I’ve been fairly quiet recently, but at least I have a decent excuse. Way back in November, I was asked to help write a computational thinking scheme of work for some Canadian schools called Maple Bear – confusingly, I was told that the scheme would be deployed in Brazil, but I had great fun workingContinue reading “Computational Thinking in Brazil”
Tag Archives: Primary
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”
Headlines about Computer Science
It’s been well over two years since the new computer science curriculum was introduced in the UK. Not that long ago, Roehampton University released its wonderful Annual Computing Education Report 2015 which says clearly, in black and white, that the numbers of pupils taking computing compared to those that took ICT are significantly lower nowContinue reading “Headlines about Computer Science”
Picademy Take 3 & 4
My picademy training was over two years ago now, but the experience remains one of the most inspiring two days of my life. As I’ve said so many times before, it literally changed my life. So, you can imagine my delight when I was invited to Glasgow Picademy, this time as a trainer. I gotContinue reading “Picademy Take 3 & 4”
CAS Conference 2016 – workshop links
I will do a proper write up soon, but for those who were in my workshop, here is a downloadable version of the two worksheets, plus a link to the prezi and links to the resources that I showed you! Scratch workshop – Python Scratch workshop – pi-top Prezi – Scratch-ing the Surface of GPIOContinue reading “CAS Conference 2016 – workshop links”
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”
Updated Scratch/PiStop Resource for NuScratch
With the release of Raspbian Jessie and a built in GPIO Scratch server, I’ve updated my beginner’s PiStop and Scratch worksheet for use with the newest Pi OS. This worksheet is designed to be used as an introduction to inputs an outputs and requires some discussion from a teacher or workshop leader about how youContinue reading “Updated Scratch/PiStop Resource for NuScratch”
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”
Cat Lamin 