This is the full text of the 12th newsletter which I (Jo B) email to all the UK teachers on our Teaching London Computing subscription list. Despite the name we support teachers across the UK and our resources can be freely downloaded by anyone anywhere in the world.

If you would like to sign up to received emailed copies of the newsletter please use the orange form here.

Table of Contents

• 1. New issue of CS4FN, on Diversity
• 2. Conjuring with Computation: new magic and computing book
• 3. Events
• 4. DfE Consultation: Generative artificial intelligence in education
• 5. Podcasts

TLC Newsletter 12 – Summer 2023

This is the Summer 2023 issue of the Teaching London Computing newsletter, a copy of which can also be found on our website [here = this post], our previous issues live here.

As always please feel free to share this newsletter by forwarding it to colleagues in case they’d like to sign up too – new readers can sign up using the orange form on this page.

You are receiving this email because you’ve previously signed up to the ‘TLC mailing list’ to hear about new courses and resources etc but if you no longer want to hear from us please let me know and I’ll remove you. Follow us on Twitter @cas_london_crc or @cs4fn.

1. New issue of CS4FN

Issue 29 is all about Diversity in Computing with a particular focus on Black computer scientists.

The magazine contains articles about… Kimberly Bryant, Gokop Goteng & Hadeel Alrubayyi, bias in facial recognition (wrong man arrested), Joy Buolamwini & Timnit Gebru’s gender shades audit, Mark Dean (the first African American to receive IBM’s highest honour), Johanna Lucht, Clarence Ellis, Freddie Figgers, Satoshi Tajiri, Al-Jazari, machine-readable passports can discriminate against Indigenous people’s names in Canada (and elsewhere), Sadiqah Musa & Devina Nembhard, Christopher Strachey and Sameena Shah.

Read the magazine online or download the PDF.

If you’re a UK-based school teacher / librarian you can subscribe and we’ll send you FREE class sets of the next issue (we can also send single copies to homeschooling parents) https://bit.ly/subscribecs4fn.

*See the podcast section below, podcast (a).

2. Conjuring with Computation: new magic and computing book

Also out now is Conjuring with Computation a new hard-back book by Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan (who died in 2019) which is available from book shops (also available as an e-book). The accompanying website gives some background to Peter and Paul’s use of magic as a fun and engaging way to teach students about computer science and computational thinking.

The book doesn’t quite manage to explain the whole of Computer Science using magic, but it has a good go, covering topics including algorithms, data representation, control flow, information security, abstraction, decomposition, generalisation, HCI, ethics, display tech,
notation, logical thinking, testing, formal verification, invariants, divide & conquer, multimodal interaction, procedures/functions, interfaces, error correcting codes, graphs, user experience & creativity.

“We did the first version of our “The Magic of Computer Science” workshops in 2005 as a Saturday morning activity for school students. We went on to do a variety of versions, sometimes together, sometimes separately at both primary and secondary schools, universities and science festivals across the UK, teaching the magic along with Computer Science, Maths, Science and Engineering.

We planned and wrote much of the book together with Peter supplying virtually all of the magic. After Peter’s untimely death, I completed it over the next few years with the kind support of Peter’s family. Having loved magic all his life it was something Peter really wanted us to do so it seemed right to carry on.” – Paul Curzon

There are a couple of free bonus chapters to download too. We also have plenty of free magic-themed booklets for you to download as PDFs to use in the classroom.

3. Events

Not surprisingly there are quite a few Artificial Intelligence themed events coming up. A fuller list is here but there’s a selection below.

Thursday 6th July (7 – 9.30pm) – in person (suitable for 18+) at the Camden Club: The Turing Institute’s Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas in London – “As part of London Data Week, we’re bringing CoDI to The Camden Club for a night of edgy, exciting AI and data science-based entertainment with a comedy twist.” [Info | Registration]

Tuesday 11th July (6.30-8.30pm) – in person at Science Gallery London, BBC Global News Podcast recording: AI Special [Info | Registration].

Tuesday 18th July (2-3pm) – the BCS is hosting a free AI Debate for Students which your class can attend online or have streamed into the classroom [Info | Registration].

The Royal Institution in London is running several Holiday Workshops including some that are computing related.

Wednesday 26 July 2023, £35/28 – Intro to the BBC Micro:bit
• 11am to 1.15pm, ages 7-8
• 2.15pm – 4.30pm, ages 9-11

Thursday 27 July 2023, £50/40- Making music and sound with BBC Micro:bit
• 11am to 3pm, ages 12-14

Paul Curzon is also running a handful of sessions in August.

Monday 14 August 2023, £35/28 – Artificial intelligence, but where is the intelligence?
• 11-1.15pm, ages 7-8
• 2.15-4.30pm, ages 9-11

Friday 18 August 2023, £35/28 – The magic of computer science
• 1-1.15pm, ages 7-8
• 2.15-4.30pm, ages 9-11

4. DfE Consultation: Generative artificial intelligence in education

The Department for Education has just launched a consultation / call for evidence on “Generative artificial intelligence in education” [in England only] which closes at 5pm on 23rd August. They are keen to hear from all education sectors: early years, schools, adult education, universities, and presumably from teachers of all subjects.

“We would like to hear your views and experiences of the use of generative AI tools in educational settings in England. This includes tools such as:

ChatGPT
Google Bard
Claude
Midjourney

We’re also seeking to understand perspectives on the potential benefits and risks of this technology around its use in education.“ [Info | Survey]

5. Podcasts