uLearn: Keynote 1 - Larry Rosenstock

P2P: Future of Learning - Computer Science and Computational Thinking

Technology is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the people who use it. From the printing press to washing machines to robotic lawyers, the only real difference is the rate of change.

There is a real need to tinker, to make, and to create in order for us to make sense of our world.

Coding is also being recognised as an important part of modern learning. In Australia, Coding has become part of the curriculum (although possibly at the cost of history and geography), and the Ministry of Education in NZ has also recently announced plans for digital technologies to become more explicit in the Technology curriculum.

Maker resources:
Wired Magazine
Howtoons
Instructables
DIY App

Coding

Coding has come a long way from the first coding machine, used for sending Morse code.

Coding resources:
CS Unplugged
Hour of Code
Code Academy
Khan Academy - not only courses on coding languages, but also on computational thinking
Google CS First - has theme based clubs so you can learn to code based on your interests
CS4PS and CS4PS
Raspberry Pi
Scratch
Snap - preferred program for computer science as it's more 'pure'
Kodable

Permission to Play

It's time!! So excited to be part of Permission to Play: the uLearn pre-conference.

In the last generation, we've moved from computing being a matter of HAVING to build-your-own - from the original kitset like construction of the first Apple computers - to a world where you will void your warranty on your devices if you just take the cover off it.

This has led to the rise of the maker movement. Encouraging creativity and innovation. This is our job as teachers... to teach students about creating more but consuming less.

CS4PS: Computer science and telescopes

Over the last couple of days I have been immersing myself in CS4PS:Computer Science for Primary Schools - a two-day workshop run by Tracey Henderson and Tim Bell.

The idea that computer science is not about computers was not a new one for me, but it was a timely reminder. With a recent announcement that digital technology is to 'become' part of the NZ Curriculum (I thought it already was!), I imagine that many teachers are thinking: but we don't have enough [insert preferred device here] in our classrooms to do that!

Over the course of this workshop, I learnt quite a bit about teaching CS in an unplugged way, eliminating the need for a device for every student. And even if you only have one computer in your classroom, you could quite easily set up a station for students to cycle through to complete CS activities.

Throughout the workshop, the why questions came up a lot: Why should we teach CS to five year olds? Why should I be spending valuable learning time on CS? Why should we teach it at all? Reflecting on this, I thought about the skills we're trying to equip kids with. According to CareersNZ, the top 10 skills employers look for are:

• communication skills
• customer service skills – in person, on the phone, and online
• ability to work well in a team
• literacy and numeracy skills
• confidence learning about and using computers and technology
• planning and organisational skills
• initiative and a can-do attitude
• problem-solving skills
• good work habits and independence
• health and safety skills

It could be argued that schooling is about more than creating good employees, and many of the things on this list would be on my personal list of must-haves for good citizenship too. The NZ Curriculum lists also has a list of the "capabilities people have, and need to develop, to live and learn today and in the future." These are known as the key competencies. They are:

• Thinking
• Relating to others
• Using language, symbols, and texts
• Managing self
• Participating and contributing

So, how does learning about computer science enhance the development of all these skills? By developing computational thinking. This teaches kids to problem solve: to break up complex problems into smaller, more manageable parts. It also reminds us to focus on the end-user: the person who will be benefitting from the solution we develop.

So, by teaching computer science and computational thinking, we can develop students':

• thinking (and their ability to think things through logically)
• use of language, symbols, and texts 
• confidence learning about and using computers and technology
• planning and organisational skills
• problem-solving skills

And, depending on how we do it, their:

• communication skills
• ability to work well in a team
• ability to relate to others
• ability to self manage
• desire to participate and contribute

This seems like a pretty good hit rate of essential skills!

I'll be writing more on this subject in the coming weeks, to flesh out my ideas around the presentations I attended. These included:

• Teaching binary numbers and computational thinking
• Engaging students using computer 'magic'
• Demonstrating how encryption/secure communication works
• Beebots unplugged
• Debugging (and it's relationship to writing)
• Problem solving using Scratch
• Everyday technology secrets
• Teaching programming concepts within the context of an inquiry unit

If one of these topics is particularly interesting to you, let me know via the comments below and I'll focus on that one first :)

CS50 - So it begins

So, today I started watching the lectures etc. for This Is CS50 2014 via iTunes U. Each week there are problems to work through, and I figured it would be a good idea to put down my thoughts since there's no real accountability other than to myself.

This week's questions:
How do you represent the integer 50 in binary?

• 110010

How many bits must be "flipped" (i.e., changed from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0) in order to capitalise a lowercase a that's represented in ASCII?

• Well uppercase 'A' is 65 in ASCII = 1000001
• Lowercase 'a' is 97 in ASCII     = 1100001
• So only 1 bit must be flipped to change case. 

How do you represent the integer 50 in, oh, "hexidecimal," otherwise known as "base-16"?

• Base 16 would go: | 4096 | 256 | 16 | 1 |
• So you'd need 3x16 =48 PLUS 2x1=2 to make 50
• So it would look like: 0302 (assuming each column made up of 2 digits to represent one state)

Finally, there is a practical task to complete: Your mission is, quite simply, to have fun with Scratch and implement a project of your choice (be it an animation, a game, interactive art, or anything else), subject only to the following requirements:

• Your project must have at least two sprites, at least one of which must resemble something other than a cat.
• Mine uses four: a penguin, a snowflake, a lightning bolt, and a Game Over sign.
• Your project must have at least three scripts total (i.e., not necessarily three per sprite).
• Apparently in total I've used 22 scripts :P Some are repeats though. 
• Your project must use at least one condition, one loop, and one variable.
• Check - I used the if/else condition several times, the forever loop, and the score variable.
• Your project must use at least one sound.
• Check - I used pop, bells, and duck quack 
• Your project should be more complex than most of those demonstrated in lecture (many of which, though instructive, were quite short) but it can be less complex than, say, Pikachu’s Pastry Catch and Ivy’s Hardest Game. As such, your project should probably use a few dozen puzzle pieces overall.
• Although not the most complex of games, I think it's more than what was demonstrated. It's certainly taken me a while to work out! I did look at the scripts of others to see how they worked, but didn't directly copy anything. Much, much fun though :)

You can play my game, Penguin Popper, by clicking on the picture below: