constructionism | Making things... Learning Things

Strand A, Coding, and the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum

Where’s the joy? Creating something, and sharing it, is an exciting and motivating endeavour. With the new 2020 Ontario Mathematics Curriculum now guiding mathematics in classrooms across Ontario, I think there is renewed excitement and potential to encourage creative learning with students, especially with coding activities. Unfortunately, after accessing and reading through a long list […]

Mathland Actually

Posted on April 27, 2019 1 Comment

If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that Mathland actually is all around. Introduction I have spent a fair amount of time thinking about a question Seymour Papert asks in the following video (and in many other ways in a various books and papers): “How can we create a mathland? […]

Scratch vs. Swift Playgrounds

Posted on May 29, 2018 10 Comments

[Note: The post below was updated in July, 2019 (originally written May, 2018). This article might be a useful read if you are teacher considering Scratch vs Swift Playgrounds or are caught up in discussions / arguments about the two. I think that juxtaposing these two coding environments helps reveal the distinction between children “learning […]

Play and Learning

Posted on March 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Why is it that the older children get, the less play seems to be connected with learning? Personally, I think the two concepts are nearly synonymous. Sometimes I read things that imply that play is great for young children but not so great for older, more serious students. Often, the notion is that all children […]

How to learn?

Posted on January 19, 2018 3 Comments

Give it a try. Google “how to learn.” I was expecting to see various learning theories from psychology or philosophical discussions of ways that knowledge forms and develops in the mind. Surely something like assimilation or accommodation would be somewhere in the list…? Google provided me with various links to online courses or articles promising […]

5 ways to turn the ‘hour of code’ into the ‘year of learning’

Posted on November 26, 2017 9 Comments

Last year I posted an article called Turn the Hour of Code into the Year of Learning. This year, I wanted to share a few ideas about how you might do that. After checking out some hour of code activities with your students (this year, officially, December 4 – 10), take a look at the […]

2D mapping project in Scratch

Posted on November 19, 2017 Leave a Comment

This blog is a reflection on a Scratch project I have been working on. I wanted to capture, at an overview level, my thinking and progression through this project. The purpose of this post is exploratory and preliminary. I’ve started a collaborative inquiry with one of the teachers I am working with this year, and […]

Learning Design by Making Games (in Scratch)

Posted on October 21, 2017 2 Comments

During the summer of 2016, I read this book (left) edited by Yasmin Kafai and Mitch Resnick. I was inspired by Chapter 4 (called Learning Design by Making Games). In it, Kafai described her study in which a group of 4th grade students spent one hour per day (over a six-month period) writing, designing and […]

Show me the math!

Posted on September 7, 2017 1 Comment

Where is the math in coding? As much as I think that the connections between coding and mathematics are obvious, I think that there is a process involved in noticing and noting when mathematical concepts are demonstrated–some are clearly in use in students’ code and are easy to notice; other concepts are also in use […]

5 realizations that defined me as a teacher

Posted on August 24, 2017 2 Comments

Thanks to Jonathan So for the provocation: Top 5 Defining Teaching Moments https://t.co/QJHONWHIIh — Jonathan So (@MrSoclassroom) August 24, 2017 In my own mind, I prefer to think of my list as realizations that defined me as a teacher. Teaching grade one made me (professionally speaking) I have spent a total of six years of my […]