This is the final blog in the series about how we can adapt the units in the Teach Computing Curriculum to make them more accessible and inclusive for learners with specific learning needs and disabilities. Today I'll be discussing how to adapt the Computer Systems & Networks units. You can read the previous blog posts here:
The Teach Computing Curriculum has been written to support all pupils, with units containing a number of scaffolding activities and utilising effective pedagogies to ensure high quality teaching. However, there are some approaches that can be used to make them even more individualised to learner needs. The Teacher Guidance documents for KS1 and KS2 have also been updated with some broad principles on how to adapt the materials for SEND. Here are some specific ideas and approaches that can be used in the computer systems & networks units:
1. Identify the key learning in each unit that every child should know and any likely misconceptions
Ask yourself what are the key knowledge and skills for each unit that every child should be able to access? There is a lot of new information in this strand about how networks and how the Internet works - children need a good mental model of how these work, but the detail about individual components may be too much for some learners to retain. What is the core learning they need to remember?
In addition, identifying the misconceptions and challenges in a unit and teaching these explicitly will help children avoid them - sometimes you will only find these out after teaching the unit and you can adapt for the next time. One example of this is the misconception that Google is the only search engine. This is covered in the year 5 unit but we can start to address this earlier by modelling a number of different search engines when we are finding out information, and ensuring we are accurate in our language around searching (and don't ask pupils to 'Google' something!)
2. Pre-teach key vocabulary
There is a large amount of new vocabulary in this strand. Pre-teach the essential vocabulary for each unit, provide learners with a word list supported by images (see https://www.casinclude.org/inclusive-resources for some examples), and use the vocabulary regularly throughout the unit - including a consistent definition. Concentrate on a small number of terms, and make links to physical objects where available. You could also ask pupils to create their own picture dictionary or create concept maps to show the links between hardware (e.g. input and output devices).
3. Consider non-computing barriers
Consider whether difficulties with writing or maths present barriers to completing a piece of work. For example, lesson 1 in the Year 3 Connecting Computers unit requires maths knowledge, so some pre-teaching of this is recommended and scaffolding in the activity to support pupils - see here for an adapted version of the Exploring Inputs and Outputs worksheet.
There is also quite a lot of implied cultural knowledge in the unit - for example what kind of technology you might see in different places (year 2) or how a bike works (year 5). Consider different, more culturally relevant examples if necessary, or provide the background knowledge to enable pupils to complete the activities.
4. Use unplugged activities and the semantic wave
We can use unplugged activities to help make abstract computing concepts more relevant and concrete for learners. However, it is very important to ‘repack’ the
knowledge of the abstract concept so that learners understand what it means in a wider context and are able use the technical language. For example, in lesson 1 of the year 4 Internet unit pupils physically model how messages pass between networks using routers. Children may remember the fun activity a few weeks later, but do they recall the key learning and language? Ensure they have the opportunity to use the key language in context, and ask them to describe what happened in the activity using the terms. Pupils with SEND may need repeated examples and smaller steps to repack the knowledge.
5. Reinforce digital skills
This strand is often taught at the start of the year, to provide context to the curriculum. Consider how you can incorporate practice of key digital skills within the units, as pupils need to be able to use the mouse and keyboard effectively, organise their files, and use basic features of applications in order to access the rest of the computing curriculum. A short amount of practice on a regular basis can make a big difference to learners, and ensure that they can concentrate on the key learning in a lesson rather than logging on.
How have you adapted the computer systems & networks units to support your learners with SEND? Head on over to the discussions on adapting the units for each year group, add your own ideas and read about what others are doing. You can find these here: Teach Computing Curriculum - Share your adapted units and resources. There are also some examples of adapted resources and programs here for you to use with your pupils: TCC Adapted Resources.
Remember there is also CPD available from the NCCE to support you further. Complete this online course to improve your knowledge: Creating an Inclusive Classroom: Approaches to Supporting Learners with SEND in Computing or attend the face-to-face course: Inclusive Computing in Primary Schools.
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