p 2-4 Preparing for the BBC micro:bit and launching new hubs. The ten new CAS Regional Centres are already making a big impact.
p 5-9 Debunking the myth of In the influential Royal Society report, ‘Shut Down or Restart?’, published in the digital native and an 2012, biologist Sir Paul Nurse wrote; “Computing is of enormous importance to in depth look at what the economy, and the role of Computer Science as a discipline itself and as an computing looks like in ‘underpinning’ subject across science and engineering is growing rapidly.” He the EYFS. continued, “It is becoming increasingly clear that studying Computer Science
provides a ‘way of thinking’ in the same way that mathematics does... there are p 10-15 strong educational arguments for looking at how we introduce the subject.”
A special feature 2016 heralds the implementation of key changes to school performance indices. exploring ways in which More than any other reforms, they are exercising the minds of headteachers. Computing can make Like it or not, league tables are here for the foreseeable future. Schools would maths real and improve do well to reflect on past lessons. Teaching to the test does not equip students performance. well for the next stage of their education, or life. Short term attempts to ‘game
the system’ to boost league table standing devalue the purpose of education. p 16-20 Four years on CPD opportunities, from the report, utilities for creating Computer Sci- classroom resources, ence is now an girls’ computing clubs EBacc subject, and much more. contributing to either an EBacc or Open ‘pillar’ in the
new progress measures. But in forward thinking p 21-23 schools, its value as an enabling discipline is also In his regular series widely recognised. Forged in the crucible of maths, it Greg Michaelson looks can help make concrete the thinking skills required for at the state we are in, success. This issue explores the close links between plus an introduction to the two subjects, and the role Computing can play in Karnaugh Maps. developing fertile soil for sustained educational growth.
The “Computing At School” group (CAS) is a membership association in partnership with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and supported by Microsoft, Google and others. It aims to support and promote the teaching of computing in UK schools.
ISSN: 2050 -1277 (online) 2050 -1269 (print) #caschat is a weekly Twitter chat, hosted every Tuesday at 8pm, dedicated to the teaching of Computing and Computer Sci- ence. It came about as a result of the buzz on Twitter surrounding the CAS Annual Although they only launched in the summer, Conference back in July. For those new to the new CAS Regional Centres are already the concept, a Twitter chat is a live event making a big difference. CAS National Co- where Twitter users meet at a pre- ordinator Simon Humphreys reports. determined time to discuss a particular Many teachers’ first point of contact with CAS is the online Community— topic, using a designated hashtag; in this a highly visible beacon where colleagues can share resources and swap case #caschat. Aside from being a fun way ideas and opinions. But rather like the proverbial iceberg, the majority of to connect and engage with likeminded the work that CAS members do goes on under the surface. The professionals, Twitter chats are great for ‘Network of Excellence in Computer Science’, or NoE as we tend to reflection and a perfect medium for sharing know it, is the DfE funded initiative launched some two and half years resources and best practice. ago to help facilitate the introduction of Computing.in schools.
For those new to twitter chats, here are The NoE builds on the grass roots ethos which is central to CAS – in- some handy tips to get you started: spiring, leading, training, and supporting an active community of prac- Use the Hashtag: The hashtag (#) tice. It recognises the importance of local, face-to-face, peer-to-peer symbol is used to mark keywords or topics support, strengthening professional relationships and building the confi- in a tweet. It was created by Twitter users dence of the people involved. It helps bring together many of the com- as a way to categorise messages. All twit- munity-building strands of CAS to maximise their impact and quality. It ter chats use a designated hashtag. Make aims to inspire, motivate and support teachers by building a high-quality, sure you use it at the end of your tweets; low-cost, sustainable CPD infrastructure that nurtures long-term collabo- this will help others locate your responses. ration between teachers, schools, and universities. It is rapidly establish- Use the hashtag too to search for ques- ing a national reputation as a model for subject development through tions you may have missed, for example, building local communities of practice. search #caschat Q1, Q2 etc. Join in the conversation: There’s Last summer an independent evaluation of the NoE was carried out by nothing wrong with lurking but to truly feel the Centre for Education and Inclusion Research at Sheffield Hallam the benefits of a chat, it’s best to partici- University. They reported that ‘CAS is making a significant difference to pate. The most effective form of engage- the implementation of the new computing curriculum.’ A variety of organ- ment is responding to questions however, isations are working together to provide a coordinated national approach if you’re feeling a little nervous, the easiest that supports local need. These include ten new CAS Regional Centres, way to get involved is to retweet things you the CAS Master Teachers, local Hubs, University Partners and Lead find helpful. Retweeting help build relation- Schools. Even in the context of increasing time poverty, we maintain that ships with the original poster as well as professional development is a very human process. So the support pro- providing value to your own followers. vided by the NoE is predicated on it being local, face to face and peer Label your responses: Most chat ses- led. Up and down the country myriad events take place, bringing people sions use the Q1, A1, Q2, A2, (question / together and forging that sense of common purpose. In terms of impact, answer) format. When replying to a ques- teachers who have received CPD from the NoE report their confidence tion, always label your answers with the in teaching computing has increased on average by 88%. question number. Take your time: Some chat sessions, Managing, overseeing and communicating such activity to all mem- particularly popular fast paced sessions, bers is something of a challenge! The ten new university-based CAS can appear daunting at first. The trick is to Regional Centres (CRCs) are fast becoming pivotal. Their role is go at your own pace. Equally, it’s OK to dip very much about nurturing and supporting local communities of prac- in and out of chat sessions – don’t feel tice. Already they are extending the support available to Master guilty if you have to leave a chat session Teachers and other CAS champions. The NoE has doubled the level early or join a chat late. of activity during the autumn term compared to the same period last year. As CRCs become established we hope we can build a sustain- If you are interested in hosting #caschat able structure that allows our Community to continue to grow. If you we are always looking for volunteers. haven’t heard from your CRC, it is likely that you haven’t specified a Check out the official #caschat thread on location or place of work on your CAS profile. Please make sure your the CAS Community and register your details are up to date so you can be kept informed of all the initia- interest. Simon Johnson tives in your locality.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 2 Local CAS Hubs are the bedrock on which our thriving community of practice is built. Remi Gauvain (Chase Terrace Technology Col- lege, Burntwood) reflects on what you can contribute. Theresa Russell (Morecambe High) urges you to build a local network.
Teachers, we are full of contradic- reflect on the purpose, to be able to tions. We expect our students to par- explain the underlying concepts. Pre- ticipate in lessons and know it will help senting to my peers is a chance to If there isn’t a CAS Hub close to their learning. But when the tables are deepen my understanding of the sub- you ….but you really could do with turned, when we are asked to partici- ject and the pedagogy I’m trying to some help and support, why not pate, do we behave like our most en- develop in my classroom. set one up? This is what we did gaged students? The contrast be- and it’s a lot easier than you think! tween our expectations and behaviour Presentation day has become a bit of was tangible during my first Derby a routine now. A bit less mingling with There is support available from University CAS meeting. The audi- the other members, as I need to set- CAS with ideas for your first meet- ence was mostly primary school up my session. Someone else walks ing; someone may even offer to teachers, and they all had great sto- into the room, they too look a bit come and help with an opening ries of student participation and cross stressed. They'll be presenting after speech. You will be given a CAS curricular activities. The presenter had me. “If you stay and watch my presen- email address and login to Event- a Makey Makey cardboard guitar! We tation, I’ll stay and watch yours”. Deal! brite to handle tickets plus a small could imagine the little ones running to And so another benefit: the connec- budget for refreshments (so you the front of her classroom to try this or tion made with another presenter can have cake and tea too!). Aim other play-doh instruments, but would shows me different ideas to those my to arrange 3 meetings per year. we adults be seen playing air guitar own interests would push me towards It’s a great opportunity to get in- with a piece of cardboard? The Master choosing from the workshop list. volved with other establishments Teacher, Matthew, was doing a great such as local universities or col- job to keep the session going, cajoling What we get from CAS is related to leges who may be able to help. the audience into having a go and how much we put in, and presenting eventually we all did. to other members is a great buzz. So We have been really lucky to have go for it. Ask questions – even just to Dr Joe Finney (Lancaster Univer- A couple of weeks later was the Not- thank the presenter, or ask how to sity) and Debbie Simpson tingham Trent University CAS meet- adapt their resource to your type of (University of Cumbria) offer sup- ing. When Helen and Rachael asked lessons. Present your own resources port, contributing and providing for volunteer presenters for the next and ideas. The Hub and your own venues for sessions. We cater for session there was that same reluc- practice will benefit from the energy both primary/secondary teachers tance to step forward. So let me share and enthusiasm generated by more and it is jointly run by Tom Clarke my experience of presenting at the people stepping up to the challenge. (ICT Coordinator) Westgate Pri- East Midland Hub and how it gave me mary School and myself, Theresa a chance to learn more about my Russell (Head of KS3 Computing). craft: teaching Computer Science. I hope it will inspire you to step up and To discuss getting started contact participate in your local Hub. claire.davenport or yvonne.walker @computingatschool.org.uk. De- I had a resource that seemed to work tails of other hubs in your region well in the classroom, so when Helen are available on the CAS website. and Rachael asked for volunteers I Lots of teachers have skills which stepped forward. As the deadline they are willing to share with oth- loomed, I arranged to teach it to an- ers. You can also contact us – we other class just to refine it a bit. are more than willing to help sup- Already, presenting has given me the Human logic gates port new hubs get established. incentive to sharpen my teaching. And at the launch of the Morecambe Bay Hub. You can also follow us then I need to think about presenting it Hubs are the place to @MorecambeBayCAS to other teachers. This makes me share your good ideas .
