This workshop explores integrating coding into the English classroom for Years 6 and 7 as multimodal narrative authoring, using Scratch for animated storytelling. Professor Len Unsworth, with over 30 years of research in literacy and pedagogy, presents this ARC-funded Discovery Project's rationale and educational benefits. Practical insights with student animation samples will be shared, and attendees should have internet-ready laptops. Registration is required and the event is hosted via Zoom.
From the early 2000s researchers have been teaching coding (computer programming) to upper primary and junior secondary school students using block coding platforms such as Scratch, and the context for this has been the creation of animated stories – almost always outside of regular school classrooms. For about a decade now many countries, including Australia, have mandated the teaching of coding in primary and secondary school curricula. Coding is now very prominent in Science and Technology subjects in schools but almost entirely absent in the English Classroom. This presentation derives from an ARC-funded Discovery Project that investigated the viability of introducing coding into the English classroom in Years 6 and 7 as a creative tool for multimodal authoring that would address the requirements of the Australian Curriculum English. In this session the rationale for animation as the focus for multimodal authoring development, and the rationale for the use of Scratch as the block coding platform will be outlined, along with an illustrated explanation of what block coding involves and how it is used to create animated stories. Samples of students’ animations will be shown and participants will have the opportunity to explore some of the Scratch resources students used in creating their story animations [participants are advised to have laptop with internet access at the ready!].
Professor Len Unsworth is the Research Director of Educational Semiotics in English and Literacy Pedagogy in the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE) at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in Sydney. Len has been involved in educational research for over 30 years, including eleven recent Australian Research Council funded projects. His key research interests include literacy and learning in school curriculum areas; literature for children and adolescents; literacy development in the English curriculum K-12; and the pedagogic role of explicit knowledge about language and the meaning-making resources of images and image-language interaction in both paper and digital media texts, including animation and film. Prior to commencing at ACU in 2014, Len was Professor in Education at Griffith University, following earlier roles as Head of the School of Education at the University of New England and Head of the School of Development and Learning in the Faculty of Education at the University of Sydney.
Cost (Including GST)
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$50 |
Individual Members (Non-Student) |
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$15 |
Individual Student Members & Retired Members |
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$95 |
Institutional/School/Sub-members) |
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$190 |
Non-Members |
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$15 |
Student Non-Members |
Venue: via Zoom A Zoom Meeting Link will be sent to registered participants one or two days before the event.
Registration: Pre-registration is essential. Registrations will close two days before the event.
Presentation: 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm **NB: This is AEST
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