Seventies
Table 8: Selected items from the 1970s
| Portfolio reference | Aim | Contribution |
Originality, Impact and Importance |
|---|---|---|---|
|
[C1] Teacher of Mathematics and Computer Studies at Scott Lidgett School |
To design improvements to mathematics education practice. | I led the teaching and development of Computer Studies in the school working with colleagues in the local authority, developing Mode 3 syllabus and examination. I independently developed the Snooker learning software for mathematics and for computer studies and was solely responsible for creating a curriculum analysis for the whole school. My part: 100% | The software developed, Snooker, was in its time completely original as a design for learning and foreshadowed many interactive graphic simulations to come. It was published later and was widely used in schools in the 1980s (SMILE 1984). |
| To develop new ways to teach computer studies using animated visualisations. | The design and development of educational software and the critique of others' designs. My part: 20% (with the members of the group) | Although there was a growing interest in teaching programming concepts through animations in higher education, it was new to be focussing such innovation on secondary school. Our work made impact on the practice of colleagues in the Inner London Education Authority and at the time was considered a vital part of the development of teaching computer studies there. Its work was reported regularly in the newsletter distributed to computer studies teachers in London by the advisory service. |
My work began in 1976, aged 20 as an untrained teacher of Mathematics in a secondary school in London. Even at this stage, I was exposed to the design of (mathematics) education through the SMILE (Secondary Mathematics Individual Learning Experiment).
In this period I developed a computer program called ‘Snooker’ [C1] which simulated a snooker table, inviting learners to estimate angles to improve their knowledge of bearings, which was subsequently published as part of the SMILE Mathematics scheme, after peer review by teachers engaged in that curriculum development.
In my second post as a Mathematics and Computer Studies teacher (1977-1980), I developed an interest in the teaching of both Computing and Mathematics using the computer. As well as taking part in the design of the Computer Studies Mode 3 CSE exam syllabus, I attended continuing professional development courses in the design of educational materials for the computer and joined a development group of computer studies teachers, Microcomputers in Computer Education [C2], to develop computer software as educational resources for learners.
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