Draw a shape, i.e., a star, a circle or a square, and add your NAME around the shape. Make the space MORE personal by adding a few words or pictures. 

• What is your name?

• What would make this class feel real, relevant and worthwhile for you?

What I asked...

Draw a shape, i.e., a star, a circle or a square, and add your NAME around the shape. Make the space MORE personal by adding a few words or pictures. 

• What is your name?

• What would make this class feel real, relevant and worthwhile for you?

What I want to know is....

• Will God fit into our classroom

• How can He change the experiences, challenges, or outcomes to make this class feel purposeful and worth your time?

Reflection 1: Collaboration

Hi everyone,

Well done tonight. You coded! We'll deepen that understanding over the coming weeks, but the underlying question remains: Why code? Does it belong in our teaching toolkit?

My position: You don't need to be an expert coder to support students, but you do need to understand the fundamentals. Even if you're the sewing or PDHPE teacher who will "never code," familiarity with basic coding, even with a chatbot doing the heavy lifting, makes you a better, more informed educator. What do you think?

Tonight's goals

For our first session, I had a clear aim: to establish our collaborative tone, invite God to lead us, and trick you into learning. Specifically, I wanted you to experience hands-on problem-solving through coding the Indibot by Sphero, pick up key coding terminology,  looping, branching, and debugging, and develop foundational electrotechnology skills, all while having fun.

Pedagogy vs. methodology — a quick distinction

I used both terms tonight, so here's the difference:

• Pedagogy is the why and how of teaching, your philosophical approach, informed by learning theory, curriculum goals, and your understanding of students' developmental needs and context.

• Methodology refers to the specific, structured techniques and procedures you use to deliver content, the practical implementation of pedagogy. Examples include inquiry-based learning, direct instruction, and demonstration.

My pedagogical approach centres on experiential learning: immerse students in a meaningful, challenging task, scaffold for success, and praise specific achievement. My methodology? Draw students in through authentic activity, like driving a coded car across a table, then celebrate every win, from the group discussing branching logic to the student who's just worked out how a battery functions. Did you clap when prompted? Why — or why not?

On classroom management

I was asked how we manage high school students. My honest answer: it's hard. Adolescents will call out hypocrisy instantly. They don't want games for games' sake; they want relevance, challenge, and respect. I want to acknowledge the suggestion to have a side conversation with the student needing attention. It worked for the four guys in our class, and it will work in your classroom. That brings me back to the central question: What would make this class feel real, relevant, and worthwhile for you?

I look forward to your answers and to reading your reflections.

Will God fit in our classroom? I want us to sit with that question too.

Reflection prompts:

1. What pedagogical strategies and teaching tools would you use to engage your class in coding?

2. What did you learn about basic electronics tonight?

3. Why is the design cycle central to technology education? How does it function in practice?

Thanks for your participation,

Kind regards, 

Chris Swafford 

PS. If you need help setting up Apple Shortcuts to take notes, see the image below: 

You will need ChatGPT or Claude set up on your IOS device. Open Shortcuts and code your prompt. 

Would this action be considered coding? 

Teaching coding

MakeCode.org enables students to program devices like micro:bit using both block and text-based coding, helping bridge the gap between beginner and advanced programming.

Tinkercad is an accessible, browser-based tool that lets students design 3D models, explore circuits, and begin coding in a safe, creative environment.

Scratch is the best first step—it’s free, fun, and builds strong foundations in computational thinking through visual block coding.

Code.org is perfect for structured computer science education in schools, offering sequenced lessons, teacher resources, and curriculum-aligned pathways.

Python.org provides the official language, documentation, and learning resources for Python, making it essential for anyone moving into real-world text-based programming.

Tynker offers gamified coding courses that motivate younger learners through interactive challenges and game design projects.

Grok Learning delivers curriculum-aligned coding courses with guided feedback, making it ideal for classroom use and teacher-supported learning.

Reflection 2: What is PBL?

Hi Class!

I appreciate your willingness to focus at the end of a long Monday. Late evening classes are hard, and the effort you bring each week does not go unnoticed. My goals in setting expectations for our class are two-fold: first, I want you all to be in class on time; more importantly, I want you to hold your future students to the highest standards God calls us to.

1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV): “...whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

This verse is not merely inspirational — it is a call to excellence in the everyday. As future teachers, every lesson you plan, every student you invest in, and every classroom expectation you set is an opportunity to reflect on that calling.

I hope you are seeing a theme in what I have to say. I want you to be the best prepared teachers you can be. Teaching is not an easy job; it takes a great deal of time, and it can feel lonely and thankless. Yet time will reveal the impact you have had on your students. I truly believe God will bless the work you are doing — even when the results are not immediately visible.

