the class

Description

What do you do when your students are more interested in their phone than in what you're trying to teach them? If you're Michael Braun, well, you make their phones a central part of their classroom learning. Braun, a computer science teacher at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, created a Partners in Learning program, "Exploration of Computer Science on Smartphones," which teaches students how to create applications for cell phones. In collaboration with Peli de Halleux & Chris Mitchell (TEALS volunteers), Braun taught students to use TouchDevelop to create scripts. Students were able to install, run, edit, and publish scripts using Windows phones. In a high school where 70% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced meals, our experimental class became hugely popular. We attracted a large number of girls to our computer science course (who made up 50% of the class) and also accepted interested 8th grade students from the neighboring middle school, South Shore. By making the smart phone their workbench, we made students excited about becoming creators of technology, instead of just consumers. Music Info: "Petit talibé - INSTRUMENTAL VERSION" by Löhstana David Music URL: http://bit.ly/OroeKT Description Info: "Michael Braun - INTERVIEW" by Anthony Salcito Description URL: http://bit.ly/MIk4kj