3 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk Early last November, the 4th annual Com- puting at Schools Scotland conference took place in Dundee. The University of Dundee kindly offered to host the event which attracted over 200 attendees. For This term, Year 7 students should get to own the first time the conference included their own micro:bits. Yvonne Walker outlines seminars, workshops and discussions some of the work done last term to help that covered all levels of Computing edu- teachers prepare for this exciting initiative. cation from Primary through Secondary The unfortunate delay in micro:bit production presented an opportunity into Further and Higher Education. The for the newly formed CAS Regional Centres (CRCs) to get involved in programme included a wide diversity of organising a series of micro:bit roadshows last term. The aim was sim- topics including the latest developments ple; to ensure that teachers had the opportunity to use the micro:bit and in Eye Tracking research, Biometrics in explore how they could be used in the classroom. In spite of having to Scratch, Minecraft, the BBC micro:bit, deal with a quick turnaround in terms of sorting out dates, finding venues Cyber Security and even some Home- and inviting teachers, all ten CRCs were able to host at least one road- sick Aliens! show (some managed more!). All delegates were given access to the micro:bit website (https://www.microbit.co.uk/) and enjoyed hands on A short opening talk was followed by a training with a real micro:bit, though unfortunately we couldn’t let them range of hands-on practical workshops take one home! available throughout the busy Saturday. These included a chance to work with e- The uptake for the roadshows was phenomenal, indicating the level of Textiles, get a hands-on with the latest interest in this initiative. Across the ten CRCs we introduced around 560 version of Greenfoot and many others. teachers to its capabilities and many cascade events have since started Alongside these ran a Broad General to appear on the CAS website. What was really lovely to see was how Education track with sessions on teach- easy the teachers found the micro:bit to use and how creative they be- ing Computing to Primary and lower came! There was a genuine feeling that the micro:bit will provide a sim- Secondary pupils. A senior phase track ple to use device to introduce physical computing to young pupils. The hosted sessions useful to those teaching National 4 to Advanced Higher Compu- ting Science and equivalent NPAs whilst a Vocational and Industry track focused around the connection between Compu- ting education in HE and FE and work within the ICT industry. A Research and Academic track shared a range of recent CS Education findings as well as looking at how to get involved or make use of research in your own teaching. Finally, a drop-in area allowed attendees to find out about the extra-curricular opportuni- ties that Coder Dojo, Lambda Jam, Code Club and others provide. There was also an exhibition space for various providers photo shows two delegates feeling the love at the CAS North West mi- of computing resources and equipment. cro:bit roadshow. Attendees were asked to program their micro:bits into a love meter that would work with all delegates forming a ring and the One comment from the day captured the micro:bit giving an output of how compatible they all were. Did it work? feeling: “Excellent event considering it's Of course! Were they compatible? Of course not! done by volunteers, better than many pro- fessional Holyrood type events. Looking You can find a short but useful micro:bit ‘how to’ video created by two forward to next year!” The conference Master Teachers at the CAS South East Event at http://bit.ly/1LH44cx. would not have happened without the sup- The ‘Block’ and ‘TouchDevelop’ editors (two of currently four program- port of university staff, university student ming interfaces available via the micro:bit website) provide a transition and school helpers alongside a dedicated between graphical and text based programming. Pupils can create a group of CASS Board members, who suc- script in the Block editor and see the textual equivalent by converting it cessfully created the best attended confer- to TouchDevelop. If your school hasn’t yet registered to receive your ence so far. Claire Griffiths micro:bits you can do that at http://bit.ly/1PwkUlF.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 4 Phil Bagge, from the Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service, takes issue with the notion of a Being well over a full ‘Digital Native’. He argues there are intrinsic prob- half term into the new lems with the idea and teachers responses to it. school year (at the time In all the groups of primary teachers I The problem for teachers is that if you of writing) we are now work with I hear comments that don’t believe that you have anything actually beginning to “Pupils know more about computers valuable to teach (because pupils think of ourselves as than us.” Often this idea stems from know it all already) this affects what ‘having technology’. the theory of the "Digital Native"; that you teach and the time you spend people who were bought up with tech- resourcing and planning it. Teachers Our Chromebooks have nology are implicitly better at under- and school leaders who believe the been an overwhelming success and standing and using it than those who myth of the digital native often find in constant demand – more are didn't. When said it is often accompa- excuses to leave computing out of being ordered as I type. I must nied by the statement that I am just their timetables. When they do teach praise staff for their continued en- learning alongside the children. computing they tend to rely very heav- thusiasm with the new resources, ily on unplanned exploration and justi- both the physical and online, de- At first glance this sounds very noble. fy this by recourse to the shared jour- spite the requirement of us all to It recognizes that we are all learning ney narrative. I wonder if they would step (if not occasionally leap) out of and that information exchange can go be happy to learn Maths or Literacy our comfort zone. Similarly, many both ways. The problem is that it is at alongside their pupils in this same of our parents have been encour- best a half-truth. Pupil access to tech- woolly way? aged and delighted with the more visible advances.
As expected the pupils have contin- ued to absorb the full range of com- puting resources now available. However, we have not forgotten our very humble journey into compu- ting. The much relied upon un- plugged resources have remained a very good basis for understanding nology can be very varied. Without Please don’t think I am attacking ex- the principles of algorithms and formative assessment you won't know ploration, it’s a fundamental part of a programming commands. what digital skills they are capable of. good computing lesson but it needs to The wider truth is there are large go alongside instruction in some form. Having worked with many of the swathes of computing they won't know Instruction assumes that there is younger pupils recently, it was ini- anything about. Very few have any knowledge and skills worth teaching to tially surprising to discover their idea how networks, the Internet and pupils. By way of balance though, too lack of keyboard savviness. I won- Web function or how devices are pro- much instruction without any explora- der if this is a reflection of the avail- grammed. They are unlikely to under- tion leads to shallow learning in which ability of tablets and smart phones? stand the fundamental computational concepts may be grasped at but not I still struggle with the image of a thinking skills of algorithms and algo- internalised fully. This fundamental floppy disc (‘what are those’) as a rithm evaluation, decomposition, ab- balance is summarised in the graphic. save icon… Despite this, with ease straction and generalization. They they have mastered complex don’t appreciate sequence, repetition, In conclusion, as leaders in computing ‘settings’ requirements; demonstrat- selection or variable use, nor the resil- in our schools it is important to chal- ed responsibility for logging on and ience and logical thinking that come lenge the debilitating myth of the digi- managing passwords; whilst being from computational doing. Even if they tal native and promote curricula that real ambassadors with their parents are keen users of the web few will includes instruction and exploration. for how to use the resources at have inculcated the knowledge to de- To read more, you’ll find a good re- home. Our decision to have the velop into safe digital citizens or to search paper on the myth of the digital children lead the way is certainly question the veracity of information. native at goo.gl/tBgfKB. being justified.
5 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk Computing co-ordinators often wonder what to encourage in the nursery or reception class. The easy answer is, ‘not computing!’ However, there is a lot of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) that provides a foundation for computational thinking. Miles Berry (University of Roehampton) and Emma Goto (University of Winchester) explore the issues.
Computing may not be part of the times through chatting to one another, In the Statutory Framework for EYFS Statutory Framework. But there or asking a grown-up, but more often EYFS, the early learning goal from is much that goes on in the EYFS that just through play. Note the reference the ‘technology’ strand in the provides a foundation for computation- here to ‘select’ – it’s not enough for ‘understanding the world’ area of al thinking - the golden thread that children to use the tech they’re given: learning, requires that, ‘children runs through Computing in the Nation- they’ve got to have some say in what recognise that a range of technol- al Curriculum. they use. Are these things stored ogy is used in places such as somewhere children can access homes and schools’. This is about Although the EYFS ‘technology’ re- them? How are these things kept helping children to understand quirement doesn’t explicitly state digi- charged? Do children know the basics their place in a world that seems tal technology, it would be hard to of how to keep themselves and the increasingly dominated by tech- address this properly without giving equipment safe? How will they be nology. We need to help them children an experience of the digital shared fairly? make sense of this world, as well as well as the analogue here. That as planting the seeds for their un- said, many of us would worry about an The use of technology can support derstanding of environment, whether at home or children across other areas of learn- the implications school, in which young children are ing, providing children with new ways of technology spending too much time ‘plugged in’ to communicate and share their ideas. in their lives to screens, narrowing communication and society. and the range of practical experiences Further up the primary school, we
from which children learn. recognise that there is much more to This is the start computing than learning to use digital of ‘digital litera- An analogue only education seems of technology. Computational thinking, cy’ and it ex- diminishing relevance to the modern understood, after Jeanette Wing, as tends into Key world; a digital only education seems “taking an approach to solving prob- Stage 1, where a hugely impoverished early childhood lems, designing systems and under- children are experience. Irrespective of access to standing human behaviour that draws taught to Bee-Bots, iPads or other digital tech- on concepts fundamental to compu- ‘recognise nology, young children should also be ting”, is the golden thread running common uses learning outside, making mud pies, through the computing curriculum. of information technology beyond climbing trees, playing with puppets, But computational thinking doesn’t school’. Early Years practitioners sharing books, making models and begin in Key Stage 1: the foundations provide a rich environment in chatting with their friends. are laid in EYFS. which children can build up an
understanding of the world The technology early learning goal through play. They help children to states that children should ‘select and be curious about technology in use technology for particular purpos- real world contexts: what happens es’. There are a wide range of digital inside a microwave? or a photo- technologies that young children can copier? what happens when Mum- use playfully and collaboratively, such my puts her card in the machine as digital cameras, audio recorders, outside the bank? what is the ma- tablet computers, phones (smart or chine called? why does she have otherwise) and simple, programmable to type a number in? why does robots such as Bee-Bot. she keep it secret? Through role-
play and natural discussions like As they play with these devices, chil- these the children make sense of dren will form their own mental model their world. (schema) of how these work, some-
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 6 In the ‘being imaginative’ strand of the ‘expressive arts and design’ area of learning, the early learning goal states the expectation that children ‘use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about us- es and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories’. The requirement doesn’t specify digital media or information technolo- gy, but nor does it preclude it. Alongside working with crayons, pencils, paints and craft materials, there’s ample opportunity for children to use photography, record music they make, video one another and paint with fingers, trackpad or mouse on screen.
