Thursday 19 November 2015 from 4:45- 6:15pm, Free.
East London Hub
City & Islington Sixth Form College
BBC micro:bit Training. Hands-on session teachers of year 7’s to find out about using the micro:bit. For further information: Ceinwen Hilton (ceinwen.hilton@candi.ac.uk)
PROGRAMME
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 16:45 | Registration and Refreshments |
| 17:00 | Introduction |
| 17:15 | Practical |
| 18:00 | Feedback |
The Teaching London Computing project was a two year (2014-2015) project funded by the Mayor of London to support Computing teachers in London who are delivering the new computing curricula. We are currently in the middle of an A-level Computing CPD course and also have some new workshops (free) and miniCPD (not free) sessions coming up as the year ends. We hope to continue providing CPD support to London teachers as it has proved to be a popular and much-needed thing, and we like doing it.
Of course we are not the only organisation offering support and the Events pages at the Computing At School website has information about courses, events, resources etc available across the UK.
Teaching London Computing are applying for extra funding from the Mayor of London to further support teachers of Computing in London, building on the CAS London regional network and Teaching London Computing. As part of this we have been asked to give details of schools that will be involved in our application. If you would like to be part of this network please fill in the details in this Google form. Your data will be stored at QMUL and shared only with the Mayor’s office.
But I’m already on your mailing list, will that do?
Unfortunately not – people signing up to one of our mailing lists have agreed that we can use their contact details to send them information about our courses and events and / or to receive free copies of cs4fn magazines. We can’t assume that they’re happy to be in our engagement network unless they tell us, and we have to let them know how their data will be used as part of that separate purpose.
• Would you like to know about our future events for London teachers? Sign up here
• Would you like to receive free cs4fn magazines for your school? Sign up here (goes to cs4fn website)
What is Teaching London Computing currently up to?
We have around 20 teachers on our A-level Computing CPD evening course and we are running the following events in November and December.
1. Free workshop – £0
Sorting Unplugged with Paul Curzon
Date and time: Wednesday 25 November from 5.00pm until ~6.30pm
Location: Room BR 3.01 (Bancroft Road Teaching Rooms at QMUL)
[More info about Sorting Unplugged] [Get a free ticket for Sorting Unplugged]
2. miniCPD sessions – £30 for London teachers, £60 for non-London teachers
Introduction to Arduino with Nicola Plant
Date and time: Saturdays 21 or Saturday 28 November, from 2pm to 5pm
Location: G2 Matlab, Engineering Building at QMUL
[More info about Introduction to Arduino]
[Buy a ticket to Introduction to Arduino – 21 November] [Buy a ticket to Introduction to Arduino – 28 November]
As you might expect from the name, miniCPD sessions are somewhere between workshops and CPD classes and focus on a particular topic in depth.
3. Free magic show – for secondary school-aged children – £0
The Magic of {Christmas} Computer Science with Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan
We’re delighted to be hosting the IET Christmas Children’s Lecture at the People’s Palace (at QMUL). The Magic of {Christmas} Computer Science is a magic show powered by hidden computer science and will take place from 5pm to 7pm on Wednesday 2 December. Please pass this (and the attached flyer) on to your pupils and their families, thank you.
[More info about the magic show] [Get a free magic show ticket] [Download a flyer]
Our diary of events is as follows, everything is taking place at QMUL (Mile End Campus). Details and tickets below.
More details and tickets
Events for Computing teachers in London
Introduction to Arduino – Aimed at teachers of pupils at KS3 and above our miniCPD session will introduce you to programming using an Arduino with simple electronics. There are two identical sessions on Saturday 21 and Saturday 28 November, from 1-5pm, both capped at 15 guests.
[Tickets for 21 Nov session] [Tickets for 28 Nov session] £30 (London teachers) / £60 for teachers outside London
‘Sorting Unplugged‘ – demonstrating some practical and powerful ways to teach basic sort algorithms using unplugged methods, Wednesday 25 November 2015, from 5pm.
