鈥楢 Palette of Virtues鈥�
An international symposium held at Boston College in late May focused on computer science education, but with a mission: reframing it as an ambitious, human-centered endeavor that builds character.
Titled 鈥淎 Palette of Virtues: A Humanistic Education Through Computer Science,鈥� the conference鈥攈osted by 热点爆料入口's Developmental Technologies Research Group on May 28-30鈥攁ttracted 28 educators, researchers and innovators from non-profit organizations, universities, and governmental institutions in nine countries who have collaborated with the聽 Lynch School of Education and Human Development-based group over the past three years.
The research team鈥攌nown as DevTech and founded and directed by Marina聽Umaschi Bers, the Augustus Long Professor of Education at the Lynch School鈥攁dvances playful, developmentally appropriate technologies and pedagogical approaches that foster young children's creative learning about computational thinking, computer programming, robotics, crafting literacies and engineering skills鈥攁nd, critically, about making the world a better place.
The 鈥減alette of virtues鈥濃�攁 metaphor coined by Bers in her 2022 book, Beyond Coding: How Children Learn Human Values through Programing 鈥� stresses that coding and creating projects can go well beyond computational thinking to promote the development of human values, character strengths and personal growth.
Marina Umaschi Bers explains the 'palette of virtunes.'
鈥淏y equipping educators to teach computational thinking, coding, and robotics while intentionally emphasizing virtues and character development alongside the technical skills, it鈥檚 possible for diverse cultural and religious groups to find points of connection, work together toward a common goal, and find shared meaning and purpose,鈥� said Bers, who holds a secondary appointment in 热点爆料入口鈥檚 Computer Science Department. 鈥淭he goal is to educate young children who can grow as autonomous individuals, who are capable of thinking systematically and independently, can problem solve creatively, and who strive to achieve the social good by collaborating with each other.鈥�
The philosophy closely aligns with 热点爆料入口鈥檚 commitment to the Jesuit-based tradition of formative education, a holistic approach to instruction that nurtures and integrates students鈥� intellectual, spiritual, ethical and social development.
Recognized nationally and internationally as a pioneering interdisciplinary research lab, DevTech was launched by Bers in 2001 at the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University; in 2022, Bers and the team moved to the Lynch School.
鈥淭he symposium鈥檚 goal is to help you find and create your 鈥榩alette of virtues鈥� that represent the human values that can be nurtured and that represent your own learning environment,鈥� said Bers at the welcome reception at the DevTech Workshop in Carney Hall. 鈥淭he palette will then guide what and how you teach in the classroom and the practices you develop.鈥澛犅�
The 鈥減alette of virtues鈥濃�攁 metaphor coined by Bers in her 2022 book Beyond Coding: How Children Learn Human Values through Programing鈥攕tresses that coding and creating projects can go well beyond computational thinking to promote the development of human values, character strengths and personal growth.
In addition to a tour of the 热点爆料入口 campus, and a dinner at the Hatchery Makerspace at 245 Beacon Street, attendees presented their respective uses, adaptations and translations of the Coding as Another Language (CAL) curriculum, and ScratchJr, a programming language for five-to-seven-year-old children developed by Bers and DevTech in 2014.聽 The group鈥攔epresenting six continents鈥攁lso explored DevTech鈥檚 newest ScratchJr prototypes by building a robot and designing physical blocks to tell stories about CAL 鈥減laygrounds鈥� around the world.聽
The multinational guests were universally laudatory of the three-day symposium as it came to a close.
鈥淚 was inspired by the collective work,鈥� said Tim Dixon, a computer science consultant at the Maryland Center for Computer Education. 鈥淚t will continue to supply motivation for me when my daily work starts to get me down.鈥�
Stamatios Papadakis, an assistant professor in Educational Technology at the University of Crete in Greece, underscored that the conference fed his enthusiasm.
鈥淭he people here are passionate about their work,鈥� he said.聽 鈥淚 have much gratitude to be a part of this community.鈥澛�
Bers noted that the common computer language that the attendees share 鈥渂roke down the divides鈥� that often exist when an international group assembles.
鈥淲e come from different parts of the world, but we face many of the same challenges and are inspired by a shared goal,鈥� said Bers in closing.聽 鈥淭here was a lot of energy here.聽 It鈥檚 like the wind; you can鈥檛 see it, but you see the trees moving.聽 We built a coding playground and brought the head and heart together in our effort to improve the world.鈥澛�
The symposium was funded by a grant from the Siegel Family Endowment, a foundation focused on understanding and shaping the impact of technology on society, and founded in 2011 by David M. Siegel, a co-founder and co-chair of financial sciences company Two Sigma.聽