Aims and Objectives:

To encourage students to be more independent when attempting tasks that

require a problem solving approach
To provide a supportive resource for low ability students

Methodology

I have taught my mixed ability Year 9 GCSE Computer Science class programming
concepts since September 2013, using both Python and App Inventor. Some students
in the class have AEN and EAL. Students have mostly been copying out sections of
exemplar code to test the output. However, I felt that they were ready to attempt
problems independently. I gave them the Programming Challenges 1 booklet written
by Mark Clarkson and although they progressed well, despite teaching them the
underlying principles of algorithms and using variables, they were still struggling to
remember them when it came to attempting a challenge. They were constantly
asking me to remind them how to use if statements, loops and how to gather user
input. I found myself fire-fighting constantly addressing the same issues. Independent
learning has recently been given a big push at Whickham School and I knew my
students were relying too heavily upon me, although I tried to redirect them to Mark
Clarksons Python textbook (which is a fantastic resource) they found this too wordy
and couldnt instantly identify examples to help with their code, in addition, the limited
desk space meant that students had little room to have this A4 document constantly
at hand.

I then decided as part of my research project I would create flash cards (Appendix
A) featuring the explanations and examples of the four programming concepts
students frequently asked about. In the first lesson, I talked them through the flash
cards and they practised the examples provided in Python. They then had a short
mock exam which was put together using both AQA and OCR past papers. In the
lesson following this they started working on Mark Clarksons Programming Challenges
2 booklet. Students were encouraged to use the flash cards before asking me for help.

To assess how effectively students found using the resources at 10 minute intervals I
asked them to complete a progress review (Appendix B).

This asked:

a) Which challenge have you been working on?

b) Which programming techniques did the challenge require you to use?
Assigning variables
Using mathematical operators
Collecting user input
Casting user input
Selection
Iteration

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |1

 c) Explain how you used at least one of the programming techniques I have
recently started asking them to do this in preparation for the Programming
techniques section of the AQA Controlled Assessment

At the end of the lesson they were also given a link to a Google form which asked
(Appendix C):

1. How useful have you found using the flash cards?

Students were asked to rank their usefulness from 1-10, 1 being not very
useful, 10 being very useful
2. Approximately how many times throughout the lesson have you referred to the
flash cards?
Students were asked to select a number between 1 and 10 representing
how many times they had refered to the cards
3. Did the flash cards help you to prepare for the mock exam?
Students were asked to answer yes or no
4. Would you rather ask for help or try to find the answer out for yourself first?
Students were asked to answer either ask for help or find the answer
out for yourself first
5. Which programming techniques do you not yet feel confident using?
Students were asked to select multiple options from the following list:
i. Variables
ii. Selection
iii. Iteration
iv. Collecting user input
v. Casting user input
vi. Dictionaries
vii. Lists
viii. Functions and procedures

Following this lesson I then arranged for two of my most able Year 10 Computer
Science students (one male student X, one female student Y) to support the same
group of Year 9s. Students were working on the same challenge booklet but were not
given the flash cards for support. Instead as soon as they had a problem they were to
ask the Y10s as opposed to me. I thought that this experience would enable me to
assess how effective using the Y10s as a resource would be and hoped that the Y9s
would benefit from seeing how advanced the Y10s have become in a short space
of time. I also wanted to compare the use of this method of support with the support
provided by the flash cards.

At the end of the lesson they were also given a link to a Google form which asked
students (Appendix D):

1. To say how much they liked receiving support from the experts (experts being
the Y10 CS students) from 1-5, 1 being I liked this very much, 5 being I dont
like this very much

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |2

 2. To say how much they like receiving support from the teacher from 1-5, 1 being
I like this very much, 5 being I dont like this very much
3. To say how much they like receiving support from their peer i.e. the person
sitting next to them from 1-5, 1 being I like this very much, 5 being I dont like
this very much
4. To say how much they like receiving support in the form of the flash cards in the
previous lesson from 1-5, 1 being I like this very much, 5 being I dont like this
very much
5. To identify one thing the experts taught them in todays lesson
6. To identify how confident they feel at Python programming from 1-10, 1 being
I feel very confident, 10 being I really dont understand
7. To identify how confident they feel at using App Inventor from 1-10, 1 being I
feel very confident, 10 being I really dont understand
8. To identify which challenge they started the lesson working on
9. To identify which challenge they finished the lesson working on

I also interviewed the Year 10 students and asked them the following questions
(Appendix E):

1. Did you enjoy helping the Y9 students in their CS lesson?

2. In the 60 minute lesson how much of the time did you spend helping students?
3. Did students ask for your help directly or did you have to offer it?
4. Did you feel the students were happy to direct questions to you as opposed to
me?
5. Did they ask for you by name or did they put their hand up and either of you
approached them?
6. Do you think students have made as much/more/less progress than you had
after 8 months of studying Computer Science
7. What did you think of the class in comparison to yours?
8. Can you see any problems that the class size may cause?
9. Did you benefit from the experience?
10. Did it empower you in terms of your Computer Science ability?
11. Did it increase your confidence in programming?
12. Do you think Computer Science is an easy subject to support?

