Your new book advocates a particular approach to teaching, where do you think the education system is getting it wrong?
Rote learning of single subjects, teaching to the test, and standardised metrics are in danger of becoming the wrong sort of ‘rigour’ in education. Artificial intelligence and the robots are coming. Has nobody heard?
Most repetitive jobs will become automated, so there’s no point in training our children like robots as they won’t be able to compete with the real thing.
In a world that is being transformed by technology, it is important that children learn to think critically, creatively and computationally to help them become true citizens of the 21st century.
Hacking the Curriculum is a book I wrote with Shahneila Saeed to teach digital skills in schools in a creative way. Our aim is to promote digital creativity through coding and computational thinking as a form of play to bring the national curriculum in computing to life.
An authentic education for the digital world requires the curriculum to bring the arts and sciences together. Arts and sciences should no longer be a question of either/or. STEM subjects are vital, but it is the multi-disciplinary mix of STEM and the arts that promotes diverse thinking and self-determination.
Imagination is the key for the ‘maker’ generation. Imagination helps us dream what might be possible, and maths helps us understand what is possible.
How would that work practically? Could you give an example of a classroom scenario?
The solution is not just to give every child a computer and think ‘job done’. Computers are a tool to enable digital creativity.
Computing is a discipline - it’s not just about coding. It’s a broad mix of computational thinking, problem-solving, decision making, intuitive learning, logic, analysis and creative thinking to be used in a cross-curricular fashion to solve problems in multiple ways.
For example, using Lego bricks to help develop computational thinking and creativity skills through play. Students should be encouraged to play and explore ideas to discover key concepts for themselves, such as algorithms.
The role of the teacher in this activity is to facilitate that learning and help students realise their discoveries and to embed and solidify the knowledge that they have gained.
So you think computing is being taught in the wrong way?
There is a tendency to categorise computing as a branch of mathematics, rather than it using technology to enable digital creativity. There is also the historic practice of making students use proprietary software rather than encouraging them to create their own.
While Word and Excel are useful vocational skills, they are never going to equip anybody with the skills to become a software engineer or digital artist. The problem is that students are taught how to use an app but not how to make an app, which is effectively teaching children how to read but not how to write.
Children should be encouraged to create as well as consume. They need to be given digital-making skills to enable them to create their own digital content. It is the combination of computer programming skills and creativity by which world-changing companies, such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, were built.
Code Club, Digital Schoolhouse, Raspberry Pi, Computing at School, Coder Dojo and other fantastic organisations are making great progress in advancing the computing agenda in schools. But more resources need to be allocated to computing teacher training to keep up with the blistering pace of technological change.
Why do you think games-based learning is important?
Play is the first thing all children want to do, and they do it instinctively, it’s natural. Play in the broadest sense of the word, from building blocks to solving puzzles to playing board games or video games, is important.
It allows us to have fun, but it also has deeper and more tangible cognitive benefits. Playing games combines a broad mix of problem-solving, decision making, trial and error and computational thinking.
Games stimulate the imagination and encourage creativity. They give players continuous assessment and allow them to fail in a safe environment.
It’s often the academic assumption that ‘play’ and ‘creativity’ lack rigour. Yet simulation games are used as a training tool for pilots, surgeons, and the armed forces.
Hacking the Curriculum attempts to make the case for play and creativity in the classroom. The two are interlinked. Play helps develop creative skills. More specifically, it examines the ideas around using play to teach creative computing.
By harnessing the power of play-based learning in the classroom, teaching can be transformed so that it fires up imaginations and ignites a passion for learning.
Do you think, from a teaching point of view, computing suffers from an image problem?
It’s often seen as another dry science; maths-heavy and boring. Children are not shown the creative potential of computing. Add context to which children relate, and there’s a good chance all children will want to learn computing.
Explain to children that they will be able to make a game as well as play one, and see their faces light up. Demonstrate the creative potential of being able to build a website or make an app.
The founders of some of the largest tech companies in the world all put their initial interest in computer science down to playing or making video games.
How could teachers use technology with more confidence in the classroom?
If some teachers are intimidated by coding or the computing curriculum, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t facilitate a group-learning experience.
There are always going to be children who know more than the teachers, so why not let them take the lead? Let them all learn together. After all, collaboration is how things get done in the workplace, so why not in school?
What would be your key message for teachers?
It’s important that we give children the skills to do the things that the robots cannot do. Encourage children with enquiring minds to be problem solvers, collaborators, creative innovators, communicators, motivated risk-takers unafraid of failure who learn from their mistakes.
Give children digital-making skills, an entrepreneurial mindset and the desire to be job makers - not just job seekers.
Ian Livingstone is the author of Hacking the Curriculum. He will be appearing at Learning Lab by Google and Tes: technology and inspiration for school leaders.
Learning Lab is a series of events designed to help school leaders and aspiring leaders to understand how to use technology in a school environment productively, confidently and with real impact.
Register to attend Learning Lab London
