A case for ict, computing and chess redesigning the kenyan curriculum

A Case for ICT,Computing and Chess :Redesigning the Kenyan Curriculum ©Fred Sagwe,Gilbert Bett & Githinji Hinga
A Case for ICT, Computing and Chess:
Redesigning the Kenyan Curriculum
eLearning Innovations Conference & Expo - Sept 28th-Oct 2nd ,2015:
NACECE Resource Center- KICD ,Nairobi-Kenya.
Image via :©Kenya Institute Of Curriculum
Development(KICD)
Image credit:©code.org Image Credit:©Chess Kenya
#Hour of code-Computing#Digital Literacy Programme-ICT #Chess National League -Chess
COMPUTING

Introductions
Fred Sagwe
ICT Integrator ,Computer Scientist & Chess Coach -
Educator
Tabaka Boys High School-Kenya
Gilbert Bett
ICT Integrator & Computer Scientist - Educator
Sunshine Secondary-Kenya
Githinji Hinga
Chess Kenya Chairman & Coach -Kenya
2

Overview
Every country in the world needs a high quality, inclusive and
equitable school system that develops young people who are
able to:
• Live and work in globalised economy
• Use their knowledge, skills and values to contribute responsibly
locally and globally.
• In order to do so, there is growing consensus that school systems
need to develop young people with certain core skills and
competencies (often known as 21st century skills or “Deep Learning
“skills).
A Case for ICT,Computing and Chess :Redesigning the Kenyan Curriculum ©Fred Sagwe,Gilbert Bett & Githinji Hinga3

• Children who come to classrooms this days, have an inherent aptitude for
technology(digital natives) and educators should encourage that skill set
with resources that integrate
:Science,technology,engineering,mathematics,arts, design (STEAM) and
languages learning.
• On that note; the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Change KICD which is a
department within the Kenya Ministry of Education Research and
Technology MOEST…
• Is contemplating overhauling the entire 8.4.4 system of education by the
year 2016/17 and they are welcoming public intellectual discourse on the
way forward.
• The envisaged competence -based -curriculum will be a departure from the
knowledge -based which has been the normal from the past two decades.

Objectives
By the end of this session, the participant will be able to:
• Describe how the trio can be used across
disciplines(interdisciplinary) in the curriculum and as educational
tools to aid learning.
• Evaluate the need to Integrate ICT, Computing and Chess as a core
curricula and or an elective subjects from elementary school to
university levels.
• Create awareness and prepare holistically young Kenyan people to
be smart in life and work in a global economy as: Technologists,
researchers, engineers, doctors, scientists, educators, software
developers, sport prodigals, entrepreneurs and futuristic thinkers.

Tabaka High School Students Take on
ICT,Computing & Chess Activities
https://youtu.be/mUsgsRhNi6M

Why Integrate ICT,Computing & Chess
in the curriculum?
• Both are remarkable universal languages. They bridges the gap of
language, gender, economics, age, and education.
• Both can be taught by using offline and online resources and
materials. Available in Ministry Of Education Research and
Technology ICT and Computer Labs and development partners
digital hubs spread across the country.
• Both are used as educational tools to aid learning.
7A Case for ICT,Computing and Chess :Redesigning the Kenyan Curriculum ©Fred Sagwe,Gilbert Bett & Githinji Hinga

• Reach boys and girls regardless of their natural abilities or socio-economic
backgrounds.
• There is research literature that has a very promising outlook, as far as
ICT,computing and chess have been successfully utilised in subjects like
mathematics,science,arts,writing or English as a second language.
• Research tell us that girls are just as adept as boys at learning STEM topics,
computer science included, but their interest tends to drop off in late
elementary or middle school.
• Waiting until middle or high school to introduce the trio is simply too long to
wait to spark an interest in the students.
• The combined fundamental knowledge is needed to prepare students for the
21st century, regardless of their ultimate field of study and occupation.
Case for ICT, Computer Science and Chess in Early Childhood Education: Redesigning the Kenyan Curriculum
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8rK7nGHZhSoQ1R5S2cwcHpZWEk/view?usp=sharing

#Activity 1- ICT,Computing and Chess in schools
• The general research question of this paper/ presentation, is how far does
:ICT,computing and chess affects other school subjects:
Science,technology,engineering,mathematics,arts, design (STEAM) and
languages.
• How will the spread of digital literacy across continents shape tomorrow’s
highly skilled workforce.
• According to estimates from Juniper Research, the global market for mobile
applications will more than double from $47.7 bn (£30.8bn) in 2014 to
$99bn (£64bn) in 2019….
• What do you think are some of the best ways , we can prepare our students
better for these new emerging careers :Knowledge economy/New economy
based? Which is boosted by booming opportunities available to those with
programming skills, especially for mobile software.

