16 June 2014 by Jo Brodie - 4 Comments

Free computing workshop, Goldsmiths 8-9 July, for KS2 & Y7 teachers, w Paul Curzon

How to use Scratch and unplugged activities to teach programming concepts

The text below is taken from the accompanying PDF flyer: 8-9July ScratchWorkshopNew

The National Curriculum for Computing involves a large amount of new content, namely programming that will be particularly challenging for KS2 –KS4 teachers. It is acknowledged that teachers will need support to acquire the necessary subject knowledge and skills to deliver this discipline.

This workshop aims to equip you with a good understanding of programming concepts and computational thinking, offering practical ways to teach the related KS2 programmes of study. It is suitable for teachers new to Scratch.

The workshop is part of the ‘Programming 4 Teachers’ project, funded by the Mayor’s Office to trial a CPD model for teaching KS1-3 teachers computer programming concepts, knowledge and skills as well as the trial of teaching resources and pedagogy. Zali Collymore-Hussein is one of the lead trainers on the project.

The ‘Programming 4 Teachers’ resource pack will be available free to delegates attending the workshop.

Complete the attached booking form and email to: TEACHERSCENTRE@GOLD.AC.UK

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN LAPTOP TO THE WORKSHOP with Scratch 2 installed.

The workshop will take place at Goldsmiths University of London, Education Building, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Map details: http://www.gold.ac.uk/find-us/

Course Outline

8th July 2014

• Teaching Computing Unplugged to Young Children – Professor Paul Curzon
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, games and magic tricks. We will show that computing can be fun for everyone and that it doesn’t have to be taught at a computer. Supporting resources are available at www.teachinglondoncomputing.org.

• Introducing programming fundamentals through interactive games made in Scratch – Zali Collymore-Hussein
Suitable for years 4-5. Create programs that implement algorithms to achieve given goals that contains loops, comparative operators, randomized values, variables and if selections. Makey Makey can be used to interact with a game to add a mix of fun and science.

9th July 2014

• Deepen understanding of programming concepts through interactive quizzes made in Scratch – Zali Collymore-Hussein
Suitable for years 5-6. Create programs using procedural abstraction, post tested loops, multiple variables, arithmetic operators and ‘if, else’ selections.

• Tackling Control Projects using Scratch and Raspberry Pi – Zali Collymore-Hussein

Paul Curzon’s biography
Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London. He runs cs4fn / Computer Science for Fun (www.cs4fn.org) through which he has been enthusing school students about interdisciplinary computer science worldwide for over 10 years. He is also co-Director of ‘Teaching London Computing’ (www.teachinglondoncomputing.org) developing inspiring activities for computing teachers to use in class. He is a UK National Teaching Fellow in recognition of his excellence in teaching and outreach. He also leads research in the area of human computer interaction and verification focussing on making medical devices safer.

22 May 2014 by Jo Brodie - 0 comments

FREE workshops next week at QMUL, for GCSE Computing teachers

Prof Paul Curzon will be delivering four FREE workshops during half-term next week at QMUL (Queen Mary University of London) on Monday . These are fun, inspiring ‘unplugged’-style sessions which look at some creative ways of getting students to think about computing and programming concepts, without relying on computers, and are aimed at GCSE Computing teachers who’ll be delivering the new Computing curriculum.

Each session is accompanied by lots of free classroom resources and activity sheets to download, and of course an opportunity to share ideas with other workshop attendees.

We’ve arranged things so that there’s an hour between the morning and afternoon sessions (to make it easier for those who’d like to attend two in a day) but you’re welcome to come to as many of the workshops as you like.

The workshops are

A. Computational thinking: Searching to Speak (Website) (Eventbrite tickets)
Tuesday 27 May, 11.30am to 1pm

B. Computational Thinking: it’s about people too (Website) (Eventbrite tickets)
Tuesday 27 May, 2pm-3.30pm

C. Invisible palming! Intelligent paper? So what is an algorithm? (Website) (Eventbrite tickets)
Wednesday 28 May, 11.30am to 1pm

D. Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers (Website) (Eventbrite tickets)
Wednesday 28 May, 2pm-3.30pm

← Download a free copy of our latest booklet ‘Searching to Speak’ (which accompanies the first workshop in the series, on Tuesday morning) – click to open the PDF or right-click / save as to save a copy.

The admin bit:
All the workshops are free and will take place in Room 1.02 in the Law Building on Mile End Road. For those attending both morning and afternoon sessions (there’s an hour between the workshops) there are lunch options on campus (Mucci or Curve as well as snack shops) and plenty of food places on Mile End Road including a Sainsbury’s. You can attend as many workshops as you like.

