Family focus in learning at home
AS teachers become familiar with the implementation of the Digital Technologies Curriculum, there is a great deal of support for engaging students.
Available resources include Scootle (http://scootle.edu.au) housing online resources directly linked to the curriculum’s stated outcomes. Then there is the Digital Technologies Hub and the CSER Adelaide University online community for teachers.
But how might families at home be able to help their children? It is sometimes difficult to find the best resources that support the learning outcomes of the Australian Curriculum and align with the work that children are doing in the classroom.
The Digital Technologies Hub has developed a section for families (digitaltechnologieshub.edu.au/families) to answer this question as well as creating a Facebook presence where educational events are announced (facebook.com/ DigitalTechnologiesHub).
Educators are vitally aware of how important the involvement of families is to a child’s learning. For example, reading stories at night and playing mathematical games help to build literacy and numeracy skills. This applies equally to the Digital Technologies Curriculum where the teaching digital literacy is becoming equally and increasingly important.
Parents can help build skills in computational thinking by providing challenges for their children to solve. This assists in developing thinking skills which in turn supports the processing of problems through the use of systematic solutions.
There is also a great deal of focus on the need for an understanding of coding. On the Digital Technologies Hub website the need for learning digital literacies, including a knowledge of coding states:
“We all read to our children from a young age and encourage them to write. We do not expect them to become novelists or journalists, but we know these skills are a pathway to productivity and prosperity. It’s the same with coding. We must commit as parents to raising children who can read, write, and think creatively with this language, for their own future and that of our nation.” Read more in the opinion section at themercury.com.au