Transcript A taste of Haskell - Computing At School

Simon Peyton Jones
Microsoft
CAS teachers conference, July 2011
Education should prepare
young people for
a world that don’t yet exist,
requiring technologies that
have not yet been invented,
to solve problems of which we
are not yet aware.
 Teach them how to fish (don’t give them fishes)
 Teach disciplines as well as skills
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Principles, ideas
Knowledge, laws
Techniques, methods
Broadly applicable
Dates slowly
Physics, chemistry,
mathematics, English
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Technology, artefacts
Machines
Programs
Products
Organisations
Business processes
Dates quickly
Budgeting, presentation
skills, metalwork, textiles
Computing
(discipline)
Barely taught
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Principles
Ideas
Laws
Broadly applicable
But needs application
Dates slowly
No KS4 qualification at all
[OCR piloting Computing
GCSE in 2010/11]
ICT
(technology focused)
Dominant
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Spreadsheets
Databases
Powerpoint
Using the web
Safety on the internet
Plan communication projects
Analysing and automating processes
Dates quickly
Range of 14+ different
KS4 qualifications
If we say Computing is a discipline,
we have to say what it is
 Need to tell ourselves
 Need to tell our head teachers
 Need to tell DfE
 Need to tell ministers
“Is there a core body of knowledge for
Computing that doesn’t change from year to
year?” DfE offical, June 2011
 A working party of 11 people: incl teachers,
universities, exam boards
 You have seen at least two drafts
 The “final version” has landed. Today.
 (It’s not really final, of course.)
http://www.computingatschool.org.uk
(follow the “Resources” link)
The same structure as
NC Programmes of Study
(but in more detail)
1. Importance of the subject
2. Key concepts
3. Key processes (what students should be able to do)
4. Range and content (what students should know)
5. Level descriptors
Total 22 pages.
 Focus on fundamentals
 Not much change year to year
 Not much about Facebook, YouTube, mobile phones
 Focus on what the subject is, not how it should
be taught
 You add the “how”
 Focus on KS3 and KS4. We plan to add KS1
and KS2 in the next few months.
 Ambitious but do-able
Influencing
national policy
Computing: a curriculum for schools
Developing teaching
material to support
delivering the curriculum
 Focusing on the discipline of Computing is
completely in tune with ministers’ stress on
fundamentals:
“Indeed the whole thrust of the new science curriculum – which aims to
empower students to be “consumers of science” and which concentrates on
engaging students in debate about GM foods or climate change – is a shift away
from preparing students to be scientists.” Michael Gove, Reform 2008
“Too much focus on user skills, and not enough on fundamentals and conceptual
understanding.” Nick Gibb, Employers consultation meeting June 2011
 CAS is now beginning to get visibility at national
level
 Having a curriculum increases our credibility and
influence a great deal
Influencing
national policy
Computing: a curriculum for schools
Developing teaching
material to support
delivering the curriculum
In the end, all of this will be a
waste of time
unless you teach it
 We need lots of material,
to support teaching and learning
of computing
in the classroom
 You are the leaders. You are here,
enthusiastic, walking the walk.
 Will you help others to do the same?