The Statutory Framework expects encourage them to tinker, play and practitioners to consider how children explore. Opportunities to take things learn and develop in relation to three apart, to build and make models help Barefoot Computing, developed ‘characteristics of effective learning’: children to be creative. Getting chil- by CAS, offers a model of compu- playing and exploring - investigate, dren to do a jigsaw, recreate a pattern tational thinking as being made up experience things, and ‘have a go’; or draw a picture can all encourage of both concepts and approaches. active learning - concentrate, keep them to debug. We provide activities It’s widely used in primary on trying if encountering difficulties, that require longer periods of engage- schools. All these concepts and and enjoy achievements; and ment, concentration and persever- approaches can be applied, at creating and thinking critically - ance. Sharing books and toys, playing least to some extent with four and have their own ideas, make links be- with puppets or taking part in a nativity five year olds. Indeed, some begin tween them, and develop strategies play or harvest festival all help devel- earlier still. for doing things. op collaboration.
The nursery or reception class- There are very close connections here The non-statutory guidance in Devel- room is full of opportunities to with the ‘approaches’ to computational opment Matters gives plenty of exam- solve problems. Carrying the wa- thinking that Barefoot Computing uses ples of how these characteristics of ter up the hill; solving (or making) (right). Playing and exploring links effective learning develop, and these jigsaws; building models; spotting closely with tinkering and collaborat- link directly with the notion of compu- and extending a pattern. When ing, as well as abstraction. Active tational thinking. So, for example, the children are faced with these learning is tied to debugging and per- early stages of logical reasoning will problems, the questions that Early severing. Creating and thinking criti- draw on ‘making predictions’ - getting Years practitioners would naturally cally connects with Barefoot’s creat- a child to say what will happen if they be posing can encourage compu- ing, as well as back to the concepts of do or change something, as well as tational thinking. Here’s some ex- logical reasoning and algorithms ‘developing ideas of cause and effect’ amples; - can they link their actions to the ef- Logical reasoning So how do we encourage the develop- fects they produce, on screen or off? What will happen if I do this? How ment of these approaches? This is do you know? often about getting the learning envi- Abstraction starts early too: repre- Algorithms ronment right. By providing open end- sentative play captures the essence of What do I need to do to solve ed activities that encourage children to a thing, putting to one side much of this? Is there a better way? use all their senses to observe, dis- the detail: children ‘pretend objects Decomposition cover and engage with the world, we are things from experience’ and Can we break this problem up? ‘represent experiences as play’. Could we each do different jobs to
solve the problem? Debugging, whilst not called that, is Patterns common in Early Years with children Have you solved something like ‘learning by trial and error’ and this before? What did you do ‘persisting with activities when chal- then? What’s changed? lenges occur’. Abstraction What’s the most important thing As with all learning, we need to recog- here? Maybe we can draw a pic- nise the importance of children’s early ture of this? experiences. If we can get the envi- Evaluation ronment right in these early days, we What went well? Which way can set children off on the right foot to worked best? What would you do develop computational thinking and differently next time? creativity.
7 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk A recent CAS Hub meeting at Rushey Mead Primary School in Leicester investi- gated how computers can control devices Bookings are open for more free, in- connected to them. This is an area that school workshops for primary teach- often gets taught at KS1 using robots, ers. Louise Weisbloom reports on the such as Beebots and Roamers, and can extension to the Barefoot Programme. be more problematic at KS2 simply be- cause it requires some equipment for chil- The Barefoot Programme, developed by teach- dren to be able to control! ers for teachers, continues to help more and more primary school educators in England to confidently deliver the Fortunately, we had some experienced computer science element of the new computing curriculum. This in turn educators to help us look at some of the helps young people become confident with ‘computational thinking’ and options available for control. Nick Page, aware of how technology and data lay foundations for today’s society. Primary Computing lecturer at Nottingham Trent University has recently been investi- Signing up to Barefoot is free and gives teachers access to: gating the Crumble controller and brought In-school CPD Workshops run by a trained local volunteer several projects along to demonstrate how Easy to use computing and cross-curricular resources they could be used and integrated with the Self-teach notes Design and Technology curriculum. Partic- The CPD Workshops introduce teachers to computing approaches and ularly fun was the ability use conductive concepts, guide them through using the Barefoot resources and demon- thread to sew connections between lights strate how they can be used to teach pupils computer science. It’s easy to make a circuit, a lovely way to combine to book a Workshop, simply visit www.barefootcas.org.uk/register . Reg- sewing, electronics and programming to istering also gives you access to the free resources. make a felt Christmas Tree with a se- quence of flashing lights! The Crumble is The Barefoot Programme has been created by CAS and BT, with sup- cheap to buy and can use components you port from the Department for Education, and the Workshops are organ- may already have in school. ised by the national delivery partner National Schools Partnership. More information available via [email protected] or Claire Robinson, by phoning 020 7198 8388. from Holme Valley Primary in North Lincolnshire, is a HLTA with a pas- sion for Computing. She demonstrated two very cute ro- Now in its second year, the Barefoot Programme has been a huge suc- bots, Dot and Dash, cess so far. Over 850 teacher workshops have been delivered, the im- with the various pact reaching approximately 340,000 pupils. The Barefoot Programme, attachments they now funded by BT, is focused on the ambition of reaching 5 million have used from young people over the next 5 years. The aim is to enable the resources Lego adapters, to and workshops to be available throughout the UK. an iPod holder and
even a xylophone. The Programme’s vision would not be possible without the support of
dedicated volunteers. If you, a colleague, family or friends are interest- We also had a number of attendees bring ed in getting involved, please let us know! You don’t need to have a other equipment to play with during an technical or computing background – so taking part is really easy and open workshop. There were Spheroes, worthwhile. What’s more, we Ozobot, more Crumble projects using traf- provide full training and materi- fic lights, a Lego Wedo toilet fan and iCon- als and can help set you up with trol. With 46 people at the meeting there another volunteer to deliver the was no shortage of ideas being shared. Workshops together. To regis- Opportunities abound for developing con- ter your interest or for more trol work at Key Stage 2 which can build information contact the Barefoot on that introduced earlier. Jo Badge team using the details above.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 8 Code Club have played a huge part in encouraging Computing in primary schools. Director of Code I am a GP, currently on Club UK, Maria Quevedo updates us on their growth a career break. I’m also and unique contribution to the curriculum. a Code Club volunteer at Firfield Primary When Code Club was set up in 2012, Scratch Junior for children aged 5 - 7, School, Breaston. Two the aim was to put professionals from and invested in new technology in- summer ago, I was the technology industry - developers, cluding Lego WeDo and My Romo. struggling to entertain programmers and engineers - into “We’ve been running our Code Club my two eldest boys, schools to help teachers run after- for over a year now, with 40 children and look after my poorly school coding clubs for children aged attending, run by three volunteers (two baby girl. Home alone 9-11. Three years later, and the land- teachers and one parent). The club is with three children, with scape around Computing in schools in high demand, with children signing my youngest needing a has shifted dramatically. With the new up in large numbers.” lot of my attention, I did not want computing curriculum, we’re seeing the boys stuck in front of the TV that many teachers have increasing Code Club offers a fun approach to so was seeking activities that confidence in computer science and the new computing curriculum by al- would stimulate making skills, coding. Now around 50% of our 3000 lowing children to create games, ani- problem solving and persistence. UK Code Clubs are run by teachers. mations and websites. Matthew has
We’d love to see this trend continue, seen a number of notable benefits I came across “Computer Coding as we believe that schools which run from running the Code Club: “It’s for Kids” by Carol Vorderman. It their own Code Clubs can draw bene- amazing to see the sense of achieve- was a wonderful, step by step fits for both teachers and pupils. ment the children get when they finish guide explaining what coding ac- their projects… and we can really see tually was ( I had always won- One of the teachers whose school the children starting to persevere with dered…) and how to get started. runs its own Code Club is Matthew the tasks in Code Club, using analyti- Despite my lack of technical Cave, Assistant Headteacher at West cal thinking to troubleshoot. They knowledge, that I was secretly Town Lane Academy in Bristol. After seem to be applying this in other embarrassed about, I was able to beginning with Year 5 and 6 students, ways, with an increase in resilience in get going with Scratch initially and Matthew and his team decided to in- Maths, for example.” soon the boys and I were abso- troduce Code Club’s Scratch projects lutely hooked. I was then getting for all 8 - 11 year old children. Now, For the teachers as well, running a stuck trying to find projects for the school has also introduced Code Club has proved to be a useful them at a suitable level to keep Pupils enjoying tool. “We absolutely see that Code their interest and stop frustration. the Code Club at Club can help teachers gain some West Town Lane I started getting in touch with local extra skills for the computer curricu- Academy schools and others to encourage lum - we use Code Club within our individuals to form volunteer net- school to deliver part of the computing works with the idea of getting chil- curriculum”. dren coding. I came across Code
