Prof Paul Curzon will be running his FREE ‘Computational thinking: Searching to Speak‘ workshop for GCSE Computing teachers next Thursday afternoon at a school in London.

When: Thursday 22 May 2014, 4pm-5.30pm
Where: Stormont House School, Downs Park Road, London, E5 8NP
Audience: GCSE Computing teachers
Cost: FREE

More info: Contact Jo Brodie (j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk) and see our workshop page for more details and downloadable resources.

Printed copies of the booklet, and other magazines from cs4fn (Computer Science For Fun) will be available for each delegate and you can sign up to receive free copies of our future magazines at the cs4fn website, and hear about our new courses and workshops.

Dates for your diary: Paul Curzon will also be delivering all four of his free workshops for GCSE Computing teachers on 27 and 28 May, at QMUL. More to follow…

Overview
One of the worst medical conditions I can imagine is locked-in syndrome. It leaves you totally paralyzed except perhaps for the blink of an eye. Your intelligent mind is locked inside a useless body, able to sense everything but unable to communicate. How could a computer scientist help? We will use this problem to illustrate a way to introduce computational thinking skills, as well as core computing topics such as search algorithms and how to compare them. More generally we will demonstrate how computational thinking ideas can be introduced in an integrated way using cs4fn ‘unplugged’ activities, games and magic tricks, getting students out of their seats and away from their computers.

Session material
This session will cover:

• What is Computational Thinking?
• Inspiring ways to teach Computational Thinking.
• How do computers find things? Search algorithms.
• How do we tell which algorithm is best? Efficiency Analysis.
• An introduction to using magic tricks to teach computing concepts

Activities are suitable for all age groups and can be adapted to fit your teaching needs.