As part of our research pre-assessment of student skills, we developed an integrated assessment tool. But, unlike most “embedded assessments,” learning activities that also exposes something measurable, ours is an instrument first, that uses an interactive app to help measure the students’ skills and understanding of computational thinking concepts AND digital literacy.

This tool is a survey, which can be administered in-class, like any other pre-survey instrument. During the survey, the students are asked to play with a simple app, that we also designed.

The use of the app does one important thing that a survey alone cannot: it tests the students’ digital literacy skills in opening and manipulating the app on their tablet. The first questions on the survey are intended to validate that the student is in fact using the app, and can press buttons and observe behaviors of the app. If a student seems to lack these skills, and did not get the opening questions right, then we know the remaining questions on the survey may be invalid.

The survey then goes on to ask the students what blocks of code they think may be driving the behaviors of the app. Looking just at a finished (but very simple) app, and choosing which provided code blocks are likely to drive a particular behavior, the students will demonstrate their baseline for a number of computational thinking skills.

Digital literacy skills are a big part of this project. A student who lacks the DL to drive the computer and mobile device will have a harder time assembling apps, which puts them further away from understanding the underlying CT concepts that we want to teach. In this program, DL skills will be taught along with the CT. By measuring the basic DL required to interact with an app, we can establish an important baseline to compare against at the end of the project, where will again measure digital literacy along with the computational thinking.

Our project is a collaboration between two adjacent urban school districts—Medford and Everett, MA—and the computer science department at UMass Lowell.

We’re working with district teachers, introducing them to computing for social good using MIT App Inventor, and supporting them in developing a 15- to 20-hour curriculum that they’re bringing to their middle school students.

There will also be week-long summer camps for the students who are part of the project during the school year, and in September 2015, a project showcase to highlight work accomplished and get the next cohort of students excited about participation.

For the first project year, we recruited five teachers (three from Medford, and two from Everett), and we ran a series of 10 professional development meetings on Tuesday afternoons starting in October.

These teachers are just about ready to begin project implementation in their classrooms—if only it would stop snowing!

Today was the last full group meeting before everyone starts in their classrooms.

Teachers (and Kim and Akira) shared the apps they had developed during the PD:

• Denise made an app reflecting on historical events that had a big impact on her in the 1960s—the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy Assassination, the Beatles’ appearance on Ed Sullivan, and the moon landing.
• Dawn made an app testing fractions of a pizza pie. Each time you shook the app, you’d “eat” some of the pizza and then you’d have to identify the fraction remaining. At the end, you’re rewarded with a picture of a satisfied glutton and a video of The Pizza Song.
• Mike made an app with speeches from Albert Einstein and Nelson Mandela.
• Akira made an app about the Ferguson tragedy.
• Debbie made an app called “Painters and Poets” with conversations with Sam Gilliam and Maya Angelou.
• Kim showed her app with a fun tour of the solar system. She had an advanced interface for playing and pausing the media files.

Next stop is official work with their students!

Our project has been up and running since October 7, 2014, when we first met with our teacher-partners.

Joining us in creating new opportunities for middle schoolers to learn computing are:

• Debbie Corleto, art, McGlynn Middle School, Medford, MA
• Dawn Munro, technology, Whittier School, Everett, MA
• Azita Pourali-Bacon, technology, Andrews Middle School, Medford, MA
• Denise Salemi, technology, Keverian School, Everett, MA
• Michael Scarola, engineering, McGlynn Middle School, Medford, MA