[Get a free ticket for this workshop]
Aimed at secondary school children and young people
• ‘The Magic of Christmas Computer Science‘ – a magic show powered by hidden computer science. Profs Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan present the IET’s Christmas children’s lecture
[Get a free ticket for this magic show]
We have another two workshops happening next week, on the afternoon of Tuesday 26 May, at Queen Mary University of London. Both are free and you are welcome to attend either or both (but you will need to register for each separately) – there is a half hour break between the two workshops.
Thanks to funding from the Mayor of London we are able to offer these workshops at no charge but we do prioritise London Computing teachers though other Computing teachers are welcome too. The workshops are not suitable for school pupils however.
For more information please contact Jo Brodie (j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk)
The workshops below are named ‘2’ and ‘3’ as they are part of a series of three, however the first one “Explorers need maps: Abstraction, Representations and Graphs” (last Monday) has finished but the information and slides are available on the workshop website.
Overview
Computing doesn’t need to be taught at a computer and in fact to get across key concepts it is often better (and more fun) not to. This is especially true of the early stages of learning programming and computing more generally. A core idea behind the new computing syllabus is computational thinking. We will give you a deeper understanding of computational thinking and give practical ways to teach both it and other computing topics such as programming away from computers. Computational thinking is a fundamental skill set that students learn by studying computing. We will demonstrate a range of activities that show how core ideas and concepts can be introduced using fun unplugged activities and games. We will show that computing can be fun for everyone and that it doesn’t have to be taught at a computer.
Session material
This session presents a variety of activities from the other workshops. It will cover:
for Workshop 2 – Primary computing unplugged
More information about this workshop on our page for Primary computing unplugged.
Overview
When you learn to be a magician, it turns out you are learning the skills needed to be a great computer scientist too: computational thinking. Just like software, magic is a combination of algorithms and presentation. In this workshop we will demonstrate some simple to do but strong magic tricks. We teach the group how they are done so they can do the tricks themselves and then use the magic to illustrate the linked basics of computing. Overall we will show what computational thinking is all about and how both magicians and computer scientists rely on it.
Session material
This session will demonstrate a variety of activities from the other workshops. It will cover:
for Workshop 3 – The magic of computing
More information about this workshop on our page for The magic of computing.
We’ve added another three workshops to our activities and will be running these across two sessions in a couple of weeks. Our previous workshops (at Queen Mary University of London or as part of an invited talk elsewhere) have been very popular.
Overview
Abstraction – essentially just hiding information – is a core part of computational thinking that is closely linked to the choice of data representation. We will give a deeper understanding of abstraction, providing fun ways to teach it, based on cs4fn / Teaching London Computing resources. The great explorers didn’t just wander around new continents finding things. They drew maps. Maps are just abstractions of the world. Based on games and puzzles, we will see how drawing a special kind of map called a graph and a variation the finite state machine is a part of computational thinking problem solving. They are useful tools for understanding how to use, exploring and designing computer systems.
Session material
This session will cover:
for Workshop 1 – Abstraction, Representations and Graphs
More information about this workshop on our page for Abstraction, representations and graphs.
The second and third run on the same day at half-term, on Tuesday 26 May 2015 (you can come to the first or the second or both, but you will need to register for both separately).
Overview
Computing doesn’t need to be taught at a computer and in fact to get across key concepts it is often better (and more fun) not to. This is especially true of the early stages of learning programming and computing more generally. A core idea behind the new computing syllabus is computational thinking. We will give you a deeper understanding of computational thinking and give practical ways to teach both it and other computing topics such as programming away from computers. Computational thinking is a fundamental skill set that students learn by studying computing. We will demonstrate a range of activities that show how core ideas and concepts can be introduced using fun unplugged activities and games. We will show that computing can be fun for everyone and that it doesn’t have to be taught at a computer.
Session material
This session presents a variety of activities from the other workshops. It will cover:
for Workshop 2 – Primary computing unplugged
More information about this workshop on our page for Primary computing unplugged.
