would need to provide, questions and answers
that would transpire and I started to work my way backward to scaffold
an experience that would engage learning, activate background
knowledge and critical thinking, and lead students to authentic inquiry.

Student role: During the lesson, I asked the students to recall different
tasks that they’d accomplished that morning: brushing teeth,
 walking/riding to school, entering the building and walking into their
classroom. I asked students to close their eyes and imagine themselves
engaged in these tasks. When students imagine a task happening, they
are able to see the parts better and begin to brainstorm and create a
plan leading to a solution.

Create Teacher role: As I began to create the lesson(s) and plan for
implementation, I reflected back again to check in with my goal and
make sure that I am staying on track. I created scaffolds by writing
probing questions that would help to guide and facilitate the learning
without too much direct instruction. In this phase, I prioritize students as
the center focus with the teacher role serving as facilitator and
co-learner.
Student role: Students were willing participants in creating solutions for
Kermit and the Lego figure. Several students showed divergent thinking
in developing more than one path for the Kermit and/or the Lego figure
to follow.

Play & Teacher role: In the play and share stages, I am engaged in the learning
Share with my students – my instruction is facilitated through student inquiry,
teacher facilitated questioning, and student dialogue. In this way I am
able to hear students’ thinking, support them as they encounter
obstacles, and navigate around misconceptions.
Student role: Students were actively engaged in the play and share
components of the design process. Students encouraged one another
and offered real-time feedback to help peers who were confused or
stuck.

Reflect & Teacher role: Once a lesson is complete, I reflect on the teaching and
Improve learning process – what worked well, what didn’t work as well as
expected, and what I will do differently next time (improve).
Student role: At the end of the project lesson, students came back to
revisit the two learning targets and self assess their level of mastery of
the target.

Evidence of one or more computational artifacts (ISTE-E 6c)

This section should provide evidence of one or more computation artifacts developed as part the
implementation of the Creative Computing Project. This evidence should include one or more photos of
students' projects and a written description.
Focus on process, not product (ISTE-E 6c)
What went well in your design process? What could be improved in your design process?

Using the Creative Learning Spiral design process helped me play out the project in my mind
prior to walking into the classroom. By imagining and creating the steps in my head, I was able to
anticipate some of the interactions and scaffolds that would be needed to support the work of
learning. It seemed like some of the hesitation and cautiousness of the students lessened once I
engaged in play with the students. By assuming the role of co-learner and facilitator with students, they
were more willing to talk with each other, to problem solve and actively encouraged one another. I
think I would like to use more of the engineering design process next time to ask questions and support
students in problem-scoping within the project tasks.

Failure (ISTE-E 6C)

What type of failures did you experience with the project? This could include failures that you had with
planning and teaching your Creative Computing Project in addition to failures that you observed with
students.

If I haven’t made a mistake today, then I must be doing something wrong. That is a mantra that I
have tried to instill in my students, and practice for myself on a daily basis. There were several failures
that occurred over the two days of this project experience. The first failure was too much teacher talk:
on the first day, I was nervous to be in another teacher’s classroom with a group of students who are
known to have challenging, attention-seeking behaviors. I entered the teacher’s room with a mindset
that I would need to be more assertive than usual, and so I started to talk and talk too much. One
component of the KidBot lesson that I wanted to edit was asking students what communication
strategies we could use to tell Kermit how to move. The goal was to begin to get them thinking critically
about computing language and use this initial experience for authentic inquiry in the abstraction,
decomposition, and algorithm thinking. As a result of too much teacher talk, I didn’t offer students
these opportunities and showed them the directional symbols instead. Next time I facilitate this lesson,
I’ll be sure to step back and allow for more discussion with the students. Additionally, I’d printed out
job tags as stickers (Programmer, Tester, Bot) and allowed the classroom teacher to support me in
passing out the stickers. She did not attend to the jobs labeled on the stickers and so I had to quickly
reassign students into different roles. This caused a bit of confusion and doubling up of jobs within the
small groups.
The student failures were minimal and did not impact their work. On Day 1 a few students drew
the rug that Kermit was placed on and then drew their arrow commands onto the rug’s squares. We
discussed how to be efficient with our language and agreed that we didn’t need to draw the grid next
time. Interestingly, on Day 2 students that were not present for the first day of the project started to
recreate the grid on their whiteboards in much the same way that students did on Day 1. I overheard
one of the Day 1 students tell their classmate, “Hey, you don’t need to do that, you can just draw the
arrows, it’s faster that way.”
Computational Thinking (ISTE-E 6c)
Using language such as abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, and algorithms, describe the
computational thinking that you observed as part of your Creative Computing Project. If you could
redesign your lesson, what would you do to encourage more computational thinking?