Club that way and at the Derby What advice does Matthew have for Xmas Meetup (2014) I met the teachers who are looking to start a inspiring Katharine Childs (East club? “It’s dead easy, so take the Midlands Regional Code Club Co- plunge! The children will ‘run with it’, ordinator). We have not looked so don’t worry about not being an ex- back since! Together with Ian Wil- pert.” See the box below for details of liams and Amanda Coffey we how to get started. formed a small parents’ group. Code Club is a nationwide, volunteer network that organise after You can read about our journey at school coding sessions. They provide materials to use with your codewordblog.wordpress.com. pupils in the club and online training. The website seeks to We’re six weeks in and I hope to match volunteers with schools wishing to host clubs. Find out give a progress update in the next more by visiting www.codeclub.org.uk/start-a-club. issue. Jasjit Kaur Atwal
9 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk A newly published document, created by several CAS members and co-ordinated by John Woollard explores the notion of Computational thinking isn’t something computational thinking (CT). The guide, for developed through programming alone. both primary and secondary teachers is a Paul Curzon, from the cs4fn team intro- contribution to developing the teaching of duces a new resource due out this term. CT in schools. It presents a conceptual framework, Puzzles can be a good fun way to develop the skills involved in describes approaches for computational thinking. Many puzzles are algorithmic - the aim is to teaching and offers come up with an algorithm that solves it. Other ‘logic’ puzzles involve guides for assessment. logical thinking, and to do well involve developing heuristics and algo- rithms for solving them. Yet others, like code cracking cross references The guide is comple- involve computing concepts in puzzle form. With support from Google’s mentary to two CAS CS4HS programme, the cs4fn and Teaching London Computing Team, guides (published in are putting together a resource area for teachers (bit.ly/1RkOuva). We late 2013, early 2014) are also creating a computational thinking puzzle book to send free to for Primary and Sec- schools in the Spring of 2016. Sign up for ondary schools writ- future cs4fn resources at bit.ly/1UqzavU. ten to support the To support the Puzzle Book, the first in a implementation of the new series of complementary booklets that curriculum. It embraces more recent devel- discuss specific puzzles in more detail is opments, notably the CAS Barefoot and already available. Puzzling Tours (see QuickStart Computing descriptions of com- previous SWITCHEDON for details) looks putational thinking. CT lies at the heart of at the computational thinking in three the computing curriculum but, as our spe- graph based puzzles. cial feature highlights, it also supports learning in other areas of the curriculum. Below is a word search from the puzzle Download from bit.ly/1QukAU9. book (a pdf version to photocopy can be obtained from the link above). Words can appear horizontally, vertically or diagonally, running backwards or for- wards. Different names can cross and overlap. There are twenty six fa- mous computer scientist’s names in the search grid. Their first and sec- ond names may be in different places. Spaces, accents and hyphens are not included. The names are listed on the pdf.
You may be able to use your natural pattern matching abilities to spot Over 56,000 school students took part in some words. An algorithmic thinking approach may work better though. the annual UK Bebras Computational You need an organised way that is guaranteed to find the words. Take Thinking Challenge in November, up from the first letter of the 39,000 the previous year. The challenge, first name and start which is free to enter, caters for all ages at the top left, from Year 2 to 13. No prior knowledge is scanning along the required and the results can provide an rows in turn look- excellent baseline measure to use in ing for it. When school, focusing as it does on the ability to you find it check in think creatively and reason about unfamil- all directions for iar problems. the second letter. If
its not there move All questions have links to computer sci- on. If it is look for ence and past questions make excellent the third letter in exercises. Previous questions are shared the same direction, on the CAS Community at resources/1261. and so on. Can If you didn’t take part this year, take a look, you improve this make a note of the date and resolve to join algorithm for word the growing numbers involved next year. searches?
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 10 There are some great ways to link computing with all the other subjects on the curriculum, but there's a particularly strong ar- The links between computer sci- gument for making connections with mathematics. Miles Berry ence and maths provide both introduces a special feature exploring the potential benefits. challenge and opportunity for cur- riculum development. We draw on As a discipline, computing owes its rithmic efficiency. It's perhaps no sur- mathematics in computing; we origins to mathematics. Babbage's prise that A level maths is often a re- use computation (automated or analytical engine was designed to quirement for studying Computer Sci- otherwise) in mathematics. In compute mathematical tables. The ence at Russell Group universities. much work done in the primary word 'computer' was originally applied phase it’s easy to make the con- to a person who performed calcula- Going in the other direction, there are nection between mathematical tions. Turing's paper 'On computable very many opportunities to enrich content and computing. In sec- numbers with an application to the school mathematics through compu- ondary schools, where subject Entscheidungsproblem’ was more ting, but more than that, computer boundaries are more firmly en- about proving a mathematical theorem science provides a means through trenched, there is a greater chal- than founding a new science. Cam- which mathematical ideas become lenge. Yet the potential is huge, bridge's computer lab started out as “incarnate, tangible and executable”. particularly given the primacy put 'the mathematical laboratory'. Wolfram makes a strong case for on progression in maths with new 'computer based mathematics' being school accountability measures. Let's look at the connections from taught in schools - arguing that this both perspectives: firstly, bringing reflects how real maths is done, mak- At the recent maths into computing. Given our cur- ing the subject far more relevant than Computer rent focus on thinking rather than cod- when calculations are done by hand. Based Maths ing, there are strong parallels between It's the third of Conrad's steps summit (see mathematical reasoning and computa- (‘compute’) that the machines are un- page 14), tional thinking: logical reasoning, algo- surprisingly much better at: perhaps a the chair of rithms, abstraction, generalisation, pupil's mathematical understanding CAS Simon decomposition and evaluation play a would be enhanced by spending more Peyton-Jones central role in both CS and mathemat- of her time on steps 1, 2 and 4 and and Andrew ical problem solving. Conrad Wolf- proportionately less on the easily au- Fitzgibbon ram's four steps for doing maths tomatable step 3. 'Show your working' (Microsoft shown below (define, translate, com- could be at least as much about Research) pute and interpret) parallel stages of providing the source code for your made a strong case for teaching traditional software development. program as making marks on paper. the two subjects together - with
the current curricula and exam There's a fair amount of mathematical Working with software can be power- specifications for the two subjects. content in computer science as taught ful for much maths education: turtle in schools. In primary, Bee Bots and graphics as a tool to think geometri- What they suggested wasn’t similar are used early on to practise cally; spreadsheets as a visual intro- maths with a nod to Computer positional language and emerging duction to functional programming; the Science or Computer Science with measure and children are now more classes, objects and methods of dy- a nod to maths, but rather Com- likely to meet angles and coordinates namic geometry software; data visuali- puter Science bringing to life the in Scratch before these get covered in sation through Excel, Raw or R. Pro- abstractions of maths, and maths maths lessons. Topics such as binary gramming has many applications in providing the foundational ab- conversion, binary arithmetic, Boolean maths education: writing functions for stractions that underpin Computer logic and functions all make demands fractions arithmetic, solving equations Science. Implementing such a on pupils' mathematical understand- numerically, simulating probability vision at national scale isn’t trivial, ing. There's some potentially gritty experiments etc. The list is pretty inex- but perhaps a few teachers in maths in computing at GCSE and A haustible, and provides rich territory to some forward thinking schools or level: graph theory, modular arithme- develop understanding in both sub- academies might be up for trying tic, formal logic and measures of algo- jects side by side. this out? It would be phenomenal- ly interesting experiment!
11 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk Adrian Oldknow from the Cambridge Centre For Innovation in Technological Education (CCITE) looks at developing Scratch code to simulate an object’s flight in real-time.
