Cognitivism

The majority of our students at all grade levels were at the stage of “unconscious incompetence”. Computational Literacy is a new concept that they, in most cases, had never considered what coding is and what it can do. They didn’t know what they didn’t know! Phase 1 of our project allowed students to participate in an introductory lesson and complete an Hour of Code. The students now had a basic understanding of computational literacy and why it is important to their lives. We “hooked them”! They wanted to learn more.

From here, they moved to the “conscious incompetence” stage of the cognitive process. Our project progressed to Phase 2 where students were able to use their computational literacy skills in different ways. They had to work together, relay on prior knowledge and experiences, and learn from failure. It is at this point of our project where the majority of our students were at the “conscious competence” of the cognitive process. The majority of our students can analyze the technology in their lives and have an understanding of how coding is a huge part of it. They can now apply their basic skills to create or alter their technology. Interestingly enough, we have observed that in every class there have been between two to five students who have a natural gift of quickly understanding how coding works.

In time we hope that some of our students move their way to “Unconscious Competence” however our goal is not to have all of our students move to mastery. Our goal is for all of our students to know and understanding how coding affects their daily lives now and their future.