Researchers collaborate with K–12 computer educators nationwide and internationally at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Creative Computing Lab. Many of the instructors the lab helps use Scratch, a well-known programming environment, to help kids learn how to code at an early age. Similar to building with Lego, children can use Scratch to program their own interactive media, such as games, animations, and stories, by piecing together digital blocks of code.
It is inevitable for students to become stuck on something when working on their Scratch projects and be unable to identify the issue. According to Paulina Haduong, Ph.D.’23, a postdoctoral scholar in the lab, “they ask the teacher for help—aand a lot of the work that teachers are doing is one-on-one with students to help them get unstuck.”
Developing students’ capacity for independent exploration, discovery, and problem-solving is a component of the teacher’s responsibility in assisting them with creative and self-directed learning projects like Scratch. But according to Professor Karen Brennan, director of the Creative Computing Lab, “making this type of self-directed learning happen in practice” can be difficult for teachers, especially when there are a lot of pupils in their classrooms.
The lab is tackling the issue head-on with a new professional learning program that launches this month. With students’ Scratch projects, teachers can practice creative problem-solving with BlockTalk, a free online tool that leverages generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Teachers can practice a number of interactive conversational simulations on the website. For instance, they are shown a situation known as “Margaret’s Dinosaur Dilemma” in the first of ten “simulations.” A teacher would note that Margaret, a young student, wants to have her dinosaur roar after clicking on the simulation, but her coding project isn’t yet functioning properly.
A pupil being “simulated” with the BlockTalk tool. Margaret, an AI student, describes an issue she’s experiencing in the first simulation. Haduong says, “Teachers can practice the interaction with the student and do that multiple times.”
Teachers can then try other conversations with other AI students about their Scratch projects after teaching Margaret how to make her dinosaur roar. These simulations include “Reshma’s Talking Sprites,” “Tim’s Moon Landing,” “Jeannette’s Dress Up Game,” and more, and each one addresses a different difficulty that real-life students have encountered when learning to create Scratch programming projects, according to the researchers.
Brennan and Haduong recently talked about how generative AI, an emerging technology, might help instructors with their professional development through platforms like BlockTalk.
- Provides opportunities for educators to experience interacting with children in relaxed settings.
Online, teachers can rehearse interactions with “students” in less competitive settings. “BlockTalk is intended to assist educators in reflecting on their interactions with students in the classroom,” Haduong said.
- Provides chances for cooperation and mutual learning.
After reviewing their simulated talks with Tim, Jeannette, Margaret, Reshma, and other virtual students, teachers can share them with other educators. Teachers who have already tried BlockTalk are “really excited about” the opportunity to “see each other’s pedagogical practice and see each other’s pedagogical moves,” according to Haduong.
- Makes reminders to concentrate on learning
Brennan asserts that while emerging technologies might inspire enthusiasm and hope, they can also cause anxiety and worries about how they will affect education. Keep your focus on self-direction, creativity, and expression, and then consider how technology may support those goals. Instead than focusing on the capabilities of technology, she says, “That’s where really magical things can happen.”