ISTE Portfolio Question

1. How do you provide opportunities for your learners to apply the components of computational
thinking?
The first grade students engaged in these lessons have the opportunity to apply abstraction,
decomposition, and algorithms throughout the activity. Abstraction shows up in the way that
students take what appears to be a simple task – move the figure from one corner of the board
to the opposite corner – and translate that into a series of symbols or abbreviations that
communicate the movement to the student bot. This level of language processing is a higher
order thinking skill for students and a demonstration of abstraction. Decomposition is present
in the way that students are expected to break down a large task in a series of discrete
movements. Students will record these movements precisely on the dry erase board with the
expectation that another user can communicate the series of steps to the student bot, thereby
leading the Lego figure to the opposite side of the board. Finally, students are engaged in
algorithmic thinking because they will see that the input of information (the series of
steps/directions), led to an output of information or a process of the figure moving across the
board. Students are expected to have the input and output match a specific outcome or result,
which is representative of algorithmic thinking. To test their thinking, students will have
opportunities to try out the command language created by other groups – they will work
collaboratively to debug any steps and provide feedback to their peers for ways to make the
process more efficient for other users.

ISTE NOTE 1: To meet this criteria you must show how you provide opportunities for your learners to
engage in the Design Thinking or Computational Thinking process, just presenting on what it is, is not
enough.

ISTE NOTE 2: Please specifically identify each of the steps of which process you identify in your artifact,
as well as how the details of the lesson/activity as it fits into the Design Thinking or Computational
Thinking process, in your artifact.

Nurturing Creativity (ISTE-E 6d)

Explain how you intentionally modelled and nurtured creativity and creative expression to
communicate ideas, knowledge, or connections as part of your project. Consider using the 4P
framework (Projects, Peers, Passion, and Play).

ISTE Portfolio Questions

1. How do you demonstrate creativity and creative problem solving for your learners by providing
them opportunities to obtain feedback and showcase their final work?
In order to nurture creativity in the classroom, students need to see the value in their creative
expression, recognize that there are multiple ways to approach a problem, and see that I hold
that same value. I demonstrate creative problem solving through modeling with think alouds
and direct modeling of multiple approaches to one problem and sharing how to plan my
approach to finding a solution. In thinking aloud with my students, I often reference similar
problems that I have encountered in the past and how I approached and solved them. By
referencing my background knowledge and prior experiences, I can also spotlight the successes
and failures of previous strategies and how I can apply these to a new and novel situation.

There are additional ways that I demonstrate the creative process that involve giving and
receiving feedback. These are specific skills that are scaffolded and practiced with students, so
that they feel comfortable with sharing ideas and hearing from one another. Within the
classroom, students learn protocols related to giving and receiving feedback. The essential
component in these protocols is for students to learn how to listen to understand what is being
shared by their peers or teacher. Active listening is a skill that is transferable to many situations
and helps students attend to and remember important information.

Students also need the space to explore projects and play with ideas, to feel comfortable and
empowered to make mistakes and to keep trying. This is what the Kidbot project is about –
playing, testing, exploring, testing again and having fun. My intention is to be purposeful in my
use of language to stimulate creative thinking and creative expression. I’ll do this by using the
words from programming such as “debug”, “programming language”, and “test the program”
because this is language that is both unusual and exciting to students. They don’t often get to
identify the problems of something on purpose or FOR a purpose. I want students to feel
comfortable using this language because I believe it’s important for their peer feedback.

Ultimately, I believe that students are more creative when they are having fun, and they are
more willing to accept feedback from their peers when the classroom culture and environment
feels safe, structured, and supportive. I believe that the parameters and expectations of the
KidBot lessons are a wonderful opportunity for students to practice communicating diverse
ideas, to test their knowledge and thinking, and to present their work to others in ways that are
representative of their learning and growth.

2. What opportunities are you providing for your learners to express their own creativity?
I think that students will be able to express their own creativity in how they approach the
challenges after the initial task. The first task is quite straightforward, which is a perfect
opportunity for students to develop their collaborative vocabulary and work through any
interaction obstacles that they may encounter. Following this initial task, students will have an
opportunity to engage in a task that is more challenging and requires more critical thinking and
creativity on the part of the programmer. I plan to ask open-ended questions such as, “Is there
another way that you could solve this problem?”, “Does anyone at your table have a different
approach to their solution?”, and “Tell me about how you came to this solution?”
 After this challenge, I plan to offer students a choice in completing a third pre-created challenge
or developing a story challenge on their own for another group to attempt at a later date.
Since my role in the school is to support teachers through coaching, modeling, and professional
learning, my approach has evolved over the past several years. One way that I encourage
teachers to support their learners’ creativity is through choice. Choice can come in the form of
students deciding the format of a final product. When students have the opportunity to
communicate their ideas in a way that matches their thought process, teachers are better able
to get an accurate assessment of a student’s true level of knowledge and comprehension of the
concept.