The Prayer and Accountability Challenge

With that in mind, my challenge to you is simple: hold a friend accountable. The prayer and accountability challenge is a faith-centred commitment between friends. Each participant agrees to hold at least one person accountable to one or two personal goals each week — and to pray for each other at the same time. It is not a program. It is a relationship built on trust, honesty, and mutual encouragement.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” — Proverbs 27:17

How It Works

Each pair of accountability partners will:

1. Choose 1–2 questions to ask each other weekly — personal goals that matter to you (e.g., spiritual habits, health, relationships, study).

2. Agree on a day and time to send each other a short text once a week.

3. Commit to responding — even a brief reply matters.

4. Pray for each other — a simple, honest prayer sent by text is enough.

Example — A Tuesday Morning

Mike sends Jim a text: “Praying for you today, Jim. Have you been consistent with your exercise plan this week? Have you been reading your Bible regularly?” Jim replies honestly — and sends his own prayer and questions back to Mike.

That’s it. Simple. Consistent. Powerful.

Sample Weekly Questions

You and your partner choose what matters most to you. Here are some ideas:

• Have you been consistent with your exercise or health goals?

• Have you read your Bible or spent time in prayer each day?

• Have you been intentional in your relationships with family?

• Have you kept your screen time or social media in check?

• Have you pursued the project or goal you committed to?

At the end of this class, if appropriate, I would love to hear about your experience with the challenge — what you sent, what you received, and how it shaped your week.

Project-Based Learning: What We Covered and What’s Ahead

Tonight, I introduced the question: What is PBL? Through our KWL chart, Socratic seminar, and class discussion, we began to unpack what project-based learning looks like in practice. We looked at real-world examples, BrightWorks in San Francisco, Nuevo School in Newcastle, and the Big Picture Learning model,  to see what is possible when students are given genuine ownership over their learning.

Next week, I look forward to hearing your responses. To prepare, please watch the following short video explaining the topic:

https://youtu.be/V2Oa4OkkTtw?si=UZxKYj4OSAYOQXXC

I believe we should use explicit instruction alongside PBL to provide students with the best possible learning environment. The two approaches are not opposites — they complement each other. Scaffolded, explicit teaching gives students the tools they need to then engage deeply and independently in project work.

Please also be aware that I will use the PBLWorks Gold Standard Rubric on Collaboration to assess your willingness to work together,  both in our seminar discussions and in group projects. Come prepared to contribute with depth, to include everyone in the conversation, and to build on each other’s ideas.

Assessment: How and Why We Do It

Teachers use summative assessments to find out what students have learned at the end of a unit or course. Formative assessments, however, drive the teaching that takes place before that final point. Formative assessment is ongoing, responsive, and deeply connected to what is happening in the room right now.

Tonight, the following formative strategies were used:

• KWL Chart: to assess your prior knowledge of PBL and track new learning throughout the session.

• 7-Minute Socratic Seminar: to gauge ongoing learning and the depth of collaborative discussion.

• Written Goals: to set personal expectations for how each student will contribute more meaningfully next week.

• Round Robin: to ensure every student had an equal opportunity to share their understanding of scaffolding in their own words.

• Practical Micro:bit Coding: each student coded at their own level, demonstrating the ability to loop, apply logic, and work in block or text-based code.

• Give Five: You rated the class on a scale of 1–5 as a quick gauge of how you experienced the learning taking place.

Assessment is the key to data-driven, meaningful teaching. The processes we use and the scaffolding we provide are not extras; they are the foundation of a successful lesson.

Teaching Methods Used This Week

• Reflective discussion (review of prior class)

• KWL chart

• Socratic seminar with participation mapping

• Analogical explanation (Roman columns for paragraph structure; building scaffolding metaphor)

• Real-world case studies (BrightWorks, Nuevo School, Big Picture Learning)

• Think-pair-share style discussion

• Direct instruction capped at ~7 minutes

• Hands-on practical coding (micro:bit)

• AI-assisted coding modelled by a student (makecode + hex file transfer)

• Faith integration (prayer, accountability partner activity)
  
  

I look forward to our conversation next week. Come ready, come curious, and come willing to go deeper.

Regards, 

Chris Swafford 

PS: Here is the link to my class website. 

Reflection 3: What is PBL? Class discussion

Hi class,

First, I want to make my point clear: my goal is for each of you to become an excellent teacher. Throughout this course, I will continue to challenge you to think carefully about who you are as educators. One of the questions I will keep returning to is this: Who owns your classroom?

