NMS is preparing for the implementation of the new Basiscurriculum Medienbildung (media education) next school year. Teachers have attended workshops on this topic and the internal curriculum is nearly finished. One element that seems to have been forgotten in the Berlin curriculum is learning about algorithms and basic computer science, even though the KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz) clearly states that this is an important skill in the 21st century, one that has to be taught by German schools, starting in primary.
NMS isn’t waiting for the next curriculum update, and started a partnership with educational publisher Cornelsen. We are now a trial school for Calliope Mini, a circuit board (Platine) which can be programmed with block-programming elements comparable to Scratch. The programme ‘Open Roberta’ from the Fraunhofer Institut is open source and can be freely used and adjusted. Another good example for students to learn about open resources. More information on Calliope can be found here: https://calliope.cc/.
In July a group of NMS teachers participated in a coding workshop with Calliope and using teaching materials that had just rolled from the press. After a brief introduction in one of our computer rooms, the teachers became students and started coding away. Led-lights blinked, sensors failed and designs appeared according to the code created. Generally there was a good buzz in the air and some first ideas for future lessons were discussed. A timetables generator was coded as well as a bicycle backlight responding to a light sensor.
We received a class set of 25 Calliopes and teaching materials for students. Several teachers will try them out in their classes next year, and we will keep a smaller set in the Maker Space, which we are hoping to open at the start of next school year. Let’s also hope that the Basiscurriculum Medienbildung will be adjusted soon, to incorporate the important basics of computer science for Primary schools.
Annemieke Akkermans
Head of IT & Media NMS