The formulae: x = S.t and y = U.t – ½ g.t2 are called the equations of motion of a projectile. How they are derived is outlined in the box Man, unlike birds and beasts of prey, (above right). They contain three variables g, S and U which need to be couldn’t run fast enough to catch most given initial values and will then stay constant throughout the flight. living creatures to provide sources of food, These are called parameters. The variables t, x and y change through- so had to resort to ingenuity. One way to out the flight. We can’t keep changing the time continuously so we will catch animals is to trap them. Another is to also need to use a loop which moves the clock forward by small throw things at them. The term used for amounts of d seconds. The flight stops when y becomes negative. something put into flight is a projectile. Some objects, such as stones and spears, In order to check the simulation we will store the outputs t, x and y in might be thrown by hand. Others might be lists T, X and Y. To test the model we can start with some simple values -2 -1 -1 launched by other devices. Of course you for g, S and U. If g = 10 ms , S = 10 ms and U = 10 ms , then after 1 might use projectiles for reasons other second the upward velocity would have become 0 and the projectile will than hunting. One might be military, where be at its highest point – in which time it will have travelled 10 metres the projectile is a weapon, another might sideways. After another 1 second, when t = 2, y will be back to zero and be sporting. the projectile will have landed. At that time x will be 20 metres.
The theory behind the way projectiles The resulting Scratch program is shown. We can use the Data tab to move in flight is called ballistics. If we want create and manage the variables and lists. The numerical output (white to make our own simulations of a projectile box) is displayed in the main Scratch graphics area. such as a rock from a siege engine (aka ‘trebuchet’) we need to find out something about this theory. This was extensively developed by the Italian astronomer, Gali- leo Galilei in 1632.
The basic concepts are speed (aka veloci- ty), acceleration (rate of change of speed) and force. Galileo made the simple as- sumption that the only force acting on a projectile in flight is the Earth’s attraction downwards, which produces a constant acceleration downwards of g (approx. 10 metres per second per second).
He also assumed that projectile’s motion could be studied by considering the verti- cal and horizontal directions separately – so that while the vertical velocity was changing at a constant rate, its horizontal velocity stayed unaltered. He proved that, under these assumptions, the shape of the curved track (aka trajectory) of the projec- tile would be an arc of a parabola – a curve extensively studied by the classical Greek mathematicians such as Archime- des and Euclid.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 12 If a projectile is launched from ground at time t = 0 seconds, we can find formulae for its position at any time (t) until it hits the ground. This can be expressed in terms of its initial horizontal velocity S, its initial upwards velocity U, and the acceleration due to gravity of g metres downwards. After t seconds its vertical velocity will be U – g.t metres per second, so its average vertical velocity during that time is ½ (U + U The STOMP air rocket provides a cheap, – g.t) = U – ½ g.t metres per second. Since distance = speed x time it safe, simple and fun way to get some ex- will have reached a height of y = (U – ½ g.t).t metres. In that time it will perimentation done outside the classroom have travelled a horizontal distance of x = S.t metres. using simple measurement tools such as a protractor, stop watch and tape measure. Once we have the basic algorithm up and running, The captured data allows predictions to be we need to turn the output from numbers into made in the same way Galileo did - and graphics. We will use the time gap d to make a de- even to find a value for g! lay in each pass of the loop so that we are working in real time. We just have to turn the (x,y) coordi- Using a camera and the free video- nate values from distances from the launch position analysis Tracker software (physlets.org/ in metres into pixels on the graphical display tracker) we also have a means to measure screen. the launch velocity and track a moving object in flight. Tracker provides a power- To do this we can introduce some more variables: ful way to combine video with computer (a, b) are the screen coordinates of the launch-pad modelling. and c is the multiplier used to turn distance in me- tres into screen pixels. We can also replace The data can be used with other software Scratch’s cat sprite with a more realistic projectile, too, such as the free GeoGebra such as a ball. To tidy things up we have defined a (www.geogebra.org). Using GeoGebra Block called `Set up’ which the program calls just students can go on to explore some of the once to initialise the values of the variables and to mathematical concepts more thoroughly. prepare the screen. The Graphics View provides `graph-paper’ on which to create diagrams. It could be The changes to the used to further understanding and interpreta- body of the pro- tion of constant acceleration, for example. gram are now quite small to turn the These ideas are explained in more detail output from num- in ‘An Introduction To Rocket Science Us- bers into an anima- ing STOMP, Scratch and GeoGebra’. tion. We have Links are given below. made the time step d much smaller so that the curve looks smooth. You can vary the initial speeds S and U to see how they af- fect the shape of the ball’s path. Can you edit the pro- gram to simulate a basketball throw where the ball is launched from above the ground? You might like to add sound effects.
CCITE develops cross curricular STEM projects. Called the ‘iSTEM+ approach’, you can find out more about it from the National Science Centre eLibrary: bit.ly/1RjjaMe. A key component is a set of inter-disciplinary group projects which link aspects of the STEM subjects: Science, D&T, Computing and Mathematics. The full description of this project can be found in the National Science Centre eLibrary at bit.ly/1R5sOn9.
13 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk Making the case for change. Conrad Wolfram at the recent CBM Educational Summit.
In November, the Computer Based Maths Educational Sum- mit took place in London. Attendees spent two days debating how to make teaching more effective and looking at ways to further the case for computer based maths.
The importance of mathematics Free poster downloadable from bit.ly/1RY3iAv in a knowledge based economy is clear. The recognition of its impact on jobs, society, and There is no shortage of topics where math- thinking has exploded over the ematical concepts can be illuminated last few decades. And yet, through computing. Back in 2012, CAS argues Conrad Wolfram (from member Neil Brown wrote a weekly blog Wolfram Research, a company which sought to illustrate ways to use com- noted for its scientific and puting to explore maths. As he wrote in the technical innovation) maths edu- introductory post; ‘ The ability to do numer- cation is in worldwide crisis— ic calculations in your head is somewhat diverging more and more from handy, but this is the 21st century: the cal- what's required by countries, culator app on your phone can add and industry, further education... and multiply numbers more reliably than you students. Computers are key to can. Arithmetic is dull and easily automat- bridging this chasm: only when ed. Much more interesting, and more use- they are used to do the calculating (the third stage in an iterative process ful, are the steps before you get to the cal- of problem solving) is maths applicable to hard questions across many culator. Understanding and using the con- contexts. Real life maths has been transformed by computer based cepts and rules is the interesting part of calculation; now, suggests Conrad, mainstream maths education maths: knowing what to requires a similar fundamental change. He makes his case in a powerful calculate is key, not and persuasive TED talk at bit.ly/1sVwWbg. the actual calculation.’
Over the next six months, the blog built into an impressive intro- duction to many maths Computer Based Maths (CBM) campaigns to redefine maths education concepts. Neil is a key away from an emphasis on hand calculating techniques, toward one fo- part of the Greenfoot cused on real-life problem-solving situations. Alongside lobbying, they are in project; a free coding the process of developing a new curriculum which put computer based com- environment developed putation at its centre. CBM is also building learning resources using the to introduce secondary students to object Wolfram Language as a platform. Students then use the language to solve oriented programming and Java. The posts problems. CBM itself is not about the art of coding, but coding is central to explained the maths that lay behind a vari- being able to learn CBM. The case for developing a different approach to ety of computing challenges, the angle a maths education is well made by the CBM project at bit.ly/1ZnJbwO. ball bounces, visualising calculation of a mean, plotting the path of tyre tracks turn- The Wolfram Language originated with the development of Mathematica ing and so on. some 25 years ago, and has developed as a framework to allow compu- tation to reach much higher levels of abstraction. This is perhaps best The Sinepost is an excellent introduction to exemplified by the development, in 2009 of the ‘computational the application of maths in computing. The knowledge engine’ Wolfram Alpha. Widely used in technical sectors and 36 articles were supported by exemplars in higher education it is a very high level language that allows powerful Greenfoot, but whatever your choice of computational expressions to be created and visualised in a few lines of language you’ll find these features a mine code. Teachers and students can use the Wolfram Programming Lab, of information and inspiration for projects. part of the Wolfram Cloud which provides an online platform. This is free Check out bit.ly/1m6h0nT. Roger Davies to use and allows an introduction to professional tools used to explore difficult problems. Further details can be found at bit.ly/1ZnMp39.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 14 Mathematica, powerful software for developing Two specially augmented Astro Pis are mathematical investigations, comes free as part of now on the International Space Station the NOOBS Raspberry Pi distribution. We look at (ISS) as part of astronaut Tim Peake’s how busy teachers can start investigating it’s potential. mission. The Raspberry Pi Foundation had to certify the hardware with the European Mathematica has been continuously developed for over twenty five Space Agency (ESA). To be allowed on years. It is powerful software, used in many technical fields. With over the rocket, you need a 5,000 built-in functions it allows users to easily develop code to process flight safety certificate, and visualise complex mathematical ideas. Many of these functions obtained by presenting a have direct value for teachers and students of Computer Science and whole host of measure- Maths in the upper secondary school stages. For example, there are ments and test results to a built-in functions for finite state machines, graph traversals, Turing ma- panel of experts at ESA chines and Fourier Transforms, amongst many others. Being part of the ESTEC in Holland. software bundled free with NOOBS, the de-facto distribution for the Raspberry Pi, even children at Key Stage 3 can benefit from a little play- Last year Raspberry Pi ful investigation. Putting software this powerful into the hands of mathe- joined forces with the UK matically curious children is an exciting prospect. Space Agency, ESA and the UK Space Trade Asso- Despite the complexity under the hood, it is easy to get started. For that, ciation to run a competition that gave UK we must thank the generosity of three communities. Firstly those won- school-age students the chance to devise derful people at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Justifiably proud of being computer science experiments based only the second computer on which Mathematica has been distributed around the popular Sense HAT board. The as standard for free (the first was Steve Job’s NeXT back in 1988!) they seven winning Python programs will be run have produced an excellent Getting Started Guide: bit.ly/1QFMoGM. on the ISS by Tim. They range from fun Written with a clarity and brevity that makes it accessible to students, it reaction-time games to real science exper- steps through writing simple scripts in the Notebook, manipulating matri- iments looking at the radiation environ- ces, plots and accessing the GPIO pins on the Pi. ment in space. The results will be down- loaded to Earth and made available online. You can always rely on members of the CAS Community to chip in with help. Nick James has used Mathematica with his maths classes at Ash- There will be opportunities to examine the ford School, Kent. He notes, ‘The built in access to genuine data, the results of the competition experiments, symbolic capabilities, and the ease with which it can produce graphical and a data analysis activity where you can outputs make it immediately useful to pupils in many subjects.’ To help obtain a CSV file full of time-stamped sen- others get started he has shared a series of fifteen lessons on the CAS sor readings direct from Tim. Tim has said Community (resources/1810) which allow teachers to jump right in. he wants to use some of his free time on Saturday afternoons to do educational Once started, you’ll inevitably get drawn in and outreach. While we can’t confirm anything need to know more. Step forward the Wolfram at this stage we are hopeful that some kind Community (bit.ly/1lyloXM) who provide further of interactive Astro Pi activities will take project exemplars, utilising GPS, a weather place. There could yet be more opportuni- station module and other GPIO oriented activ- ties to get your Sense HAT code running ities. The Wolfram Programming Lab also on the ISS! Keep an eye on astro-pi.org for allows access to a series of workbooks. Soon further news. Dave Honess you’ll need a self standing reference work. Stephen Wolfram’s ‘Elementary Introduction ScratchMaths is a national project which to the Wolfram Language’ can be viewed at is aiming to establish the impact of compu- bit.ly/1m6jbI4. As he states in his blog, an- ting on the mathematics performance of nouncing the distribution, ‘What will be pupils at Key Stage 2. As part of the project done with the millions of instances of the over 100 schools will trial a new Wolfram Language that are bundled on Rasp- Y5/6 computing curriculum based around berry Pi computers around the world? Maybe some amazing and Scratch. The project is based at the London incredibly important invention will be made with them. Maybe some Knowledge Lab and concludes in 2017. kid somewhere will be inspired, and will go on to change the world’.