Results

Most students referred to the flash cards several times when completing tasks such as
Piggybank and Times Table, although not all were able to use them independently,
when students asked questions I would direct them to the relevant card i.e. I would
respond by saying take a look at the example in the Casting user input flash card
and found that with this direction they were able to proceed.

In terms of the 10 minute progress review sheet I found that this coupled with the flash
cards really helped students to identify which programming techniques they were
using (many students correctly circled the programming technique in use). The

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |3

resource encouraged them to be reflective and to attempt to describe specific
techniques. Students explained how they had used techniques with sentences such
as:

I had to ask user what times table he wanted and how high he wanted it to go
I used user input to ask the user which times table they wanted
I used mathematical operator to use the times table
I am collecting user input so they can put in the times table they want to learn
I used the variable of number to assign the number the user typed and times
that number and print x12

In terms of the questions asked, the results of the flash cards survey are as follows:

1. How useful have you found using the flash cards?

84% of students ranked their usefulness between 7 and 10
2. Approximately how many times throughout the lesson have you referred to the
flash cards?
52% of students used the flash cards 5 or more times during the 60 minute
lesson
3. Did the flash cards help you to prepare for the mock exam?
89% of students answered yes
4. Would you rather ask for help or try to find the answer out for yourself first?
89% of students said they would rather find out for themselves first
5. Which programming techniques do you not yet feel confident using? Results
are as follows:
Variables 8 16%
Selection 7 14%
Iteration 8 16%
Collecting user input 4 8%
Casting user input 4 8%
Dictionaries 5 10%
Lists 6 12%
Functions and procedures 8 16%

This has identified that students feel they are less confident at collecting user
input, casting user input and using dictionaries

In terms of the questions asked, the results of the support comparison survey are as
follows:

1. 33% of students said they liked receiving support from the experts very much
2. 19% of students said they liked receiving support from the teacher very much
3. 52% of students said they liked receiving support from a peer very much
4. 33% of students said they liked receiving support via resources such as the flash
cards very much
5. 62% of students answered either 1, 2 or 3, 1 being I feel very confident at
programming using Python

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |4

 6. 57% of students answered either 1, 2 or 3, 1 being I feel very confident at
programming using Python

In terms of the questions asked, the results of the Y10 student interview are as follows:

1. Did you enjoy helping the Y9 students in their CS lesson?

Students answered yes
2. In the 60 minute lesson how much of the time did you spend helping students?
Students answered 30 minutes
3. Did students ask for your help directly or did you have to offer it?
Students answered a bit of both
4. Did you feel the students were happy to direct questions to you as opposed to
me?
Students answered yes
5. Did they ask for you by name or did they put their hand up and either of you
approached them?
Students focussed on two rows of computers and circulated looking at
Y10 students programs and problems
6. Do you think students have made as much/more/less progress than you had
after 8 months of studying Computer Science
Students thought that the Y9s had made more progress, which was
interesting. As a teacher I believe the Y10 students were much further
ahead with programming at this point. This could be explained by the
almost doubled class size and the addition of several students with AEN
7. What did you think of the class in comparison to yours?
Both students agreed it was a lot bigger
8. Can you see any problems that the class size may cause?
Students felt that this would actually be a benefit because there would
be increased opportunity for peer support
9. Did you benefit from the experience?
Student Y felt it encouraged them to revisit tasks completed last year
and felt that this was beneficial. Student X did not feel that he benefited
from the experience
10. Did it empower you in terms of your Computer Science ability?
Students answered yes
11. Did it increase your confidence in programming?
Student x answered no
12. Do you think Computer Science is an easy subject to support?
Students feel that because everyone has different code/approaches to
solutions this could make support difficult to provide

Conclusion

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |5

Since the first experiment I have used the flash cards frequently in my lessons with this
class and they have proved a fantastic supportive resource which enable me to
spend time with students who are really progressing and want to use more advanced
programming techniques.

As 84% of students ranked their usefulness between 7 and 10 and 52% of students used
the flash cards 5 or more times during the 60 minute lesson it is clear that students also
feel that they are beneficial and allow them to make independent progress.

I plan to continually use these and will produce more advanced flash cards
demonstrating the use of lists, dictionaries, file handling etc.

It was clear from these explanations provided by students in the 10 minute progress
review sheet that students still have a long way to go before attempting a controlled
assessment as 36 marks of the AQA spec is awarded to the discussion of programming
techniques. However this exercise enabled me to identify that I need to teach
students how to describe use of techniques and should provide some exemplar
sentences to help them with their own sentence construction.

Following the use of the Y10 experts, although 33% of students agreed that they really
liked this method of support, I do not intend to repeat this exercise for the following
reasons:

The success of the flash cards

The indication that students preferred method of support was peer
support
The lack of benefit to the Y10 students
Providing support via Y10 students means taking them off timetable
which is not encouraged

However, I do intend to provide some enrichment opportunities perhaps during

Whickhams Rich Experience Week to allow collaboration between the year groups.

This research task has been extremely beneficial for the following reasons:

It has forced me to spend time creating high quality resources and has
demonstrated their worth in the classroom
It has allowed me to collect student voice in terms of their preferred method
of support
It has identified that students need more assistance in explaining and
discussing programming techniques used which will help prepare them for the
AQA controlled assessment in Year 10.

<RESOURCES ATTACHED>

Exemplar Material not for distribution Page |6