Children and teenagers with white caps and light blue backpacks flooded the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay yesterday to participate in the closing of Verano Tech, a proposal of Plan Ceibal to work on programming and computational thinking. Nearly 300 students interrupted their holidays to go to school on several occasions to participate in streaming classes on the micro:bit programmable boards, which were delivered for the first time last year; yesterday they went to put into practice what they had learned. On the closing day, there were workshops on building mechanisms, programming and boards; demonstrations of different technologies, such as remote-controlled mechanical arms or physicochemical sensors; and various games, some more technological, such as Scratch, and others traditional, such as chess or checkers, but which still worked well with the children and young people.
"One of the fundamental axes of Plan Ceibal is computational thinking as a strategy for solving complex and real problems. Part of the work in this line was the integration of the micro:bit boards, as a way of prototyping the solution to these problems, and it has been working very well," explained Magela Fuzatti, head of Ceibal's Digital Laboratories, to the newspaper. The board is used to introduce children to programming, has several sensors and a matrix of LED lights that respond to programmed commands. Micro:bit includes a web environment where students can program based on blocks (with the MakeCode platform) and a simulator where they can test what they have programmed without needing to have the board.
This was the first edition of Tech Summer and, despite being voluntary, the authorities evaluated it as very good, so they plan to continue it. In any case, Fuzatti emphasised that "this is just one more activity of all the ones we have and we will continue implementing computational thinking in the fourth and fifth years of school; we are going to have 1,500 groups this year working with the micro:bit boards. This continues throughout the year. In this line, he added that 500 groups of children from pre-school level five to third grade will be incorporated. Teachers are now being trained in computational thinking, programming and robotics, and are taking away materials and a series of challenges that act as suggestions for them to adapt to their classrooms throughout the year.
Some 5,000 micro:bit badges are already in circulation and, in view of the good results, Plan Ceibal will buy another 20,000 this year to distribute in schools and high schools. For Fuzatti, the work that teachers are doing with this tool is very positive. He also pointed out: "The idea is to generate learning through technology, which serves to prototype this real and complex problem. The boards can change, but by knowing how to work with some technology, some programming strategy, children and young people will be able to solve the problems they encounter.
Educational Summer
Most of the children who participated in Verano Tech saw it as one more of the activities of the programme of the Council of Initial and Primary Education (CEIP) Verano Educativo. Pablo Caggiani, CEIP advisor, explained to the newspaper that "one of the central issues of the summer activities is that the workshops allow us to work with the curriculum through play. This is the challenge facing public schools today: working with technology, programming, robotics and drones. In order to offer all schools the possibility of including streaming classes and the face-to-face Summer Tech day in their schedule of activities, Primary joined the Ceibal Plan and, according to CEIP estimates, half of the schools took up this offer.
Caggiani commented that this possibility is "one more resource that appears for the construction of the project that each school develops, and we must also see that it is part of a summer in which there are aquatic activities, art workshops, skateboarding". "The activity that is proposed must be able to arouse the same interest in the children: if this is more boring than going to camp, you don't do programming and robotics," he pointed out. According to the counsellor, the children are enthusiastic about technology: "The first evaluation is very good, just like the experience with Antel or the workshops on drones that were done in primary school. It is a resource that will be available for the coming years, just as the camps and access to the swimming pool are now available.
Regarding the continuity of these activities during the year, Caggiani pointed out that last year a pilot project on computational thinking began to be developed with the youngest children and "we have to see how to continue advancing in these areas". According to Caggiani, in the same way that public schools have universalised physical education and second languages, they should focus on "making knowledge related to the needs of humanity available".
Source: La Diaria
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