At the same time, I recognise that there is a fine line between challenging you and discouraging you. My intention is always to support your growth while prompting you to reflect deeply on your professional identity.

At the beginning of tonight’s class, I introduced a seating chart. Some of you may have wondered why, and in one case, I was told that I may have gone too far. The reason connects directly to the idea of respect in the learning environment. When a teacher is speaking—or when one of your peers is sharing—don’t they deserve your full attention and respect?

If a student talks over the teacher or interrupts a peer during discussion, an important question arises: Will you allow that level of disrespect in your classroom? As future teachers, you will need to decide on your expectations. Just as importantly, you must consider how you will hold both yourself and your students accountable to those expectations.

Second, we discussed the concepts of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. As teachers, you will need to consider how you motivate your students. Will motivation primarily come from external rewards and consequences, or will you seek to cultivate an internal desire to learn?

Intrinsic motivation drives behaviour through internal satisfaction, enjoyment, or personal interest in a task. In contrast, extrinsic motivation comes from external factors such as rewards, recognition, or the avoidance of punishment. While extrinsic motivation can be effective for short-term goals and routine tasks, intrinsic motivation often leads to deeper engagement, persistence, and long-term personal growth.

During our three classes together, I have intentionally moved between extrinsic and intrinsic approaches with each of you. However, I also know from experience that when a strong relationship of trust exists between teacher and learner—and when students experience success in a supportive environment—they become far more willing to take risks and engage in learning. In other words, success often breeds success. When students are placed in a rich, inclusive, and supportive learning environment, they grow. In many cases, they begin to develop an intrinsic desire to learn.

Finally, I want to thank you for your discussion on PBL. For approximately 25 minutes, you led the group conversation without my direct involvement. Then, during the final reflection, you continued the discussion for 48 minutes. This was significant.

In many ways, you allowed an important process found in Project-Based Learning (PBL) to unfold. You took ownership of the discussion, demonstrated thoughtful communication, and ensured that each member of the group had a voice. This is exactly the type of collaborative environment that PBL encourages.

So what did I take away from our class tonight? I am proud of each of you for sharing openly. I also appreciate your willingness to challenge me and to reflect on who I am as a facilitator in this class. That kind of dialogue is healthy in any learning environment and reflects the type of reflective practice that strong teachers develop over time.

Thank you for your engagement and willingness to think deeply about these ideas.

I would like to hear from you. How would you change the teaching methods being used in this class? Could you teach in the manner being used? Why? Or why not?

Well done on the coding and wiring up the lights!

Regards,

Chris Swafford  

Reflection 4: Assessment 1

Good evening, class.

Tonight’s session was all about getting stuck into the practical side of coding with Micro:Bits and making solid progress on Assessment 1, while also moving us toward our PBL showcase. I deliberately kept the talking to a minimum—this class works best when you’re building, testing, and figuring things out for yourselves.

The goal here isn’t to turn you into expert coders. It’s to help you become confident coding teachers. That means being comfortable with not having all the answers and knowing how to guide students through problem-solving. You saw that in action tonight—whether it was using Google, AI tools, or each other to troubleshoot. The learning really happens in that space of productive struggle.

There was some great peer teaching as well. When someone figured something out—like extending servo functionality—and shared it with the class, that’s exactly the kind of classroom culture we’re aiming for. As teachers, we want to create environments where students learn with and from each other.

The checklist we worked through is there to give structure and clarity. It’s a simple way to track progress and ensure you’re covering key skills—radio communication, switches, servos, and lighting. Some of you moved quickly and took on more complex challenges, which is great to see. That’s the kind of differentiation you’ll need to think about in your own classrooms.

We also touched on some key concepts along the way—such as conductors and insulators, pulse-width modulation, and the difference between motors and servos. These weren’t the focus, but they matter, and they’re best understood when connected to something you’re actually building.

To finish, we discussed block-based versus text-based coding. Many of you recognised that block coding is a more accessible starting point for students, especially in building confidence and understanding. At the same time, text-based coding still has its place as students continue to develop. Rather than a written reflection, we used discussion as a formative check—giving you a chance to think, respond, and hear different perspectives.

Overall, tonight was about building capability—learning by doing, solving problems, and gaining the confidence to take this into your own classrooms.

Assessment 1: Congratulations to all present for passing the assessment.  Hudson, you will need to demonstrate your abilities at a later time. I hope you are feeling better soon. 

Reflection 5: What is creativity?

