Updated 6 Feb 2018, v6

The CAS London Conference 2018 will be held on Saturday 24th February at Gladesmore Community College in North London (South Tottenham, N15 6BF). It’s an all day event with an opening keynote from Jon Nixon from Ofsted, and talks, workshops and demos exploring different aspects of Primary and Secondary Computer Science. Download a flyer.

There are four session blocks (2 in the morning, 2 in the aternoon) and you can pick one from each. The full list of workshop and talks is below the ‘plan for the day’.

Doors at 9.10am, opening keynote is at 9.40am, first morning session at 10.20am. There will be other activities and networking opportunities at lunch.

CAS London Conference – plan for the day

Session 1

• Primary – Smelly code and primary programming pedagogy with Jane Waite
  In this hands of session, you will mark code and create a practical student checklist of what makes sweet code! Bring along code for marking! We will also look at two very practical methods to review your planning to reveal what pedagogy you already use. We will look at instructional approaches to scaffold learning as well as ideas for encouraging independence and mastery.
• Primary – iPads Tried and test apps for classroom impact with Gillian Arnold
• Secondary – pedagogy with William Lau
• Secondary – AQA exam board session with  Chris Swan
• Primary –  Using tangible programming to support SEN children with the computing curriculum with Jody Carter
• Primary/Secondary – Minecraft (using virtual worlds and programming) with Simon Johnson (CLC Cimon)
• Secondary – Python Introduction with Jon Feleppa
• Creative projects with the micro:bit (python focus)
• A level – Databases in Python with Hardip Mothada
• A level – OOP with William Marsh

Session 2

• KS2/3 – FastForward. Machine Learning & Big Data including digital identity With Paul Curzon and Jane Waite
  Are driverless cars fact or fiction? Can machines make better AI than humans can? How is our data used? Can we support our young people to understand their online (and real life) persona? Practical ideas for starters, plenaries and projects. 
• Secondary – Algorithm writing with pseudo code and flow charts with Trevor Bragg
• Secondary – Edexcel exam board with Atif Khan
• Primary – Physical computing pedagogy session – not what to teach but how to teach physical – including use of spheros, microbits, bluebots, drones with Nic Hughes
• Primary – Google classrooms/G Suite – Darren Murphey & Wendy McLeod
• Secondary – Creating websites with HTML
• Secondary – Stride (a framebased editor to transition from blocks to text) with Michael Koelling
• A level – Teaching embedded systems with Arduino and Linker with Michael Jones
• A level – Teaching Boolean Algebra & Karnaugh Maps with Eliot Williams

Session 3

• Early Years and KS1 – Cubetto and Early Years with Helen Cheung & Eleni Vasileiadou
• Drones with the Royal Academy of Engineering (KS3 focus but may be of interest to KS2) with Scott Atkinson & Ivan Gutowski-Smith
  This session will explore how drones work and how they can be used for civilian, humanitarian and commercial purposes. This resource is designed as an introduction to the uses of drones, aimed at dispelling the myth that they are just weapons or toys. In fact they have wider ranging practical civil, humanitarian and commercial applications. We will also explore how drones can be reverse engineered, exploring ways in which enquiring minds can build their own functioning quadcopter. All the resources are also available on our website at: https://www.raeng.org.uk/education/schools/teaching-and-learning-resources/curriculum-resources including Engineering in the Movies and RAF100 ‘Aiming for Awesome’ which will be demonstrated during this session.
• A level – NEA project assessing/ standardisation with Garfield Godon
• Secondary – OCR exam board with Vinay Thawait
• Primary – Scratch Maths (Year 6 resources) with Pier Saunders (UCL)
• KS1 to KS4 – Networks with Duncan Maidens (back by popular demand)
• KS4 – Teaching data representation (with practical activities that involve manipulating images and sound in Python) with Alex Hawden-Bennet
• KS3/4 – Pedagogy for programming – PRIMM with Sue Sentence
• A level – C# with Martin Richards
• KS4/5 Data Analysis with Jupyter Notebooks –Michel Wermelinger and Clifford French
  Michel Wermelinger will demonstrate how to use Python in Jupyter Notebooks, running in a browser, to analyse data on world diseases. Jupyter notebooks provide an intuitive, easy to use environment that integrates explanations, exercises and the output of the code so that students program incrementally and get immediate feedback. Teachers will be able to use what they learn both in computer science lessons and in Science or Geography at KS4 (or higher) with no need to install software.

Session 4

• Primary – Assessment with Phil Bagge
• KS3/4 – Embedding Computational Thinking with Rob Heathcote (PG Online)
• Primary – Unplugged programming and programming with Scratch
• Primary – LGFL cross curricula with VR with Bradely Dardis
• KS2/3/4 – Cybersecurity with Duncan Maidens
• KS4 – CraignDave – Challenges of teaching GCSE and flipped classroom solutions.
• KS4/5 – Sorting and Searching Algorithms in Python with Demetrios Skamiotis
• A level – Advanced Python e.g. Web Development Frameworks and Python with Sue Sentance
• A level – Big O notation with Python with Ramzi Ramzi
  This session will cover what Big O is, explaining O(1), O(N), O(N^2), and O(log N). Practical online activities will get you  coding each example in Python using variously sized datasets (whilst hopefully not crashing all of computers!) By the end of the session, you will feel more confident explaining and showing students, what Big O is using Python.