Semantic waves are being used by many computing teachers to bring out the best in their computer science lessons. On this page you can find a list of schools that are using semantic waves (and find out more about the concept).
The schools below have given their permission to be here (but a Google search will also tell you about other schools using this). If you’d like your school to be added here please email Paul Curzon on p.curzon@qmul.ac.uk from your official school email address.
List of Schools
- We will list schools who give permission here (with link to their webpage and / or notes on use)
What are semantic waves?
‘Semantic waves’ is a useful tool to help teachers think about the structure and flow of their lesson plan. It lets them communicate technical and abstract information to pupils in a way that helps them make sense of it. Computer science has lots of technical terms and concepts that are not immediately easy to understand but semantic waves lets teachers create a path for their students to follow.
Using everyday examples and metaphors (which are easier to understand) teachers ‘unpack’ the technical aspects (that are harder to understand) of the subject – this helps students make sense of more complex ideas in terms of things they are already familiar with. A classic example is writing very precise instructions for making a sandwich.
However, a lesson that follows a semantic wave doesn’t just tell students that writing an algorithm is like writing ‘how to make a sandwich’ instructions. The teacher uses the easier explanations to ‘lift’ the students’ understanding to the next level of learning (‘repacking’), so that they can make sense of the new information and form stronger links between concepts.
Where did semantic waves come from?
Prof Karl Maton from the University of Sydney developed semantic waves as part of his Legitimation Code Theory (not related to computing code but to do with the sociology of knowledge practice) and Paul Curzon, working with others, has conducted research exploring how to apply it in computing education. The concept has also been taken up by a number of other researchers and educators, and adapted for different subjects as well.
Why are we making a list of schools?
We would like to demonstrate that the concept of semantic waves has moved from university academia to its use in schools’ computing pedagogy by highlighting some of the schools currently using it in their teaching. This is helpful to show that our research has useful real-world value.
The NCCE (National Centre for Computing Education) and Raspberry Pi champion semantic waves in computing education as a way of helping computing schoolteachers support their learners in getting to grips with complex information and terminology. Their Pedagogy Quick Read (part of a series) on ‘Using semantic waves to improve explanations and learning activities in computing‘ is the result.
In 2022 the use of semantic waves in school computing pedagogy was recommended by Ofsted in its ‘Research review series: Computing‘. Now many more computing teachers are using semantic waves to shape the flow of their computing lessons and to (a) bridge the gap between abstract complex ideas with jargon and everyday examples in plain English and (b) help their class move towards familiarity with the correct terminology and understanding the technical concepts.
*Pedagogy is about how best to teach a particular subject, for example the order in which things might be presented, and is different from subject knowledge. Teachers need to know their subject, but they also need to know how to teach it. Semantic waves is a very useful pedagogy tool.
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