Engineering Education Seminar
Teaching Kids to Code: Software, Sequencing, and Self-Regulation
Young children live in a world of ubiquitous digital technologies, yet, few STEM concepts are taught in early childhood classrooms, particularly around technology and engineering. This talk will highlight how teaching young children to code in early childhood may impact sequencing skills and self-regulation. The inspiration for, and creation of, a developmentally appropriate programming language for young children, ScratchJr, and the subsequent in-classroom field-testing of the software will be presented. Particular focus will be paid to how different levels of self-regulation of the children in the field-tested classroom may be related to learning to code. Potential implications of providing additional technology and engineering education opportunities during early childhood will also be discussed.
Bio: Elizabeth Kazakoff is a doctoral candidate with the DevTech Research Group in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University. She earned her M.Ed. in 2009 from Cambridge College and her B.S. in 2005 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research focuses on the positive use of new technologies in early childhood, with a particular interest in the intersection of STEM and early childhood education. She is focused on ways in which nontraditional early childhood areas, such as robotics and learning to code can be used to teach more traditional areas of the early childhood curriculum, like sequencing and self-regulation.
Friday, March 14, 2014 at 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Orvis School of Nursing, OB203
39.5380695107342,-119.812923520803
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