Summary

This session focused on unpacking creativity and its place within meaningful learning. The class began with an open discussion in which students reflected on their own experiences and challenged common assumptions about creativity—questioning whether it can be developed, diminished, or lost in school contexts. The lesson then shifted into a practical application, with students designing and coding remote-controlled cars. This hands-on task created a strong link between creative thinking and problem-solving, particularly as students worked through real technical challenges such as servo power limitations. The session concluded with purposeful planning for their PBL projects, where groups explored themes, clarified roles, and considered how to communicate a clear and meaningful message through their work. Overall, the class highlighted that creativity is best fostered through collaboration, ownership, and authentic, applied experiences.

Teaching Methods Used

The lesson drew on a range of complementary teaching approaches. An interactive discussion was used to surface student thinking and build a shared understanding of creativity, allowing students to connect personally with the concept. This was supported by hands-on learning, in which students applied coding and engineering skills in practical contexts, reinforcing the idea that creativity involves doing, testing, and refining. Collaborative learning was evident throughout both the car-building task and PBL planning, as students worked in teams, shared responsibility, and contributed ideas. Inquiry-based learning underpinned the session, with students encouraged to ask questions, explore possibilities, and reflect on their own learning processes rather than simply follow instructions.

Task to Do

Students are required to complete the remote-controlled car task by building and coding a fully functioning model using continuous servos and Micro:bits. Alongside this, each group must finalise their PBL project direction by selecting a theme, assigning clear roles, and ensuring all members contribute equitably. Teams are expected to use the PBL Gold Standard rubric to guide and evaluate their collaboration. Looking ahead, students will refine their designs by integrating servo controllers and addressing the power issues identified during this session.

See https://core-electronics.com.au 

Reflection 6: Group Projects --Not him!

This session focused on building both technical skills and student capacity for problem-solving and collaboration. We began with a brief check-in, noting absences and the upcoming public holiday, followed by a short time of prayer and informal discussion. A key theme that emerged early was the challenge of consistency—particularly in areas like prayer—which helped set a reflective tone for the lesson.

From there, students moved into hands-on work with their robotics builds. The immediate goal was to get their cars operational, using motor controllers, servo controllers, and appropriate power sources. While the task itself was relatively straightforward, the real learning came through the challenges students encountered—particularly around wiring, power supply, and system setup.

Absent students: Harry C and Libby M will need to get their remote-controlled cars driving next lesson. 

Rather than stepping in with direct solutions, I intentionally allowed students to wrestle with these issues. This led to strong evidence of collaborative problem-solving, persistence, and peer support. In our reflection, it became clear that for most students, the difficulty was not the coding itself but the process of diagnosing and solving problems. This reinforced the purpose of the task: developing critical thinking and resilience, not just technical success.

In the second half of the lesson, we transitioned into planning for the major project. Students revisited earlier discussions and collectively agreed on a “Reef Ranger” game concept. This project will involve designing an interactive coral reef environment.

The Reef Ranger project is your opportunity to design and build an interactive experience that shows how human action can restore a polluted coral reef. Your game should clearly use foreground, midground, and background, and within each of those, think carefully about the top, middle, and bottom so the scene feels layered and realistic rather than flat. Be intentional with negative space—not every area needs to be filled; leaving space will help your key features stand out and stop the design from becoming cluttered. As you plan, make sure each group member is responsible for building working elements using coding, lights, motors, and sound (for example: claw control, lighting changes, moving sea life, or audio feedback), and ensure the workload is shared equally. You also need to assign clear roles: a project leader to keep the group focused, a showcase coordinator to organise where and how the final product will be displayed, and a timeline manager to track progress and keep the group on schedule. Remember, you will be assessed using the PBL Gold Standard rubrics, specifically the Collaboration rubric (how well you work together, share responsibility, and support one another) and the Communication rubric (how clearly and effectively you present your ideas and final product). Plan carefully, build thoughtfully, and make sure your project demonstrates both strong teamwork and purposeful design.

Students began brainstorming the practical components required, including control systems (e.g. micro:bits), lighting, movement, and possible mechanical solutions such as magnet-based claws. I guided them to think not only about the creative concept but also about implementation, roles, and collaboration—ensuring all group members, including those absent, are considered in the planning.

Overall, the lesson successfully balanced technical skill development with deeper learning goals. Students demonstrated increasing independence, strong engagement, and a willingness to persist through challenges, while also taking meaningful steps toward a complex, collaborative project. 

Good work tonight.

Reflection 7: How do we learn?

We opened tonight the way we always do with prayer. It's a small thing on the surface, but I think it does something important. It reminds us that teaching isn't simply a transaction of knowledge. It's purposeful work. Relational work. And tonight, watching you throw yourself into the messiness of building, problem-solving, and persevering, I was reminded that you were doing meaningful work.