3. How do your learners share their work with others?

When I model or co-teach in classrooms, I begin and end each lesson with a check-in on
learning targets (“I can…” statements) for our work time together. In utilizing this practice,
students are able to share their work, growth, and accomplishments with their peers in a
supportive environment. When I teach this series of lessons, I will continue this practice as well
as recognize these students in our morning news show. Part of my role in my building is
producing, recording, and sharing the morning news show. I spotlight students regularly for
work, effort, talent, creativity, and stewardship that they show during and outside of the school
day. Students are excited to recognize one another and to showcase their own work when they
reflect on the learning targets for a lesson.

4. Do you provide opportunities for peer feedback?

In much the same way that I use learning targets to facilitate students sharing their work, I also
use protocols in my instruction to provide a specific structure to peer feedback. In our school,
we model practices of “kind, specific, and helpful” feedback – whether it’s coming from a
teacher to a student, or student to student – the expectation is that students are consistently
receiving feedback on their work, so that they may make adjustment and improvement to
better show their understanding of a concept or skill. In addition to using protocols, I also use
sentence stems with younger students to help them develop and practice specific language
skills related to positive and helpful communication with their peers. Students use sentence
stems such as, “I noticed that you…” or “I like the way you…” to offer positive and specific
feedback; whereas they follow up with “I wonder if you could…” or “It would be even better
if…” As I hear students offering feedback to each other, I sometimes need to step in and echo
or mirror back what students have said to one another to help them check their tone or
intention in what’s been communicated. First graders can be blunt and impulsive, but also quiet
and indirect. The challenge for me, and other teachers, will be to help students find the balance
between being kind and being helpful.

5. Do you encourage this creativity using technology resources and/or tools?

Yes, students are encouraged to use technology resources in creative ways. In other projects
during the school year, students have choice in ways they choose to show mastery of a skill or
concept. When students select a technology tool or resource to demonstrate their knowledge,
they are supported in the work with teacher help. This is often because the student’s project
idea is beyond their current skill level.
 This project does not specifically offer students the use of technology in their work. However,
one of the joys of using technology with young learners is that they are willing to jump in and
begin using a tool just to see what happens. In this way, students are willing to explore creative
outlets without fear of something going wrong, but with a sense of wonder “What will happen
if I do this?” This is truly what play is about – testing out the what-if scenarios of life – in this
case students can use technology in their play exploration. Students need to see that I value
their creativity and their ideas, and they need to have the space to be creative. Creativity shows
up in the ways that students approach a task and in what product they produce with or without
their use of technology. I encourage creativity by offering students choice in how they want to
present and share their learning.

Final Thoughts
Use this section for any additional reflection that you have about the Creative Computing Project or
how you see creativity could be better infused into the learning process.

After facilitating two days of lessons for my Creative Computing Project, I remembered why I
love teaching and how much I miss being a classroom teacher. There are many obstacles in place that
prevent teachers from infusing creativity into daily classroom learning. Chief among these reasons is
time - the demands and constraints of state standards, mandated curriculums, and structured
schedules have left little time remaining for creativity. Some teachers lack the time (and/or willingness)
to think creatively about their curriculum, how it can be introduced, or even how to nurture it in
themselves, much less their students. Creativity classes were not offered in undergraduate work, for
most teachers, and they would require professional learning or course work related to fostering
creativity to begin to see it implemented. This is a disappointing trend that requires disruption.
After digging deeper into computational thinking lessons/curriculums for primary learners, and
STEM programs for students in kindergarten through second grades, I concluded that my school district
is well behind the surrounding districts in terms of technology implementation and related
programming. Although there is one ‘Connections’ class related to STEM at the middle school level, and
experiences with skills related to computational thinking in kindergarten through fifth grade are
reserved for students who are identified as gifted and talented learners (our ‘LINKS’ classes). This
perpetuates the inequities that exist in our district, and elsewhere. As a result of my investigations and
research into Georgia’s technology standards for students and curriculums offered elsewhere, I made a
proposal to my principal that we begin to offer STEM/Computational Thinking classes to ALL students
as one of our ‘Specials’ classes (i.e., Art, Music, P.E. Spanish, STEM). I would argue that middle school is
too late to begin implementation of a STEM program. Middle schoolers are often less willing to jump at
the chance to make a mistake or mess up in some way because developmentally they are often more
concerned about how others perceive them. Primary learners - those in kindergarten through second
grade have a willingness to think divergently, to copy the ideas of others and to make something new
from it, to fail or to provide necessary feedback. In short, primary learners are more willing to be
creative, explore, play, and test their thinking. I shared my ideas with my mentor, the Executive Director
of Information Services, and he agreed saying that he’d just submitted a business case request for
funding to have a District Instructional Technology Coach that will help to evaluate the programs across
the district and begin to implement computing classes in the younger grades. As exciting as this was to
hear, I recognize that it does not guarantee that such a class will be created for the primary schools. I
hope to be able to continue to bring such lessons into classrooms in my school and foster creativity in
my own building.

Source:
Computer Science Education Research Group at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Unit Plan:
Kidbots. CS Unplugged. https://www.csunplugged.org/en/topics/kidbots/