Effective Computing Lesson

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This report aims to critically reflect on the factors that contribute to an effective computing lesson. The report will also look at relevant literature concerning subject pedagogy and general theories of teaching and learning.
Since the curriculum was first introduced in 1988 it has changed over the years. 1988 was the first year that GCSE exams were taught. Labour was then criticised in 2007 for telling schools to take away the concepts of the traditional curriculum by removing Churchill and Hitler from it and introducing more courses that related to debt management, the environment and healthy eating and then in 2014 computing was introduced into the national curriculum.
Education is what makes our economy work effectively. It is an essential
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It is also about problem-based learning (PBL) which has both positives and negatives attached. PBL is giving a pupil a problem and they determine what is necessary to find and reach a solution. The teacher then becomes a facilitator rather than just handing out content and answers. PBL positives for students are the fact that it becomes a student-centered approach. Pupils typically find it more rewarding and it encourages them to greater their understanding of the subject and encourages them to spend time studying and developing their learning skills. However there are risks associated with PBL, it does require more time and takes away study time from other subjects. It also poses problems for the teacher as finding the correct and suitable problems can be difficult and requires more time to organize it. Computing lessons also need to adapt discovery learning which is also a problem solving situation where pupils use their own experience and knowledge and is considered a constructivist based approach. Jean Piaget, Seymour Papert and Jerome Bruner support this approach. Bruner argues that "Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving" (Bruner, 1961, p. 26). In support of discovery learning, Bruner (1961) suggested that students are more likely to remember ideas if they find them on their own rather than being taught it directly. Although Mayer (2004) argues that independent learning tasks do not help pupils problem solve or help them with programming

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