ICT
Def:
• It might be useful to accept the definition provided by the United
Nations Development Programme(UNDP):
• ICTs are basically information-handling tools-a varied set of goods,
applications and services that are used to
produce,store,process,distribute and exchange information. They
include the old ICTs of radio, television and telephone, and the new
ICTs of computers, satellites and wireless technology and the
internet.

• Together and they combine to form our 'networked
world‘-a massive infrastructure of interconnected
telephone services.
• Standardised computing hardware, the internet, radio
and television, which reaches into every corner of the
globe.

Role of ICT in developing higher order
thinking skills
• ICT enables the development of higher order thinking skills when
students collaborate in groups while using computers to solve
problems…
• Are taught to apply the process of problem-solving and then apply
technology in the development of solutions…

• High order thinking by students involves the transformation of
information and ideas..
• Which occur when students combine facts and ideas and
synthesie,generate,explain,hypothesize or arrive at some conclusion
or interpretation.
Jimoyiannis, A. & Komis, V. (2007) Examining teachers’ beliefs about ICT in education: Teacher Development, An
international journal of teachers' professional development, 11(2) 149-173
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530701414779
13

The @iLabAfrica Holiday Bootcamp:
Making IT fun & Interactive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckSxqM1k_g
14

Cont’
ICTs offer alternate solutions for providing access
and equity, and for collaborative practices to
optimize costs and effectively use resources..!!

#Activity 2-ICT in EdTech & Industry
• Reflect on how to integrate ICT in education innovation solutions in the classroom
situation? Reflect on this and identify both the advantages and disadvantages of both
in the life of learners.
• How will technology play a larger role in our future daily lives, across economies and
industries.
• Does low internet ‘power connectivity and distribution in the countryside affect ICT
Integration in Kenya? How has the Kenyan government tried to mitigate and solve the
challenges?
• How will the Kenya educational system innovate ,collaborate and adopt the 10 new
emerging Major Technology Trends(Cloud computing,BYOD,Wearable tech,Internet
of Things,3D Printing,LMS,Learning Analystics,Gaming and gamification etc.) in
Education in the world?
• Can Nairobi and Machakos (Konza city) counties, emerge as the “Silicon Valleys "of
Africa?
10 Major Technology Trends in Education
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/02/03/10-major-technology-trends-in-education.aspx
16

Computing
• Computing is a new subject..!!
• It draws together the strands of computer science, information
technology and digital literacy, and seeks to equip children with
computational thinking skills and the creativity they need to
understand and change the world.

Computer Science
Def.:
• Computer Science encompasses ―the study of computers and algorithmic
processes, including their principles, their hardware and software designs,
their applications, and their impact on society.
• Computer Science develops students computational and critical thinking
skills and shows them how to create ,not simply use, new technologies. This
fundamental knowledge is needed to prepare students for the 21st century
,regardless of their ultimate field of study or occupation.
“Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st
century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.”
-Stephen Hawking
Computer Science in STEM Education Critical for 21st Century Skills and Knowledge: The Kenyan Perspective.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d_ImgtthuzMHrnFzO3Icir-6y78PrTrUot-9Vtpk2Ww/pub

Coding
• When students use tools such as Code Studio, Scratch, and Tynker,
what they’re doing is called programming. Programming is about the
logic that goes into building a program. The blocks already exist-they
have to be placed in the correct order to get the program to work.
• Coding, on the other hand, has to do with the syntax, the fine details
that allow a computer script to work.
• Think of coding as a spelling test where a sentence must have words
correctly ordered with proper grammar mechanics. If one thing is
wrong, then the grade on the spelling test decreases. Coding is similar,
for one thing is typed incorrectly, then the code won’t work.
Learn Scratch
http://scratch.mit.edu/
19

Coding is a New Language
• Digitization is fostering growth and creating jobs. Coding is a new
language and is everywhere, propelling the future of the digital
economy across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. However the
spread and sophistication of coding teaching remains too limited .
• Only 20% of Europe’s school children are in schools which have
adopted overreaching formal policies covering the use of ICT across
all subjects.
• While Africa holds the youngest and largest population (122m
people will be added to the workforce by 2020),but is also the fastest
growing digital consumer market.

