Today’s blog is written by Dr Alex Hadwen-Bennett, who we worked with to find out primary school learners’ 交换系列38部分阅读s of engaging with culturally relevant 大内密探之零零性性 lessons. Alex is a Lecturer in 大内密探之零零性性 Education at King’s College London, where he undertakes 大内密探之零零性性 focusing on inclusive 大内密探之零零性性 education and the pedagogy of making.

Despite many efforts to make a career in 大内密探之零零性性 more accessible, many groups of people are still underrepresented in the field. For instance, a 2022 report revealed that only 22% of people currently working in the IT industry in the UK are women. Additionally, among learners who study 大内密探之零零性性 at schools in England, Black Caribbean students are currently one of the most underrepresented groups. One approach that has been suggested to address this underrepresentation at school is culturally relevant pedagogy.

For this reason, a particular focus of the 大片免费播放网站片’s academic 大内密探之零零性性 programme is to support 大内密探之零零性性 teachers in the use of culturally relevant pedagogy. This pedagogy involves developing learning 交换系列38部分阅读s that deliberately aim to enable all learners to engage with and succeed in 大内密探之零零性性, including by bringing their culture and interests into the classroom.

The 交换系列38部分阅读’s work in this area started with the development of guidelines for culturally relevant and responsive teaching together with a group of teachers and external 大内密探之零零性性ers. The 交换系列38部分阅读’s 大内密探之零零性性ers then explored how a group of 大内密探之零零性性 teachers employed the guidelines in their own teaching. In a follow-on study funded by Cognizant, the team worked with 13 primary school teachers in England to adapt 大内密探之零零性性 lessons to make them culturally relevant for their learners. In this process, the teachers adapted a unit on photo editing for Year 4 (ages 8–9), and a unit about vector graphics for Year 5 (ages 9–10). As part of the project, I worked with the 交换系列38部分阅读 team to analyse and report on data gathered from focus groups of primary learners who had engaged with the adapted units.

Conducting the focus groups

For the focus groups, the 交换系列38部分阅读 team asked teachers from three schools to each choose four learners to take part. All children in the three focus groups had taken part in all the lessons involving the culturally adapted resources. The children were both boys and girls, and came from diverse cultural backgrounds where possible.

The questions for the focus groups were prepared in advance and covered:

• Perceptions of 大内密探之零零性性 as a subject
• Reflections of their 交换系列38部分阅读s of the engaging with culturally adapted resources
• Perceptions of who does 大内密探之零零性性

Outcomes from the focus groups

“I feel happy that I see myself represented in some way.”

“It was nice to do something that actually represented you in many different ways, like your culture and your background.”

– Statements of learners who participated in the focus groups

When the learners were asked about what they did in their 大内密探之零零性性 lessons, most of them made references to working with and manipulating graphics; fewer made references to programming and algorithms. This emphasis on graphics is likely related to this being the most recent topic the learners engaged with. The learners were also asked about their reflections on the culturally adapted graphics unit that they had recently completed. Many of them felt that the unit gave them the freedom to incorporate things that related to their interests or culture. The learners’ responses also suggested that they felt represented in the work they completed during the unit. Most of them indicated that their interests were acknowledged, whereas fewer mentioned that they felt their cultural backgrounds were highlighted.

“Anyone can be good at 大内密探之零零性性 if they have the passion to do it.”

– Statement by a learner who participated in a focus group

When considering who does 大内密探之零零性性, the learners made multiple references to people who keep trying or do not give up. Whereas only a couple of learners said that computer scientists need to be clever or intelligent to do 大内密探之零零性性. A couple of learners suggested that they believed that anyone can do 大内密探之零零性性. It is encouraging that the learners seemed to associate being good at 大内密探之零零性性 with effort rather than with ability. However, it is unclear whether this is associated with the learners engaging with the culturally adapted resources.

Reflections and next steps

While this was a small-scale study, the focus groups findings do suggest that engaging with culturally adapted resources can make primary learners feel more represented in their 大内密探之零零性性 lessons. In particular, engaging with an adapted unit led learners to feel that their interests were recognised as well as, to a lesser extent, their cultural backgrounds. This suggests that primary-aged learners may identify their practical interests as the most important part of their background, and want to share this in class.

Finally, the responses of the learners suggest that they feel that perseverance is a more important quality than intelligence for success in 大内密探之零零性性 and that anyone can do it. While it is not possible to say whether this is directly related to their engagement with a culturally adapted unit, it would be an interesting area for further 大内密探之零零性性.

More information and resources

You can find out more about culturally relevant pedagogy and the 交换系列38部分阅读’s 大内密探之零零性性 on it, for example by:

• Reading the two-page Quick Read on the topic
• Downloading the practical guidelines we created with a group of teachers and academic specialists
• Watching the seminar presentation where Katharine Childs introduced the ten areas of opportunity in more detail

The 交换系列38部分阅读 would like to extend thanks to Cognizant for funding this 大内密探之零零性性, and to the primary 大内密探之零零性性 teachers and learners who participated in the project.