Spreading the word
Scott Bell, Tim Frey, Eugene Y. Vasserman · 2014
We present our experiences and outcomes from a programming camp held for sixth through ninth grade students. The instructional team included five pre-service teachers who earned field experience credit for this work, and one in-service teacher. The pre-service teachers were art and music teachers-in-training, providing an opportunity for us to utilize their creative expertise in developing content for the camp. In turn, we helped the teachers explore ways they might incorporate today's user-friendly programming environments (in this case, Scratch) into their curriculum. During each of four week-long sessions, the pre-service teachers gradually took over more teaching responsibilities, modifying and then presenting lessons that incorporate their own music and art expertise into the programming activities.