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This post very much follows on from my previous post, especially with regards to some of the difficulties I've encountered with some of the Descriptions of Learning from the Science & Technology AoLE.
Last week a DCF coordinator from a primary school emailed me. Here's what it said:
"I was just wondering if you could point our year 5 and 6 team in the direction of resources to support the AoLe statements:
- I can identify positive and negative design elements that affect user interactions.
- I can explain the importance of securing the technology I use and protecting the integrity of my data.
- I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology.
- I can explain how data is stored and processed.
I thought I'd ask because you're probably already aware of lots of resources."
So here's a primary school that is beginning to address the Science & Technology AoLE but is struggling to find resources to be able to support the teaching of these statements. Something that I referred to in my last post. The following was my response:
Great question from your Yr5 and 6 teachers and to be honest these statements have been perplexing me too for some time. The issue as far as I can see it, is that some of these statements haven't really been taught in the primary school before. Therefore it's difficult to find resources that have been created to support them....and I'm constantly on the look out for relevant things. It's very frustrating that the WG hasn't, as far as I can tell, produced anything to support statements such as these. However, I'll try my best to help you interpret these as I see them."I can identify positive and negative design elements that affect user interactions."
I see this as closely linked to D&T. To me this is about looking at existing products / applications and identifying what makes it a good or poor user experience. From a coding perspective this could be done in the planning stages. Pupils would look at a similar application and could focus on the colours used, buttons, navigation or where outputs such as scoring or 'lives' are placed. If you were wanting the pupils to design and create a game using Scratch, on the Scratch platform pupils can look at similar examples that Scratch users have created. Identify what they like / dislike about the games. The nice thing about Scratch is that they can even copy the code from those games to help them get started with their own game and then develop them further with their own ideas.
"I can explain the importance of securing the technology I use and protecting the integrity of my data."
I see this as being very closely linked to the DCF Citizenship - Identity, Image and Reputation:
- "I can understand how to protect myself from online identity theft, e.g. identifying secure sites, phishing, scam websites."
- "I can identify the benefits and risks of mobile devices broadcasting the location of the user/device."
- "I can identify the benefits and risks of giving personal information and device access to different software."
Therefore any of the Citizenship lessons from The Digital Learning Den that address the above DCF statements I would argue addresses the Science & Tech AoLE statement.
"I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology."
Right, this is a bit more tricky and the one in particular I'm having difficulty with. Personally I understand what this means, but to what depth I would explain this to Yr5 or 6 pupils I'm still unsure of. Also, I've yet to find any appropriate primary aged lessons or resources to teach it. At the moment, if you wanted to address this aspect, I would probably have to do it as a class debate / discussion. Something around firstly finding out what type of online platforms pupils are signed up to, therefore have their own username and password to access. Ask what information they had to provide to be able to sign up? Name, email, age, postcode, etc. Could also be an opportunity to discuss whether they are old enough to use these platforms? Ask why these platforms need or want this information? What happens to the data you share? If some pupils are using Facebook for instance, everything you share, post or like is a piece of data that Facebook can use to build an accurate profile of you so that Facebook and advertisers can target specific posts or adverts to you. The same can be said of Youtube with your liking of particular videos or your viewing history. Virtually all applications work in this way. They know who you are, age, where you live, your likes / dislikes, location history (especially via your smartphone), your browsing history, contacts - the list goes on. I guess at age 10 or 11 we are just trying to get pupils (and adults!) to simply understand that data you share (posts, texts, photos, likes, browsing history) can be viewed by that platform and sometimes third parties and in many cases shared and used.
"I can explain how data is stored and processed."
I'm interpreting this as the fundamentals of how computers work. Have a look at these from BBC Bitesize:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z4gwhyc/articles/z82v34j (simple introduction)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj8xvcw/articles/zx3q7ty
This could be an opportunity to look at different types of file (jpg, doc, mp3, etc) and file sizes. There are also binary lesson plans out there for KS2. It's not something I've focused on as yet, but I will be looking at this in the future and will probably introduce it to The Digital Learning Den.
I hope this helps? Personally I just wish the WG would provide resources for the new things they introduce and also make the statements a lot easier to understand for everyone. How does a school write a curriculum if they can't understand what some of it means? Madness.
Thank you so much for your quick and lengthy response. This is very helpful as a starting point for us and helpful in trying to understand what these statements mean. I think you are right that the statements should have been written in more appropriate language as many teachers are not 'tech' people, and yes, provide us with the resources and ideas to be able to teach these objectives.
Thank you so much for your on going help.
"I can explain the importance of securing the technology I use and protecting the integrity of my data."
I see this as being very closely linked to the DCF Citizenship - Identity, Image and Reputation:
- "I can understand how to protect myself from online identity theft, e.g. identifying secure sites, phishing, scam websites."
- "I can identify the benefits and risks of mobile devices broadcasting the location of the user/device."
- "I can identify the benefits and risks of giving personal information and device access to different software."
Therefore any of the Citizenship lessons from The Digital Learning Den that address the above DCF statements I would argue addresses the Science & Tech AoLE statement.
"I can explain how my data is used by services, which can help me make more informed decisions when using technology."
Right, this is a bit more tricky and the one in particular I'm having difficulty with. Personally I understand what this means, but to what depth I would explain this to Yr5 or 6 pupils I'm still unsure of. Also, I've yet to find any appropriate primary aged lessons or resources to teach it. At the moment, if you wanted to address this aspect, I would probably have to do it as a class debate / discussion. Something around firstly finding out what type of online platforms pupils are signed up to, therefore have their own username and password to access. Ask what information they had to provide to be able to sign up? Name, email, age, postcode, etc. Could also be an opportunity to discuss whether they are old enough to use these platforms? Ask why these platforms need or want this information? What happens to the data you share? If some pupils are using Facebook for instance, everything you share, post or like is a piece of data that Facebook can use to build an accurate profile of you so that Facebook and advertisers can target specific posts or adverts to you. The same can be said of Youtube with your liking of particular videos or your viewing history. Virtually all applications work in this way. They know who you are, age, where you live, your likes / dislikes, location history (especially via your smartphone), your browsing history, contacts - the list goes on. I guess at age 10 or 11 we are just trying to get pupils (and adults!) to simply understand that data you share (posts, texts, photos, likes, browsing history) can be viewed by that platform and sometimes third parties and in many cases shared and used.
"I can explain how data is stored and processed."
I'm interpreting this as the fundamentals of how computers work. Have a look at these from BBC Bitesize:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z4gwhyc/articles/z82v34j (simple introduction)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj8xvcw/articles/zx3q7ty
This could be an opportunity to look at different types of file (jpg, doc, mp3, etc) and file sizes. There are also binary lesson plans out there for KS2. It's not something I've focused on as yet, but I will be looking at this in the future and will probably introduce it to The Digital Learning Den.
I hope this helps? Personally I just wish the WG would provide resources for the new things they introduce and also make the statements a lot easier to understand for everyone. How does a school write a curriculum if they can't understand what some of it means? Madness.
Finally here's the response I received back from the school:
Thank you so much for your on going help.
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