Tonight's session was structured around project-based learning, during which you continued developing a life-sized prototype while also working on your individual coding components for Assessment 2. On paper, that sounds straightforward. In practice, it's where the real learning happens, and it rarely looks polished.

They Were Learning — Even When They Didn't Know It

What I find most energising about this kind of lesson is watching students move through the learning cycle almost without realising it. They begin with what they know — their existing ideas, half-formed plans, instincts — and they start building. That's assimilation: using current understanding to tackle something new.

Then things stop working. Or they realise their prototype doesn't quite do what they imagined. Or the code throws an error they weren't expecting. This is the productive struggle, a point in time that matters the most. Rather than rescuing them immediately, the design of tonight's lesson asked you to sit with the discomfort long enough to rethink. To accommodate. To change their mental model.

One student, working through the frustration of a component that simply wasn't cooperating, captured it with raw honesty:

"The wheels are slipping, but I'm doing it."

That phrase stayed with me. That's not defeat. That's resilience. That's a student choosing to keep going even when the components aren't behaving as expected, even when the path forward isn't clear. It's exactly the kind of situation we hope to develop and improve our work. 

The Moments That Told the Story

Across the room tonight, different students were at different points in their projects, and the conversations were solid. At one end of the space, a group had sorted out a lighting challenge with the confidence of people who'd genuinely cracked something. One of them looked up and announced to the room:

"We got the lights covered, boys."

There was real pride in that. And rightly so. They'd broken a big task into smaller parts and worked until something clicked. That's collaborative problem-solving. I want them to model for their own future students.

Elsewhere, a student grappling with coding paused and reflected aloud on their own capacity to grow:

"I could persevere with learning to code more."

The self-awareness in that moment was striking. They weren't saying they'd mastered it. They were saying they could continue; the struggle was worth it. That's metacognition. That's a student beginning to understand their own learning process, which is one of the most powerful things we can cultivate in a teacher education classroom.

And then there was the student whose question opened up an unexpected thread of inquiry. In the middle of building, they looked up and asked:

"Do we have sensors to detect motion?"

What I love about that question is what it reveals. They weren't asking it passively; they were asking because they were trying to solve a problem. They'd hit the edge of their current knowledge and were reaching forward. That's curiosity driving learning. That's what we want classrooms to feel like.

What They May Not Have Noticed

Much of what makes tonight's lesson work is invisible, and that's intentional. The scaffolding in this class is designed to gradually release responsibility. Early in the unit, more support. As students grow in confidence, more independence. By tonight, students were expected to take on specific roles, contribute individually to a group outcome, and manage their own progress. The structure holds them without holding them back.

What they were developing, sometimes without naming it, was collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, resilience, and reflection. You were working in what Vygotsky would call the Zone of Proximal Development: challenged enough to grow, supported enough to succeed.

There was one moment that beautifully encapsulated the reflective dimension of the evening. Amid the building and the coding, we stopped to reflect. A student offered this observation:

"Bibles are so common in the classroom, we don't think about them."

It was a quiet, thoughtful remark that opened something important. We talk about embedding faith and values into our practice as educators, yet sometimes the most familiar things become invisible to us. That kind of noticing, that capacity to see what others overlook, is exactly what we're trying to grow in future teachers. The ability to look at a classroom and really see it. 

Nathan said it best: “We do the small things to help our students know God.”

 Where We Go From Here

The prototypes are taking shape. The coded components are being built, tested, and improved. In the coming weeks, you will bring everything together and present your work to your peers, which adds a layer of authentic purpose to the task. That matters. Learning with an audience in mind changes how we approach the work.

My ask of students going forward is this: keep developing the prototype, make sure your individual coded contribution is genuinely yours, and work with your team to bring the whole thing together with care and craft. The project is coming to a close soon. The learning that will stay with you, about collaboration, about managing complexity, about persevering when things don't cooperate, is already happening.

 A Final Thought

I want my students to understand that they are not simply completing a project. They are learning how to design learning. How to support students. How to manage a challenge. How to teach effectively. Every element of how this class is structured, the scaffolding, the collaboration, the iteration, the reflection, models what good teaching looks like.

If you are curious about the ideas underpinning tonight's lesson, I'd encourage you to explore constructivism, project-based learning, and cognitive load theory. Not because they need to memorise frameworks, but because understanding why a lesson is designed the way it is helps you teach better lessons.

Tonight was a good night. Noisy, purposeful, occasionally frustrating in the best possible way and full of exactly the kind of learning that sticks.