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Using an interactive whiteboard and a computer-programming tool to support the development of the key competencies in the New Zealand curriculum

Abstract
Does children’s use of the software Scratch provide potential for the enhancement of key competencies as they work in pairs at the interactive whiteboard (IWB)? This article looks at how children using Scratch collaborated and managed their projects as they set about designing, constructing, testing and evaluating a game for others to play, a task that provided a sustained challenge over six weeks and beyond. The findings showed that the key competencies of participating, contributing, and relating to others were enhanced by the collaborative use of Scratch at the IWB, and that creative and conceptual thinking processes were sustained. Children became increasingly adept at using Scratch, and some children, previously thought to have poor social skills, began to articulate their understandings to others. While a guiding and scaffolding role was evident in teachers’ actions, close monitoring of group progress and direct input from teachers is required to keep the challenge high but achievable, and to extend children’s knowledge and thinking as they use Scratch at the IWB.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Harlow, A., Taylor, M. & Forret, M. (2011). Using an interactive whiteboard and a computer-programming tool to support the development of the key competencies in the New Zealand curriculum. Computers in New Zealand Schools: Learning, teaching, technology, 23(1).
Date
2011
Publisher
University of Otago College of Education
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
This article has been published in the journal: Computers in New Zealand Schools: Learning, teaching, technology. Used with permission.