15 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk When 5 Raspberry Pi devices arrived in school, courtesy of Google, little did Markethill High School realise the impact they would have on the future develop- ment of computing in the school. Pupils The first steps with a Raspberry Pi can were already familiar with the concept of sometimes be a daunting process, for the coding. Scratch had been used in Year 8 inexperienced teacher. Picademy@Google classes to create games. Terms such as is a great way to start says Marc Scott. algorithm, sequence and debugging were You buy your first Raspberry Pi, open the box, and then sitting in front of part of our computer language and prob- you is a delicate looking single-board computer, a forest of pins jutting lem solving skills were already embedded from its surface and a plethora of ports protruding from the sides. There in many subject areas. We needed to build are cables and peripherals that all need plugging in, an SD card that on this foundation, using the Raspberry needs something called Raspbian writing to it, and then there's the en- Pis to take coding a step further. tirely alien Linux Operating System that needs to be tackled. The barrier to getting things done with a Raspberry Pi rarely has anything to do with Turtle Graphics was chosen as a means technical proficiency or programming know-how. More often than not, to introduce all Year 8 pupils to the Rasp- the barrier is one of confidence. You need to realise that it's just a com- berry Pi. Tutorials were created for pupils puter after all, that it's not going to break when you touch it or type in an to follow, but open ended tasks were also incorrect command, and know that once you're up and running, the only included for those pupils who liked a chal- limits to what can be achieved are your imagination and willingness to lenge. Many pupils just couldn’t wait to ask the right questions. see what they would be learning about the next week. Picademy aims to smash through that barrier and give teachers the skills and knowledge they need to get hacking on a Raspberry Pi, no matter As some pupils were keen to learn more what their level of experience with computing. It's a two day course, about the Raspberry Pi, we now have a completely funded by Google, that gives educators a chance to experi- Coding Club after school. Jumper wires, ence just some of what can be achieved with a little help and a lot imagi- resistors, LEDs and GPIO were terms that nation. I attended a recent event in Birmingham, and was blown away by the ICT staff had never had reason to use what I saw. On day one the teachers got stuck right in, running through a before, but they went ‘back to school’ series of workshops that introduced them to physical computing using themselves as Ulster University and Stran- the GPIO pins to control LEDs and motors and respond to button push- millis College were running courses for es. Then there were sessions using the camera module, making music teachers. Now we have pupils who are with Sonic Pi and terraforming the world with Python and Minecraft. able to create programs for a simple traffic light system. On day two, the real fun began. The teachers, either individually or in small groups, let their creativity take control as they came up with pro- jects ideas that ranged from the delightful to the diabolical. With a little assistance from the mentors, I watched in amazement as art, program- ming and science collided and from the remnants were born wonderful projects such as the "Demon Duck Baby Monitor", "The Minecraft Dance Mat" and "The Staff-room Tea Temperature Detector".
By the end of the two days, every attendee that had managed to achieve something amazing, and had thoroughly dismantled that barrier to get- ting started with the Raspberry Pi. What's more, having completed the We are committed to promoting computer two days, each teacher became a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator, programming within our own school as ready to go on and spread their new found enthusiasm to other educa- well as in our local primary schools. On a tors and of course to a whole generation of children. recent visit (above), P6 pupils were given Picademy@Google courses ware hosted at the opportunity to learn how to create a Google’s Digital Garage. Launched last year in programme, using Scratch GPIO, which Leeds, they provide spaces in major cities de- would allow two lights to flash in se- voted to developing digital skills. The courses quence. We hope this will inspire some of will run alongside the definitive Picademy events previously featured in the pupils to develop their computer skills SwitchedON. All courses are free. Future venues will be announced further. Dawn McMaster soon, so keep checking at raspberrypi.org/picademy/google/.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 16 All Year 9 girls at Fakenham Academy, Norfolk took part in the international Programming Chal- RoboGirls, a team of year 10/11 lenge 4 Girls (pc4g.org.nz). Sue Gray reports on girls at Morecambe High School a full day of coding and fun. have worked together for 2 years. They have been involved in sever- Girls need a lot of persuading that Judging took place at lunch before al competitions such as First computing and coding are useful skills meeting up again. Dr Pam Mayhew LEGO League and Technovation that offer interesting, challenging and from UEA’s School of Computer Sci- Challenge. We have been lucky potentially lucrative jobs. PC4G sets ence gave a short speech on how enough to be sponsored by both out to show girls that they can code! software is all around us, stressing the school and EDF (Heysham that we really can change the world by Power Station) which has helped Before half-term, in class, we had just being able to code. From phone apps us purchase equipment and pay one hour learning a little about the to navigation systems to assistive for entry into competitions. Alice programming environment. On technologies, everything depends on the day the girls then had another one software. A fantastic TED Talk by Ru- They visited and half hours to re-familiarise them- pal Patel (bit.ly/1fYUtlS) showed how EDF to meet selves and learn new skills before scientists have been able to custom- female STEM being set an unseen challenge. In just ise the synthetic voices for people like staff and two hours they had to follow a story- Dr Stephen Hawking who rely on tech- demonstrate board to create an animation to match nology to give them a voice. It is now their robotics as closely as possible to the example possible to take some tiny sound from skills. Suzanne – not an easy task as it turned out! the person and ‘create’ a unique Porter said “It’s voice; a voice of their own. All this is fantastic to see The first part, three girls speaking was possible because of software. Our how support easy enough but getting an orca to girls were genuinely moved and fasci- has allowed jump out of the sea and plunge back nated and I hope that for some a small these girls to again, head first was tricky. To get the seed of interest has been planted. get so much experience and learn orca to reappear and do a back flip led new skills. Hopefully they’ll think to some very hilarious results with The lovely people at PC4G in New about working with us one day.” orca turning themselves into balls and Zealand kindly provided medals and belly-flopping back into the sea. Lots we were able to award 6 Bronze, 5 Mia Hargreaves (year 10) explains of laughter, lots of helping each other, Silver and 4 Gold. A brilliant day, full what she has gained from being lots of fun. of fun and laughter and smiles! involved in the after school group so far : “I really enjoy the social aspects of the group. It isn't the Last autumn an enthusiastic group of young female coders descended upon stereotypical code, code, code. Moray College in Elgin, Morayshire in Northern Scotland. They came from every My friends and I have taken part corner of the county and beyond with a shared enthusiasm for computing and in lots of workshops and competi- coding. During the three hour workshop the girls took the opportunity to extend tions, and we even won the pro- their coding skills using Scratch. They ject category in the Lego First used Stop Motion software and a range of League. I’ve been to robotic work- creative materials to make a series of short shops at Manchester University films. Later they added sound effects or a too. If it wasn't for the Computing musical soundtrack. Film themes ranged group, I would have completely from the cliché of cute animals to a raging crossed out engineering as an pig which ate every toy it met, eventually option. Now I’m looking at focus- eating the camera accompanied by the ing my studies on a career in bio- sound effects of voracious munching! A engineering.” Follow them borrowed set of Lego Mindstorms from a @MCHSRoboGirls and read more local Tech Firm were put to use. We also about the RoboGirls visit to Hey- set up a Raspberry Pi computer and had a sham 2 on the EDF Website at go at Python coding. Claire Griffiths bit.ly/1QR598l. Theresa Russell
