Sparkfun Diary

The vision of Computer teaching in the state is around developing computational thinking and 21st-century skills among students and aligning with the vision of the curriculum we also designed Computational thinking-based assessments.  A significant milestone has been achieved in the state with the inaugural administration of a pre-test, marking the first-ever attempt to assess students' current computational thinking skills. This assessment holds importance as it plays a pivotal role in evaluating the curriculum's effectiveness in fostering computational thinking skills among students over the next two years.  A total of 90+ schools actively participated in this assessment. The assessment, comprising 20 multiple-choice questions, targeted four key computational thinking competencies: Abstraction, Decomposition, Algorithmic Thinking, and Pattern Recognition. With a mix of text- based and visual based questions ranging in difficulty, this comprehensive evaluation was conducted c...

In a significant development, CM RISE Schools across the state have initiated computer classes as a regular component of their academic curriculum. These schools have seamlessly integrated Computer Science (CS) classes into their academic calendars, utilizing content provided by the state education department.  To implement the program effectively and support our teachers regularly, our team conducts frequent school visits and conducts classroom observations. We also leverage communication channels like WhatsApp groups, video calls, and phone calls to support and track class progress every week with every teacher, so that the implementation of the program is getting effective day by day.  The on-ground implementation of the program is noteworthy, with ~75 schools actively conducting classrooms on digital literacy, till now they have collectively conducted over 3000 classes (as received on calls/WhatsApp/school visits updates). This robust engagement demonstrates a commendable ...

To equip teachers with the knowledge and skills required to impart the new curriculum to their peers and students, we are actively engaged in building the capacity of teachers through a series of training and continuous support. In terms of academic intervention, we are actively involved in designing content that aligns with the curriculum. Simultaneously, the model emphasizes teacher capacity building through virtual and in-person training sessions, covering both content and the pedagogy of teaching computer science. The primary objectives of these sessions were threefold: to instigate a paradigm shift in teachers' perspectives regarding the significance of digital literacy for students, introduce and provide training on block-based coding tools like Scratch Jr, and impart effective pedagogical strategies for teaching computer science in classrooms. The initial virtual training took the form of a summer coding camp, engaging 40 teachers during the summer break. This four-week- lon...

 

“Talking to those for whom you are designing it” Have we ever asked a child what he/she wants to study, be it any subject, any class, or any grades? It sounds a little bit different and difficult, why? Mostly because it has not been the practice, maybe we are not sure about our children, they can ask for something which we don’t want to teach or maybe we wouldn’t be able to provide. The traditional way of doing things is easy, it gives clarity during the path, it is certain and uncertainty is known because the process has been done so many times. The non-traditional way of doing things is not so common among us, the idea of out-of-the-box thinking sounds great but working on this philosophy has many challenges of its own. We talk to teachers before doing anything for them, that’s the core of our philosophy, while we start designing the program we were talking to a group of rural teachers and the question was- how do we teach computer science to students who have never learned or used c...

 Material: 1. Arduino, Connector, Jumping wires, Servo motor, Breadboard, Sound Sensor, 3-D Printed Ganpati, Craft hand.  Circuit Diagram: Working:  When we speak, the servo moves with 60* and return to its original position     Result: The hand of the Ganapati will be attached at the servo and when we speak, the hand moves 60* and return to its original position.   Created & Written By: Soham Abhyankar (5th standard)  Support By : Harshal Shimpi