Overview
When you learn to be a magician, it turns out you are learning the skills needed to be a great computer scientist too: computational thinking. Just like software, magic is a combination of algorithms and presentation. In this workshop we will demonstrate some simple to do but strong magic tricks. We teach the group how they are done so they can do the tricks themselves and then use the magic to illustrate the linked basics of computing. Overall we will show what computational thinking is all about and how both magicians and computer scientists rely on it.
Session material
This session will demonstrate a variety of activities from the other workshops. It will cover:
for Workshop 3 – The magic of computing
More information about this workshop on our page for The magic of computing.
One of the things we try and do is vary the format of our courses so that we can offer something to suit as many teachers as possible. Some prefer weekly classes, others prefer intensive week-long, some are able to take a day from work for study, others aren’t. One thing teachers have asked us for is help with controlled assessments and so we’re trying out new ‘miniCPD’ one-day sessions.
The first will be on Saturday 2 May and will be held at King’s College London (Waterloo Campus). The cost for the day will be £30 for London teachers thanks to funding from the Mayor of London (£60 for non-London teachers). The miniCPD course will run from 10-4pm.
The new one day course ‘Preparing Pupils for Controlled Assessment‘ uses Python to program solutions to problems of a similar type to those set in GCSE Controlled Assessments. The aim is to make teachers feel confident about tackling these problems and programming solutions themselves, so that they can pass their knowledge, experience and confidence on to their pupils. Teachers should already have some knowledge of the basics of Python; strings, arithmetic, ‘if statements’ and loops. This is not a course for complete beginners.
Teaching London Computing, is a successful partnership between Queen Mary University of London’s Computer Science Department and King’s College London’s Computing Education team which has been running courses and workshops for the past two years helping Computing and ICT teachers to deliver the new Computing Curricula at GCSE and A-level.
Our new A-level CPD course will run over Spring and Summer at King’s College London (Waterloo Campus). The course will run on Tuesday evenings from Tuesday 28 April and run for 10 weeks (with a break for half term) until 7 July 2015. William Marsh from QMUL will be the tutor and all materials will be made available to course delegates at the start of the course.
The course dates are below, full course content information is available from our A-level CPD Computing page and tickets are available from Eventbrite.
You might also be interested in the new free material we’ve added to our section on Interdisciplinary Computational Thinking – lots of classroom activity sheets to download and other free resources.
Next A-level CPD course(s): Our next 10 week A-level CPD course will begin on Tuesday 28 April 2015.
Fees
Our courses are reduced by 50% to £150 for London teachers, thanks to our funding, the full price for non-London teachers is £300 – please see our Fees and Funding page for more information. London teachers have priority on our courses.
Eligibility requirements
This course is a follow-on from our GCSE Computing CPD courses. The course assumes that you will be familiar with programming in Python or a similar language.
More information?
Please contact Jo Brodie (j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk)
Course dates: all on Tuesdays
Week 1: 28 April 2015
Week 2: 5 May 2015
Week 3: 12 May 2015
Week 4: 19 May 2015
Half-term: 26 May 2015 (no class)
Week 5: 2 June 2015
Week 6: 9 June 2015
Week 7: 16 June 2015
Week 8: 23 June 2015
Week 9: 30 June 2015
Week 10: 7 July 2015
Please sign-up to be kept informed of future courses.
Paul Curzon’s free workshops, held at Queen Mary University of London’s Mile End campus, are fun and informal and support teachers who want to introduce programming concepts and computational thinking into the classroom in an engaging way. Each workshop is accompanied by downloadable classroom activities (also free) – these can be downloaded from the links below.
Next week’s (Friday 20th February) is a double session but you can choose to come to one workshop, or both.
The first workshop is at 2pm then there will be a half hour break with the second starting at 4pm, we aim to finish at 5.30pm.
Do I have to be a London computing teacher to attend?