17 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk When I first learned about the new compu- ting curriculum my first instinct was to be excited by the challenge and chance to September brings a new school year and learn something new. I had Code Club PyCon UK - the volunteer led conference for recommended to me by a parent and, hav- all users of the Python programming lan- ing heard of Raspberry Pi on twitter was guage. Co-organiser Nick Tollervey reports. lucky enough to earn a place on Picademy, their free CPD training in Cambridge. Both As in previous years there was an education track generously sponsored gave me a good start in understanding by Bank of America. Nearly 50 teachers attended and qualified for the what was needed. Whilst I stumbled and £200 bursary to cover supply teaching costs. The Raspberry Pi Founda- tripped a few times, I began to really enjoy tion, Code Club, Alan 'Teknoteacher' O'Donohoe and Martin 'Minecraft' exploring new topics and thinking of fun O'Hanlon as well as many professional Python programmers volun- ways to teach coding. But I soon realised teered their time and expertise. most of my teaching friends seemed nerv- ous and afraid to get started. With this in Friday focussed on learning Python, learning how to teach Python and mind I invited teachers, interested pro- learning of others’ successes with Python. We also ran several ice- grammers, Code Club and Coder Dojo breaker activities to get teachers and developers engaged with each volunteers to an evening meet up. Unlike other. For example, teachers were able to learn, use and write games typical CPD, I was keen for an informal, with the new PyGameZero library. They were also able to meet relaxed atmosphere so found a local pub PyGameZero's author, world champion game developer, Dan Pope. who let us use a function room for free. Minecraft made an The key thing about Coding Evenings is appearance - it's they allow teachers a much needed oppor- always a pleasure to tunity to play. Too often we are expected see people learn to teach things we only have a basic un- Python through the derstanding of ourselves. Coding Evenings medium of such play- mean we can relax, play and take ideas ful digital "lego" - and home with us. As word has spread I’ve the Raspberry Pi been joined by many helpful people in Foundation gave an Twickenham who are eager to offer sup- inspiring series of port. I’ve even managed to gain sponsor- workshops about ship from companies such as Pimoroni teaching with Python and the Raspberry Pi (and weather balloons, and who allow me to offer the first drink free to space, and the sense hat, and the camera, and... you get the idea). encourage more teachers to give up their evenings and learn to code. Code Club explained their amazing work engaging the wider program- ming community in after-school clubs. It was especially good to hear My first Coding Evening was in January how both teaching colleagues and programming colleagues could buddy 2015. By the end of the year we had host- up to make this happen (it's remarkably simple, you should try it). ed seven events in Twickenham as well as three in Peterborough, another in South- The BBC's micro:bit made an appearance. It has a full reimplementation end and a special event for Code Week of Python 3 running on the device. We learned how to program the mi- EU in Mozilla, London. Between these var- cro:bit "live" by typing Python commands (in much the same way you ious locations we have been able to help used to do with the original BBC micro - a very compelling experience numerous teachers to feel more confident, that encourages exploration and experimentation). We also saw an early comfortable and willing to give coding a version of the Python editor that will live within Microsoft's TouchDevel- go. A group in West Berkshire is planned. I op. Importantly, we learned that the Python solution does not rely on hope that we can continue to grow as TouchDevelop - you can create your Python scripts in any editor you more teachers host their own evenings. choose. Simply run a command to turn your code into a hex file that's Please take a look at our website flashed onto the device. www.codingevening.org and see if there are any events being planned near you. If Next year PyCon UK will return and the education track can only but there isn’t, do get in touch to discuss grow from strength to strength. Why not go? Many teachers come back running your own. Cat Lamin year after year and it's an invaluable window into the practices of programmers. It's also famously fun. :-)
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 18 One way to inject some fun into your coding les- sons is to gamify them! Simon Johnson, who teaches at St-Matthias School in Wolverhamp- ton invites you to a game of code golf.
For those new to the concept, gamifi- Students can use a combination of ‘Every Child Can Code’ is a new cation is the process of introducing features such as loops or sub-routines interactive educational initiative, game-like elements into traditionally to achieve their optimised code but encouraging children from age 7 non-gaming contexts to make them readability and usability must not be to code. The first stage of the more fun and engaging. Strategies sacrificed at the expense of code scheme, “BASIC Coding for Be- include elements such as gamifying efficiency, therefore white space and ginners”, includes 10 lessons grading, incentivizing students with comments do not count as lines. We teaching BASIC, one of the most rewards and adding competitive still want to encourage students to popular coding languages for be- elements such as leader boards. One break up and comment their code so ginners. Each lesson teaches five strategy that exemplifies the approach that it is comprehensible to others, BASIC commands and presents is a game called 'Code Golf'. easier to debug and easy for others an example program with explan- to re-use. atory comments for the pupil. I came across Code Golf at the annual CAS Teacher Conference. The idea is There are two main ways to play Code A key component is a unique child simple, participants are given a prob- Golf. The first way requires students -friendly software ‘coding teacher’, lem (or working solution) and are to solve a given problem using the which runs on Windows PCs and challenged to solve it using the fewest fewest lines of code. The second monitors a child as they code. It lines of code. The term is derived from method, which requires a little more warns when they have made a the similarity of its scoring system preparation from the teacher, requires coding error, assists in under- to that of conventional golf, where the students to optimise a given standing what they have done participants aim to achieve the lowest working solution. The teacher can add wrong, and tells them how to put score possible. It aims to encourage a little extra challenge by setting a Par things right. The coding teacher efficient use of code. At GCSE and value, this being the optimal number allows a child to watch their pro- A-Level, students are required to of lines of code. This Par value can be grams run in slow motion, step by make efficient use of code in order to altered for different levels of ability step, so they can see each line in access the higher mark bands. (similar to the handicap system in action and follow its effect on the Efficient code compiles quicker and conventional golf) thus allowing the operation of the program. uses less storage space. teacher to differentiate the lesson. To make a start with Code Golf you can The second stage of the scheme, download a PowerPoint and scorecard from “BASIC Coding for Game Design”, Simon’s blog. This makes use of the turtle makes it easy for pupils to design tutorials in an Introduction To Python booklet, and code their own games pro- shared by fellow CAS member Mark Clarkson grams. The scheme and teaching at bit.ly/1Nlk1Y5. A great example of how the materials are free of charge. CAS Community can work together to develop In parallel with the scheme a new materials. type of coding contest has been announced − the National Schools
If you wish to develop your own there are Coding Championships. There plenty of good ideas for Code Golf themes will be one division of the champi- and questions at bit.ly/1MR75KP. onships for primary and prep schools, and another for second- For more tips, advice about rules, curriculum ary and independent schools and mapping, a sample lesson and links to other sixth-form colleges. For full details programming challenges shared by CAS of the Every Child Can Code scheme and the National Schools members take a look at the more detailed Coding Championship visit article on Simon’s blog. You’ll find this is at teachwithict.weebly.com/coding-golf.html bit.ly/1NQnMnw David Levy
19 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk Calls for applications to the 2016 CS4HS (Computer Science for High School) and the RISE awards programmes will both Do you want to provide activities without launch in Europe in January 2016. the burden of error-prone software instal- lations? Michel Wermelinger, from The CS4HS provides funding to local computer Open University, introduces trinkets. science education experts for the planning and development of CS teacher profes- I came across trinkets when looking for a way to complement our free sional development. Through carefully pack of leaflets (see box bottom left) for BBC's Make It Digital season. I planned programmes, secondary school wanted to provide a hands-on "hour of code" activity that could be done teachers connect with university academ- online, without any software installation or account creation, by the gen- ics, who can provide the professional de- eral adult public. Trinkets fit the bill perfectly. velopment courses and tools needed to bring computer science and computational A Python trinket is a browser-based environment featuring a text editor thinking into the classroom. Teachers gain with syntax highlighting, a Run button, and a pane showing the resulting the skills to develop and deliver the com- output. Misspelled variables are spotted before running the code. Error puting curriculum, helping to inspire a new messages are shown in generation of computer scientists who will meaningful ways, instead build the apps and programs of the future. of cryptic stack traces. If students get lost making The RISE award programme provides grants changes, clicking the 3- to organizations across the globe that pro- line icon reveals a reset mote computer science education and run option that reinstates the initiatives that reach girls, underrepresent- original program. ed minorities, and students facing socio- economic barriers under the age of 18. Each trinket is hosted on http://trinket.io, with a unique URL to share via social media and e-mail, using the Share menu. Alternatively, you can For full eligibility criteria and more infor- embed trinkets in webpages, to put explanatory text round activities and mation, check back at the CS4HS run the code automati- (cs4hs.com/) and RISE websites around cally. That's the route I mid to late January. Obum Ekeke took. You can see the result at bit.ly/1jTRpws. Again, trinkets make it easy: a Share option shows the HTML snippet to paste into the page.
