Teaching London Computing – Newsletter #14 – Spring 2024 | Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN

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

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

Previous newsletters can be found here.

Table of Contents

Coming soon: new Primary Puzzle Book 1

We will shortly be printing and posting to our Primary teacher subscribers a free booklet of computing and maths-themed puzzles aimed at a primary school audience, part of the “A Bit of CS4FN” series. If you would like one or more copies please fill in this form. If you would like to check or update your subscription please email me (Jo).

The puzzle booklet will also be available as a PDF from our primary downloads sub-site.

You can download our previous CS4FN Puzzle Book (and the Solutions booklet) too. See also our Compression Code Puzzles including one based on a Hindu peace mantra.
[Even more puzzles]

Events

1. TODAY (Tuesday 16 April 2024), free, online, 5-6.30pm BST
Generative AI in programming education: Bridging the gap from school to what lies ahead – Brett A. Becker (University College Dublin)
Raspberry Pi Research Seminar
https://www.raspberrypi.org/research/seminars

Secondary school students and teachers have particular needs and face specific constraints that result in a unique landscape in terms of programming education. The rise of generative AI complicates this scene but also provides several potential opportunities. One of the greatest challenges in this arena is that while university students studying computing have a high likelihood of continuing on a path in computing, most school students choose to go into non-computing disciplines for further/higher education and/or their careers. This talk will focus on how generative AI may be effectively utilised in secondary school programming education and how it can be leveraged so that students can be best prepared for continuing their education or beginning their careers, regardless of discipline.

2. Thursday 18 April 2024, free, online, 2-3pm BST
The promise of AI: working across disciplines for the public good
QMUL
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-promise-of-ai-working-across-disciplines-for-the-public-good-tickets-848336065007

Join us as we bring together this group of interdisciplinary experts to share the opportunities and risks posed by AI.

Following the success of our event on the ethics and equitable governance of AI back in November, our next webinar will explore the application of AI to key world issues.

We’ll go in depth on the latest technologies, and how these are already being applied in tackling health inequalities, supporting global activism and influencing the global political landscape.

3. Tuesday 23 April 2024, free, in-person (London), 3.30 – 7pm BST
ICT for Education at QMUL
https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/2024/03/13/computing-teachers-ict-for-education-seminar-qmul-london-tuesday-23-april-2024-free/

“The event is for those teaching in primary, secondary ,independent, special and FE with a passion for Computing, Computer Science, Technology, and with a commitment to raising the standards of computer literacy and the appreciation of technology among students.

Paul Curzon, Professor of Computer Science at QMUL, Miles Berry, Professor of Computing Education at the University of Roehampton, Tig Williams, CAS Master Teacher, teacher trainer and IT professional, and Dale Howarth, ASUS Education, will be presenting content to help you in your teaching of Computer Science.”

Save the Date(s)

1. Saturday 8th June, free, in-person
Festival of Communities
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/festival/
Aimed at families QMUL’s annual Festival of Communities returns to Stepney Green Park and the CS4FN / Teaching London Computing team are hoping* to have a stall about Computing and Disability (how computer scientists can help disabled people, and how disabled people have contributed to computing), with a game based on our Searching To Speak booklet and activity. There’ll be food, face-painting as well as lots of other QMUL colleagues from different departments running stalls and events too. Come and play “Finding the words”.
*we’ve applied, but it’s a competitive process.

2. Monday 24 June, free, online, 11.25am-12
Barts and Queen Mary science Festival 2024
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/whri/patient-public-engagement/barts-and-queen-mary-science-festival

Paul Curzon will be giving one of the talks at this year’s free science and medicine event for older secondary school pupils interested in a STEM career. Schools will be able to sign up their classes to take part (link above currently has 2023 information). Bookmark this page on our site for more info. We also have a “Computing and… Medicine & Health” portal with articles showing the links between health and computing, as well as a section on careers.

3. 25 June 2024, in-person (University of Westminster), all day
Playful Computing Conference from Digital Schoolhouse
https://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/news/2024/03/introducing-the-playful-computing-conference

The conference will bring together educators and the video games/edutech industry to explore the future of computing education. Early bird tickets are £50.

Public Engagement in Computer Science / ICT – event & survey

Colleagues at Birmingham University will be hosting a free, online event later this year for anyone involved in public engagement in computing (this includes teachers, academics, industry, science communicators etc). They have created a survey to help shape that event and to find out what people are up to in this area.

The team behind the survey are one of the five “Public Engagement in ICT Champions” funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, one of several research-funding bodies). Paul Curzon is also one of the five and you can find out more about his project here. The full list of Public Engagement Champions (list includes Engineering and ICT champions) can be found here.

Teachers: connect your students with working computer scientists and support them to see science as something “for them”.

The online, student-led I’m a Scientist activity is being supported by the National Centre for Computing Education to help your students see where their studies could take them.
Take part with your students: https://imascientist.org.uk/signup/t/ncce/

“Create a buzz in your classroom with I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here

Connect your students with real computer scientists in fast-paced, text-based, online Chats. From Programming to Cyber Security and beyond, your students can connect with a diverse range of people working across a breadth of roles.

I’m a Scientist looks beyond theory – students explore scientist profiles and chat about what really matters to them. They engage in genuine conversations to discover how computer science shapes their world, relate to the real people behind it, and see their place in the future of STEM.

It’s flexible for teachers too! Sign up anytime to take part year-round – book Chats at times that suit you and join in from the classroom or at home, with your choice of theme to bridge the gap between your students’ curriculum and real-world careers.
Learn more or sign up today ❯“

Sessions for students and courses

• GCSE & A level booster sessions (online) from Isaac Computer Science https://isaaccomputerscience.org/events?examBoard=all&stage=all
April – May 2024, teachers need to create an account to register their students on these sessions.

• Courses and resources for teachers are available from NCCE the National Centre for Computing Education.

The Teaching London Computing (TLC) team is up for an award!

TLC has been shortlisted for one of Queen Mary University of London Research & Innovation Awards for our research into the use of Semantic Waves in teaching Computer Science.
In 2022, Ofsted collated evidence on what makes a good computing curriculum citing TLC research in semantic waves, unplugged activities and story-telling. Our work on semantic waves has also been adopted and promoted by the National Centre of Computing Education (NCCE) in their resource development. Find out more about our Computer Science Education Research, and take an autonomy tour when cross-disciplinary teaching.

Two job vacancies

BCS is hiring a Computing Subject Lead (Primary)
They are looking for someone who can contribute Subject Matter Expertise, Community Building & Teacher Engagement, Content, CPD & Resource Development and Leadership. Location is field-based, salary is £48-52k pa. More information, via this tweet.

PLEASE NOTE: This vacancy may be removed before any listed closing date once a sufficient amount of applications have been received.

The National Museum of Computing is hiring a Head of Learning
They are looking for someone “who’s had direct experience of teaching a relevant subject in a secondary school environment or within the museum education sector.”

Location is Bletchley, salary is £29-33k pa. For more details please read the Job description and their Recruitment page.

Closing date 3 May 2024.

Follow us everywhere :-)

CS4FN is on Twitter, BlueSky and Mastodon and Paul Curzon is on LinkedIn. Our website full of free resources for teachers is Teaching London Computing, our site for young people, full of articles about computer science, is the CS4FN blog.

📖 Read our previous newsletters.