Please contact me (Jo, j.brodie@qmul.ac.uk) if you have any queries.

5 March 2014 by Jo Brodie - 0 comments

What do we get up to in our free programming workshops for computing teachers? Pics from @GTaylorSTEM

Paul Curzon from Queen Mary University of London has been running a series of free Monday evening workshops for computing teachers, on introducing programming concepts into the classroom in fun and creative ways. The next workshop (the last in this series, but they’ll be repeated) is on Monday 17 March at 5.30, more details and free tickets available from Computational Thinking: it’s about people too

Gemma Taylor was kind enough to share a couple of pictures she took from the most recent workshop (Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers) on Monday 3 March, and she’s given us permission to share them here – thanks Gemma!

Fantastic session tonight with @TeachingLDNComp on Unplugged Programming! pic.twitter.com/m3ILrlC2Zy

— Gemma Taylor (@GTaylorSTEM) March 3, 2014

Naturally you might be wondering what on earth is going on above – Paul has corralled audience volunteers into forming an ’emotional robot’ which can be programmed to react to certain sounds. You can find out the instructions for making your own in our PDF Create-a-face: programming an emotional robot which comes from our workshop page on Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers – an excerpt is below.

SUMMARY
The class make an affective (relating to moods and emotions) robot face out of card, tubes and themselves. It is programmed to react to different kinds of sounds (nasty, nice or sudden) and show different emotions (sad, happy, surprised). The class then think up some other facial expressions and program sets of rules to make the face respond to sounds with the new expressions.

AIMS
The aim of this activity is to demonstrate how apparently complicated behaviour can be programmed using some simple rules. It also shows how programs are just rules followed by computes and specifically introduces object-based programming. The activity shows how breaking a program into objects can be much easier to write than trying to write it in one go. The class get to write some simple programs to control the face they created.

In the picture below the class have created an ‘insulting program’ which comes from the classroom activity ‘The Imp Computer‘ (PDF). That resource and all the other workshop resources can be downloaded from the Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers page.

1 March 2014 by Jo Brodie - 0 comments

New free workshop Computational Thinking: it’s about people too – 17 March 2014 @QMUL

Prof Paul Curzon is running a series of FREE workshops for London computing teachers on Monday evenings (every second Monday) at Queen Mary University of London (QML). The next one: Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers will take place on Monday 3 March 2014 (there are still tickets available).

The last in this series Computational Thinking: it’s about people too will take place on Monday 17 March at 5.30pm (registration from 5pm) in The Bancroft Building, Mile End campus.

Location: Room 1.13a, The Bancroft Building, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Rd. E1 4NS

for the session on Monday 17th March 2014, 17:30-19:00 (refreshments and registration from 5pm).

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, how a simple game demonstrates why graphical user interfaces are effective, ways of evaluating interface designs, and by creating an interface out of kids, see how something as simple as entering numbers can tax designers and lead to trade-offs between speed and accuracy.

Session material
This session will cover:

computational thinking: understanding people
human computer interaction
why GUIs are better than text-based interfaces
evaluating interfaces
number entry

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

Resources
This session comes with linked activity sheets and ‘story’ write-ups that you’ll be able to download from the page for this event: Computational Thinking: it’s about people too

Format
This is a self-contained evening interactive seminar session. It will last 60-90 minutes plus time for networking. The event starts at 5pm with refreshments and a chance to network. The talk will start at 5.30. For our programme of longer courses for teachers please see CPD courses.

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.

About us
Teaching London Computing is a joint project between QML and King’s College London (KCL), with support from Computing At School (CAS). We are supporting London computing teachers with a variety of classroom resources (free) and programming CPD courses for computing teachers (£150 for London teachers, £300 for others if space is available). We’re funded by the Mayor of London and Department for Education to provide this support.

21 February 2014 by Jo Brodie - 0 comments

New free workshop: Learning programming without computers

Prof Paul Curzon is currently running a series of free workshops for London computing teachers on Monday evenings (every second Monday) at Queen Mary University of London (QML). The next free session Learning programming without computers will take place on Monday 3 March at 5.30pm (registration from 5pm) in The Bancroft Building, Mile End campus.

“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.”

For more information please visit the workshop’s information page: Learning programming without computers, and you can register for a free ticket using the Eventbrite button below.

for the free session on Monday 3rd March 2014, 17:30-19:00 (registration and refreshments from 5pm).

Teaching London Computing: A RESOURCE HUB from CAS LONDON & CS4FN

Tag Archives: Paul Curzon