The workshops are aimed at those who are currently (or who are about to begin) teaching the Computing curricula (particularly GCSE and A-level, though the information in the workshops has been used with younger children). As we’re funded by the Mayor of London we prioritise those who are currently teaching in London schools. The workshops are not suitable for school pupils though as the events are about how to introduce computing concepts into the classroom. Contact Jo Brodie (j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk) for further information.
Biography
Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He runs the cs4fn ‘Computer Science for Fun’ (cs4fn) project, www.cs4fn.org. It aims to inspire school students about computer science through a series of free magazines, website and school shows. He regularly gives such shows around the UK as well as continuous professional development talks to teachers about the cs4fn approach to teaching. He is Director of the Teaching London Computing Project. He was made a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2010 in recognition of his excellence in teaching and outreach, was a finalist in the 2009 Times Higher Education Innovative Teacher of the year award and has twice won the student nominated Queen Mary award for excellence in teaching.
2.00-3.30pm (free Eventbrite tickets)
Overview
It’s easy to assume that programming is something you have to learn at a computer but if you want your students to deeply understand programming concepts, rather than blindly getting programs to work then unplugged techniques can work really well to get students started. We will see how to program a robot face that is made of students, look at a simple way to give a deep understanding of how variables work by making them physical, and see how to compile programs onto your class instead of onto a computer.
Session material This session will cover:
4pm-5.30pm (free Eventbrite tickets)
Overview
Computing is not just about technology, it is about understanding people too. When we solve computing problems we are solving them for people. Computational thinking is the general group of problem solving skills that students learn as a result of studying computing. Often this is equated with algorithmic thinking – a direct result of learning to program. However it just as important to make programs usable by people – or they won’t be used. We will see how magic gives a fun way to introduce these ideas and how a simple game demonstrates why graphical user interfaces are effective.
This session is in collaboration with CHI+MED: an EPSRC-funded project about making medical devices safer.
Session material This session will cover:
Teaching London Computing is a project that is run jointly from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and King’s College London (KCL). We’re funded by the Mayor of London and Department for Education to provide support to teachers in London who are delivering the new Computing curricula (GCSE and A-level).
This includes computing subject knowledge and pedagogical support through a range of continuing professional development courses, free workshops (with fun unplugged-style activities) and free printable resources for use in the classroom.
***London Computing teachers*** – please fill in our short survey
We would like to understand more about the training needs that Computing teachers in London have and we’ve developed a short survey to help us find out more. If you are a Computing teacher based in London your participation will be very helpful. There’s an opportunity to sign up for class sets of free booklets once you’ve completed the survey which should take no more than five minutes to complete.
Please visit http://bit.ly/TLCsurvey2015a to take part in our survey and pass this link on to colleagues.
About us
The Teaching London project developed from cs4fn (Computer Science for Fun, a popular outreach project from QMUL to enthuse schoolchildren about computer science) and, in partnership with the Education department at KCL, we are providing resources for teachers who are introducing programming concepts and computational thinking into the classroom. We aim to nurture an inspiring Computing education for pupils across London.
Next courses
We’ve two new courses starting in the New Year.
Research
We’ve published a number of research articles about computer science education, selected examples below.
Black J, Brodie J, Curzon P, Myketiak C, McOwan PW and Meagher LR (2013). Making computing interesting to school students: teachers’ perspectives. Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer
Science Education (ITiCSE 2013), 255–260. New York: ACM.
Myketiak C, Curzon P, Black J, McOwan PW and Meagher LR (2012) cs4fn: a flexible model for computer science outreach. In Proceedings of ITiCSE ’12 Proceedings of the 17th ACM annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, Pages 297-302, ACM New York. DOI: 10.1145/2325296.2325366
Bell T, Curzon P, Cutts Q et al. (2011) . Introducing Students to Computer Science With Programmes That Don’t Emphasise Programming. Proceedings of ITiCSE 2011, The 16th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education ACM SIGCSE. 391-391.
10.1145/1999747.1999904
Website: http://teachinglondoncomputing.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/TeachingLDNComp
Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN 