Introduction to week 3

Welcome to week three of Teaching Computing. This week, we’ll be focusing on the subject knowledge teachers need to tackle the curriculum. The aim of the curriculum is that it’s taught in holistic ways, which bring together elements of computer science, ICT, and digital literacy, as well as aspects of other subjects. However, for the purposes of this course, we’ll look at the elements separately. Many teachers, especially those in primary schools, feel most nervous about teaching computer science aspects of the curriculum. However, we hope that the explanatory articles here, which link to a myriad of great coding resources online, will help teachers build their confidence. This week’s not designed as a how to program in Scratch course, or something similar.

It’s more about helping you navigate to the right online resources where you can brush up on your computer science skills. This week, we also feature the new BBC MicroBit, a small programmable device which was given to every Year 7 pupil in the country in October 2015. The MicroBit comes with a range of exciting resources. If you’re not a Year 7 teacher, don’t worry. The MicroBit is due to go into production, so schools can buy these for all their pupils. At the end of this week, you can take our self-assessment quiz about digital literacy and ICT, and get an idea of the level of your own skills. We hope you’re making great progress.