We recently met Jon Bromhall of Think it Create it to find out more about his
exciting approach to delivering the computing curriculum for KS1 and KS2
What is Think it Create it?
Think it Create it is a community interest
company supporting schools to deliver
computing in a fun and interactive way.
This is done through the use of hands-on
practical activities using a wide range of
hi-tech equipment. The programmable Lego
is certainly a great hit with the pupils and we
also use Raspberry Pi computers which allows
greater interaction with our surroundings.
Why Think it Create it?
The name came about from a simple
philosophy: think of an idea then create
it. Children come up with wonderful and
sometimes slightly wacky ideas and it was clear
there was an opportunity to develop this into
an exciting service offering for schools. Even
with very limited programming skills, children
create some really amazing programs or
animated stories.
What services are offered?
Our main service is to come to schools and run
a full half-day session with a class. This could
be a Lego WeDo activity where the children
work in pairs and build a Lego model and then
program it to move and make noises or react to
external interaction. These sessions are great
because they appeal to all academic levels
including those for whom English is not their
first language due to the visual nature of the
task.
The activities are often tailored to the school’s
themed subject. For example, if creative writing
is on the cards, the activities are adapted
to stimulate story telling or the topic being
covered.
As well as running sessions directly with
pupils, we also provide training for teachers
in areas such as computer programming in
Scratch. The additional requirement to teach
computer programming can be daunting and
certainly time consuming. The introductory
programming course gives teachers enough
confidence to teach the basic principles of
programming.
What areas do you cover?
We cover all areas of the national computing
curriculum. This means programming,
sound recording, making and editing music,
understanding algorithms, controlling and
reacting to the world around us, simple circuits,
blogging, websites and apps.
What age range is it aimed at?
The new computing curriculum covers Key
Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 so all of our activities
focus on supporting this and other area of the
national curriculum.
Lego WeDo and Scratch programming is aimed
at year 3 and upwards but we do have simpler
activities for years 1 and 2 and more complex
ones for year 6.
What motivated you to set it up?
IT, especially programming, is a very dry subject
but it doesn’t need to be. I think if we are to
inspire our next generation of engineers and
programmers, we need to get to children early
and show that it can be good fun, rewarding
and relevant.
What skills do these sessions help develop?
When you observe a class carrying out a
practical activity such as Lego WeDo, it is fairly
difficult to identify the pupils who are at the
top of the class academically. In fact those who
struggle academically often flourish when given
such a hands on, visual task to complete.
However, regardless of ability, all activities
allow for many skills to be honed; team work,
communication, motor skills, visualisation
and problem solving skills can be seen to be
demonstrated during these activities and are
evidenced-based.
Not all pupils will be academic wiz-kids but
the next great app developer or mechanical
engineer might be amongst them.
How does all of this fit in with the national
curriculum?
The introduction of the new computing
curriculum takes children back to the basics
of computing and understanding how we
interact with technology in our everyday lives.
At Think it Create it, we believe computing is
an enabler subject, not a stand-alone one. It
can be adapted to support many areas of the
wider curriculum such as English, maths, foreign
languages and design technology.
For this reason, we have designed a curriculum
matcher, which links all of our services to
different parts of the national curriculum.
What do children and teachers make of it?
We’ve had great feedback and never tire of
hearing the excited shriek of a child when a
Lego model they programmed and built comes
to life.
“The children got way more than we
bargained for out of the sessions. They
collaborated on the activities working
together to build a Lego alligator. The
children had a really fun session, the learning
was top draw and it fitted wonderfully with
the curriculum.”
- Mark Currell, Head of Roade
Primary School, Northamptonshire
To find out more contact:
Jon Bromhall
M: +44(0)7746 905 302
E: jon@thinkitcreateit.co.uk
W: www.thinkitcreateit.co.uk
For general enquiries
0808 291 3524
Or we can call you back at a time of your choice
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