In my last blog post, I wrote about some contemporary inspirational role models that could help to encourage more teenage girls to get involved with STEAM subjects. One of the people I talked about in the post was scientist Rachel AKA KonichiwaKitty. Earlier this month, Rachel announced that she was launching a learn-to-solder kit onContinue reading “Kitty Ears by KonichiwaKitty”
Category Archives: Resources
Google AIY…
Ok, before I get started, I wanted to offer a huge thank you to Jamie at The Pi Hut for sorting me out with a copy of the MagPi with the AIY kit. You are a star! Back in May, the Internet exploded with the news that the MagPi magazine was offering a free GoogleContinue reading “Google AIY…”
Shakey Sense Hat Cat
[edit] As of June 2017, there is a version of Scratch 2.0 on Raspbian which makes this worksheet obsolete [/edit] After Sunday’s coding session, I set the boys the task of making our Scratch Sense Hat Cat Shake, just like Carrie Anne’s Interactive Pixel Pet. The first thing the boys did was to figure outContinue reading “Shakey Sense Hat Cat”
Sense Hat Cat using Scratch
[edit] As of June 2017, there is a version of Scratch 2.0 on Raspbian which makes this worksheet obsolete [/edit] So, I absolutely LOVE the Interactive Pixel Pet activity from the Raspberry Pi website, and while I was playing with the Sense Hat the other day, I realised it was possible to imitate it usingContinue reading “Sense Hat Cat using Scratch”
A Strange Experience – Being on the Other Side
Since I’ve been working for pi-top, I’ve experienced being on the other side of the EdTech system and it’s certainly been a bit of an eye-opener I’ve tested various products over the years and found problems and complaints, bugs and surprises, delights and nightmares, but it has been a really interesting experience for me beingContinue reading “A Strange Experience – Being on the Other Side”
Swift Playgrounds
It’s about time Apple joined the Coding Revolution – with Raspberry Pi, code.org and Google running projects for years, it was only a matter of time before something was released. And boy is it a good one… with glossy graphics and slick tutorials, Swift Playgrounds has certainly hit the ground running as a way toContinue reading “Swift Playgrounds”
Crumble Bot by Redfern Electronics
A few months ago, I donated ‘an afternoon of robot building’ to a charity auction and so this weekend I headed out to fulfil my promise. Last month I tried out the CamJam Edukit, which I absolutely loved, but quickly realised wasn’t necessarily the right tool for using with 9 and 11 year olds so,Continue reading “Crumble Bot by Redfern Electronics”
Hour of Code 2015 – Minecraft
Hour of Code has become a global phenomenon, but with excellent resources and celebrity support, it comes as no surprise. Several websites are now running their own Hour of Code projects, but I want to look at the ones on the official site as I’m really impressed with their offerings this year. Earlier in theContinue reading “Hour of Code 2015 – Minecraft”
A Beginner’s Guide to Primary Coding
In the summer of 2014, I tirelessly tried out various resources and blogged about them as I went along, but this summer, I wasn’t able to blog as much for one simple reason… This book. I spent most of my summer holiday trying out new resources and rewriting existing pieces to create a simple guideContinue reading “A Beginner’s Guide to Primary Coding”
A reflection on teaching coding
After another year at Pycon and really throwing myself into the coding community with my coding evenings and any other events that have caught my eye, I find myself reflecting on the purpose of teaching coding within a primary school. What do we hope to achieve by teaching complex languages like Python and Ruby? WhyContinue reading “A reflection on teaching coding”
Cat Lamin 