Thomas Suarez: A 12-year-old app developer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkd9TWUtFm0

Africa Code Week
• Every child deserves the opportunity to be fluent in coding! It can be a
springboard to a much larger, impactful career.
• Africa Code week is building on the success of the EU Code Week
launched by the European Commission across 38 countries last year,
hundreds of coding activities will be organised for 20,000 children across 17
African countries from October 1-10,2015.
• Africa Code Week which will empower youth, teachers and parents with the
language of software programming using a freely available “Scratch”
system.
• The goal is simple to help bridge the digital skills gap in Africa.
• Akirachix,@iLab - Strathmore,iHub,Zalewa,eMobilis ,Safaricom Mpesa
Academy,The DevSchool-are also local start-ups and private-public innovative
initiatives taking programming and coding activities, skills and certification to the
youngsters.
Africa Code Week 2015
www.thedevschool.org/acw.html
22

Why Learning to Code Benefits Kids,
Regardless of Future Career Choice
• Learning programming empowers kids and gives them tools to express themselves in
really cool ways, controlling robots and machines, getting a computer to solve
complicated problems, turning creativity into an interactive reality, ideas made
accessible to millions and the ability to communicate with machines.
• Pupils need to understand the mechanisms and coding behind computer programmes-
not just learning how to use a word processor, enter data into a worksheet or design a
power-point presentation.
• Instead of children bored out of their minds being taught how to use word or excel by
bored teachers, we could have 11-years-olds able to write simple 2D computer
animations.
• Let us envisage a new curriculum that could have 16-year-olds creating their own apps
for smartphones and 18-year-olds able to write their own simple programming
language.
• Coding is also a part of the core curricula in some countries:UK( England), Finland,
Estonia, ,Denmark,Cyprus,Poland Israel,Greece,Ireland,Portugal, Bulgaria ,Australia,
Hong Kong, and some states in the USA .
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/blog/posts/2014-12-04/Why-Learning-to-Code-Benefits-Kids-Regardless-of-Future-
Career-Choice.aspx
23

Forget Foreign Languages and Music. Teach
our Kids to Code
• The science of language acquisition. Extensive research has shown that
because young brains are so adept at picking up languages, it‘s best to
introduce children to foreign tongues as early as possible.
• This is why so many ambitious parents are now clamouring for kindergartens
that offer intensive Mandarin(Chinese)—they want to give their kids the best
possible shot at learning a key language of the Asian century.
• What those parents likely don‘t realize is that the same neural mechanisms that
make kids sponges for Mandarin likely also make them highly receptive to
computer languages. Kindergartners cannot become C++ ninjas, but they can
certainly start to develop the skills that will eventually cement lifelong fluency in
code.
• Children aged from 5-11 have so much potential for learning about algorithms
and computation that it would be a shame to wait until they are teenagers before
we teach them the foundations.
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/ap_code/

Coding is the new literacy
• The general assumption is that young kids lack the faculties to
comprehend a topic as seemingly esoteric as programming. But it is
code, not Mandarin(Chinese), that will be the true lingua franca of
the future..!!
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/25/266162832/computers-are-the-future-but-does-everyone-need-
to-code
25

Digital Literacy
• Whether you are new to computing or have some experience, Digital
Literacy will help you develop a fundamental understanding of
computers. The courses help you learn the essential skills to begin
computing with confidence, be more productive at home and at
work, stay safe online, use technology to complement your lifestyle,
and consider careers where you can put your skills to work.
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digitalliteracy/overview.aspx
26

Computational Thinking
• Computational thinking influences fields such as biology, chemistry, linguistics,
psychology, economics and statistics. It allows us to solve problems, design systems
and understand the power and limits of human and machine intelligence.
• It is a skill that empowers, and that all pupils should be aware of and have some
competence in. Furthermore, pupils who can think computationally are better able to
conceptualize and understand computer-based technology, and so are better
equipped to function in modern society (21st century conceptual age).
• We need to give students opportunities to learn programming, encourage
computational thinking, which is a way of thinking about solving problems. It has
applications across the curriculum. Pupils would gain enormously in knowing about.
• In order to support young people’s development as designers, not just consumers, of
interactive media, they need access to tools and communities.
• Every pupil should appreciate that computational ideas inform and illuminate other
disciplines, and this should be reflected in the teaching of these disciplines at school.
Like numeracy and literacy there is a cognitive strand of computing that offers
valuable thinking skills to learners of all ages (e.g. algorithmics, logic, visualisation,
precision, abstraction).
Google.(n.d).Exploring computational thinking.
http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/
27

Robotics Education & Research
• As technology evolves ever more quickly in all aspects of modern
living.
• It is important that the next generation know as much as possible
about design, electronics, programming and integration in order to
stay competitive.
• This is why robotics is becoming increasingly important at all levels
of education.
Redesigning Robotics Education & Research to Strengthen STEM Subjects in Kenya.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kISeilKAvXXK2o7PI8qdnF7x3g9E9B5734QckLfEAi8/edit?usp=s
haring_eid&ts=560d490b
28

