John Doe
Introduction
The purpose of the proposed project is to determine the feasibility of creating a program at a local elementary school that would teach young children the basics of computer programming. This could be accomplished by, ideally, adding onto the existing required curriculum or by creating extracurricular activities and workshops. It is become increasingly more common for high schools to require some computer programming experience for students to graduate, but it is still very likely that a student who does not see themselves becoming a software developer to leave high school without any exposure to it. Learning programming skills is obviously helpful to a student when looking for jobs in the technology sector or going to college for computer science, but the core concepts—like creativity and computational thinking— are still applicable to people who will never write any code in their lives. However, children should be exposed to these concepts well before high school to gain the most benefit. Studies have shown that learning how to code is easier when you are young, and even a four-year-old child can learn the basic concepts of computing. There are already many products and online activities aimed at teaching basic programming to elementary-age children, but having these resources easily available or even required at school would be very valuable. This report will determine the feasibility of adding a class or after-school program to expose young students to coding and other computer technology at Rolling Hills Elementary, a local school.
Procedures
To collect data for this feasibility report, I will examine studies that have been done on the benefits and success rates of teaching programming skills to children as young as 4. Another source I will use is data and testimonials from teachers and students at schools where similar programs have been implemented. Specifically, I will be looking for evidence that suggests early programming skills translate to future academic and professional success, and that adding this to the curriculum can benefit the school as well. The criteria by which the feasibility of this project will be judged are the potential educational benefits, the cost to the school, and students’ level of interest and participation.
Qualifications
I am qualified to undertake this feasibility report project because I have experience with collecting and critically analyzing data. I have first-hand experience with learning programming in school, although I was not exposed to it until I had nearly graduated high school. Also, I have a small amount of teaching experience through workshops I have led that teach young teenage children about scientific concepts and tutoring math and physics.
Sources
The following sources were identified in my preliminary research
Bers M. & Sullivan, A. (2008). Blocks to Robots: Learning with Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York, NY: Teacher’s College Press. Retrieved from https://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/publications/robotics%20paper.pdf
Bers M. & Kazakoff, E. (2014). Put Your Robot In, Put Your Robot Out: Sequencing Through Programming Robots. Baywood Publishing Co. Retrieved from http://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/publications/Kazakoff%20Put%20Your%20Robot%20In.pdf
Kamenetz, A. (2015). Coding Class, Then Naptime: Computer Science for the Kindergarten Set. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/09/18/441122285/learning-to-code-in-preschool Mioduser, D. & Levy, S. (2010). Making Sense By Building Sense: Kindergarten Children’s Construction and Understanding Adaptive Robot Behaviors. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning 15(2). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225919081_Making_Sense_by_Building_Sense_Kindergarten_Children%27s_Construction_and_Understanding_of_Adaptive_Robot_Behaviors
