Assessment in Computer Science

7th Grade Computer Science

Liz Reale

Problem Identified: After taking a vocabulary pre-assessment taken by 703 about important concepts in Swift Playgrounds and the Learn to Code 1 curriculum, I noticed that any of my students were struggling to grasp the new terminology like commands, functions, and for loops. I remembered learning about an app this summer called Clips. The Clips app s a video making app that's a combination of iMovie and Snapchat. I decided it'd be helpful to employ a vocabulary project using the Clips app.

Hypothesis: If students create Clips video reflections about Swift concepts then they will improve their vocabulary as measured by a unit test.

Data Collection: Based on teacher observations, 703 students were engaged in the project and enjoyed using the Clips app. Some students required small group help or individual conferencing time, but most students were able to produce at least one video reflection for the Swiftie Diary video series. See a student sample video here:

Actionable Step: Any teacher can incorporate the Clips app into their classroom given all of the features the app has. It can be used to showcase vocabulary, book trailers, math processes, etc. The only real limitation is one's creativity. The only true hardship in our school is the limited bandwidth since some of the features can't download all of the options and it takes awhile to install the app on the iPads.

Overall Findings/Impact: Overall, all students improved their use of Swift vocabulary and concepts as a result of incorporating the Swiftie Diary reflection videos on the Clips app as evidenced by their unit tests. Because of this, we have decided to continue the Swiftie Diary video series with another round of Swiftie Diary videos to have students demonstrate their level of mastery with conditional code.