#Activity 3 – Implementing Computing in schools.
• How can we equip children with the coding skills they need to thrive in
the 21st century workforce.
• Is it prudent for the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development KICD to
present Computing as a new subject in the new curriculum to
incorporate, combine and fuse together ICT , and Digital Literacy
Programme .Instead of offering them separately in elementary, middle
and high school levels.
• Should the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development KICD introduce
coding, alongside Mandarin(Chinese),from standard one and form one
in the year 2017.Since both of them are old and new languages.
29

Chess
• Teaching chess to children involves more than just playing the game.
Chess training has the advantage of being an art, a science, and a
sport (Wojcio, 1990), “Education is not the learning of many facts but
the training of the mind to think”( Albert Einstein).
• “Chess is an excellent low cost, all ages, all weather activity that
everyone can participate in.The educational benefits of being a chess
player are many and include horning analytical thinking skills and aiding
memory retention. It’s a great confidence builder and teaches patience
and persistence!”
• Chess is also a part of the core curricula in many countries (and these
are but a select few): Armenia, England(UK), Spain, Paraguay, Belgium,
Venezuela, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Zaire, South Africa, parts of the
USA and Canada.
Benefits of Chess in Education
www.kcfe.eu
30

Chess in Schools
31
• Chess is taught to children in schools around the world and used in
armies to train minds of cadets and officers. Many schools hold
chess clubs and there are many scholastic tournaments specifically
for children.
Presidents of Cuba and the United States agree:
“Playing chess helps students develop thinking and analyzing skills, concentration,
greater self-control and self-confidence ... We have hard evidence that chess in the
schools works.”
- William Jefferson Clinton
"El ajedrez debe formar parte del programa escolar."
- Fidel Castro Ruiz
First Move Gives Kids An Advantage.
http://www.af4c.org/

Meet With Chess
What is Chess?
• The Chess Game is a branch of sport, which is played between two
players. Chess includes all features of sport.
• This game is played on chess board with chess pieces. The chess
pieces have two colours and the colours are white and black.
• One of the player plays with white and the other plays with black. At
the beginning of this game each side has 16 pieces and these
pieces take place in an order on the board.

• At the beginning of this game each side has 16 pieces and these
pieces take place in an order on the board.
• The players make their moves one by one. The movement of chess
pieces in obvious rules called ―move.
• The game starts with the move of white. The aim of this game is to
beat the opponent and this is called “checkmate”.
Waridi Academy, Kenya Scholastic Chess
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Were-smarter-and-more-attentive-now/-/957860/2768492/-
ouqcupz/-/index.html
33

How Chess Can Revolutionize Learning:
Cody Pomeranz at TEDxYale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yDvM8aplY
34

Benefits Of Playing Chess
Research & surveys on educational and psychological studies to examine the
benefits of children studying and playing chess.
Shows that chess can:
• Raise intelligence quotient (IQ) scores .
• Strengthen problem solving skills, teaching how to make difficult and abstract
decisions independently .
• Enhance reading, memory, language, and mathematical abilities .
• Foster critical, creative, and original thinking .
Chess as an Elective Subject in the Curriculum, Educational and a Social Pillar
in the Kenyan Vision 2030
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ga2pRm2ZVNdaXfBUuQtovyTIQLC3je11aK0WOxaq9iw/edit?ts
=560d4e39
35

• Provide practice at making accurate and fast decisions under time
pressure, a skill that can help improve exam scores at school .
• Teach how to think logically and efficiently, learning to select the
best choice from a large number of options.
• Challenge gifted children while potentially helping underachieving
gifted students learn how to study and strive for excellence.
• Demonstrate the importance of flexible planning, concentration, and
the consequences of decisions .
• Reach boys and girls regardless of their natural abilities or socio-
economic backgrounds .
How Chess Players ‘Brains Are Different from Everybody Else’s
http://mic.com/articles/119332/how-chess-players-brains-are-different-from-everybody-else-s
36

Recap & The Way Forward
• ICT, Computing and Chess, are remarkable universal languages, they bridges
the gap of language, gender, economics, age and education.
• Reach boys and girls regardless of their natural abilities or socio-economic
backgrounds
• Anyone can learn the basics and foundations of the 3 disciplines.
• Both can be used as educational tools to aid learning.
• A need to integrate ICT, Computing and Chess as a core curricula and or an
elective subjects from elementary school to university levels.
.
• The combined fundamental knowledge is needed to prepare students for the
21st century, regardless of their ultimate field of study and occupation.
• Propose to design a project to encourage the research that links education,
cognitive science, neuroscience with ICT,Computing and chess.

Question Time
38

End
39

A case for ict, computing and chess redesigning the kenyan curriculum

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