Although you can create a trinket by just going on the website, changing the example given there, and then sharing the link with your students, I recommend you create an account or log in with a Google or Edmodo account. With an account you can easily duplicate and change existing trinkets (which I found convenient for building a progression of activities) and you can see how often your trinkets were viewed, interacted with, and shared. You should give each trinket a memorable name to quickly As part of the Make It Digital season, the find the code you're looking for. There is a 'gallery' view of trinkets but Open University have produced a wonderful unfortunately it doesn't show the code, only the output, which means that free pack of literature exploring the develop- trinkets requiring user input are, unhelpfully, blank in the gallery view. ment of digital technology. It covers the histo-
ry of computers, looks at women in Maths To sum up, trinkets are easy to use, well designed, and a good option to and Computing, the basics and limits of algo- avoid software installation or account creation, if you don't mind depend- rithms, the development of calculating devic- ing on the continued existence of the website. Only some Python es and introduces coding. Well designed and modules are currently available, including part of the turtle module, but attractively laid up in A5 format, much of the they're enough for most exercises or projects you can think of. There are pack could be printed out and used for class- also trinkets for teaching a Scratch-like language, HTML, CSS, and even room displays. See bit.ly/1GjIIq1 for more. music notation.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 20 Everyone who grapples with A Level grows to love simplifying Boolean algebra. Senior Lecturer at The 2nd November 2015 marked Birmingham City University, Stuart Davison out- two hundred years since the birth lines a method to confirm you are right (or wrong)! of the mathematical genius George Boole (1815-1864). Born Start with an expression: Karnaugh maps become more useful in Lincoln and largely self taught, as we introduce more variables. Con- Boole was appointed the first Pro- take a handful of distributive law, a sider now a map for three variables. In fessor of Mathematics, at Queen’s pinch of idempotent law and a sprin- order for the grouping method to work, College, now University College kling of annulment law and, like mag- the order of the BC combination must Cork (UCC). It was here that he ic, you end up with the simplified Bool- only change one bit at a time. Note developed his most important ean expression A. Wouldn’t it be this is different to how counting in bi- work, ‘An Investigation Into The handy if there was a nice visual way of nary works. Laws Of checking a simplification? Well you’re Thought’ in in luck. Karnaugh maps can be used 1854. to help simplify complex expressions if you apply a few As part of their easy-to-follow bicentenary rules and draw celebrations lots of pretty ta- UCC produced bles, the most Again we take an expression, teaching materials for their ‘Boole basic of which 2 School’ initiative. These free looks like this. and identify where the parts of the resources provide a wealth of expression are true. information, contemporary exam- Each side of the map represents the ples, exercises and puzzles for values of different Boolean variables. introducing logic to secondary In an expression we need to mark all aged students. More details about the occurrences where the expression all the resources, including videos is true. For example, the expression and an introductory PowerPoint
can be found at bit.ly/1P9TMZy. should be marked with three ones to The groups to identify can now be It’s certainly a lot quicker than a represent the bigger so we should try to capture proof using laws of Boolean algebra true parts of the adjacent groups of 8, 4, 2 or 1. You and something that is useful when expression. might think that there are two groups you want to quickly check for a Next, group all of 2 in the example, however, the fact simplified expression. the ones that you can in as large a that the BC combination is changing group as possible. On a two variable by only one bit allows us to create a A word of caution however. Applying map this could be either groups of 4, 2 larger group that wraps around the this technique in an exam situation or 1. You should aim to capture all the table. might not be an appropriate solution. ones with as few groups as possible. Some A-level specifications allow the Once this is done use of Karnaugh Maps but others we can summa- might not. The way the solution is rise each group arrived at should be based on the as a small ex- how the question is written. It may be pression. In this that simplification should be per- example we have formed using Boolean laws to gain two expressions full marks. That said, a Karnaugh A and B. Within the group, identify inputs that Map can certainly help you check Combining the smaller expressions have a constant state. In the example that the answer you get is in its mini- with an OR operator gives us the sim- above, the one variable that does this mal form. To quote Boolean logic fan plified expression A + B. is Paul Daniels: “Now that’s magic!”
21 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk State diagrams are an important way of describing what computer systems can do. The last issue of SWITCHEDON highlighted a great In the second of a new regular series, Greg way to introduce the concept; Michaelson, Professor of Computer Science at exploring the curious properties of a Herriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, illustrates multi-sided hexahexaflexagon. A the value of state diagrams. booklet describing the activity, by Suppose we want to design an inter- part of the Unified Modelling Lan- Teaching London Computing, can be active text editor. To begin with, let’s guage (UML), and are also used to downloaded from bit.ly/1mdPFAi. A concentrate on the functionality, so design both Graphicall User Interfaces diagram of the transitions is a we’re not concerned quite yet with and concurrent systems. Here, we’ll special kind of graph that can be how to use or implement it. Looking at use the UML notation where a state is thought of as a machine – a ‘finite lots of existing text editors to tease out represented as a labelled box and a state machine’. The nodes of the their common features, we observe transition between two states is a di- graph are different states the that they all provide the abilities to: rected arc labelled with the cause of flexagon can be in and the edges open a new empty file; the transition (the event) and what hap- show the actions that can be open an existing file; pens during the transition (the action). taken to move between states. It close a file; describes the computations save a file; For example, a state machine for a involved in flexing the flexagon. edit a file; light switch might look like the diagram exit the editor. below: Finite state machines (FSM) can serve as a vehicle to illustrate one of We also observe that: the core ideas of algorithms. Ma- a file that isn’t open can’t be closed; chines initiate actions based on their a file that isn’t open can’t be saved; current state and on received inputs. a closed file can’t be changed; As such, they offer another way to a changed file can’t be closed be- We can see that the light is in either a introduce programming. Rather than fore it’s been saved; state where it’s ON or a state where writing code, or assembling blocks of the editor can’t be exited so long as it’s OFF. If the light is ON and the commands, simple programs can be a changed file hasn’t been saved. switch is set to off, the bulb goes out expressed as diagrams. and the light enters the OFF state. If So a text editor can go through the the light is OFF and the switch set to Developed at following stages or states: on, then the bulb goes on and the light ETH Zurich, ready – waiting for a file to be is in the ON state. Kara the lady- opened, or to exit the editor; bird lives in a open – waiting for an open file to You could imagine turning this into a world of trees, be changed or closed; GUI. The event of switching the light leaves and changed – waiting for a changed on or off might involve toggling a but- mushrooms. file to be altered further or to be ton and the associated action might Children work saved. be to change a label from, say, black in an easy-to- (off) to white (on) and vice versa. use environ- And then the editor will change from ment without one state to another depending on If we abstract away from this diagram having to deal with the complexities what the user wants to do next. we could use it as an outline design of modern programming interfaces. for any system with two states and One goal of the project was to A very useful way to capture the tran- transitions from each to the other. ensure they could have a working sitions between the states of a sys- program expressed through a FSM tem, without focussing on the low level So, let’s now consider our text editor. within an hour. A free download details of what happens between each The state diagram, showing the three from bit.ly/1JDS0cG Kara comes with state, is with a state diagram. State states, ready, open and changed is exercises that range from simple to diagrams, which are closely related to shown in the box above right. Notice very challenging. An excellent way finite state machines, are also used that we’ve named each event with a for children to begin to appreciate in many engineering disciplines, for word. For example, we can consider that programming is but part of a much example to design control systems. In the event EDIT to be a short hand for deeper science. Roger Davies Computing, state diagrams are a key any change to the file.
SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk 22 The MVC design pattern provides a way of cleanly separating out interface and behavioural con- cerns. The Model consists of the State Diagram Outlining the underlying data structures for the Behaviour for a Text Editor problem domain, typically manipu- lated via methods. The View is the Think about the state diagram shown A very nice thing about this ap- user interface. The Control medi- above. Does it manage to capture proach is that we have separated out ates and keeps track of the inter- our intuitions about how our text edi- three things: actions between the View and the tor should function? the legal sequences of transitions Model. For example, for our editor: – the state diagram; Now, if we used this diagram as the how each event is triggered by the basis for the development of a user – the interface; Graphical User Interface, we could how each action is realised – the consider putting the labels NEW / implementation. OPEN / CLOSE / SAVE / EXIT on buttons or pull down menus. If we stick to our state diagram, we can make changes to the interface We could also restrict the display or the implementation independently and only make an event option visi- of each other, making the realisation ble or enabled when its use is appro- of the application much simpler priate for the current state, that is only when there’s an arc leading This is reminiscent of the Model- from a state labelled with the word View-Control (MVC) design pattern, for the event. Used in this fashion, articulated in the diagram (top right): the state diagram is also telling us the state diagram is the control, the how to control what the user can interface is the view and the imple- legally do. mentation is the model.
As an exercise, realise the text editor state diagram using your own choice of interface, say a command line or a GUI. Choose something simple to indicate the actions, for example displaying a message or changing a label when a state As the user interacts with the View, changes, but without actually implementing any of the actions. Once the inter- the View interacts with the Control face behaves as you expect it to, implement the actions by developing appropri- (a), which in turn interacts with the ate procedures or methods that can be called as a result of selecting each Model (b). The Model uses its event. Developing applications in this fashion allows the programmer to sepa- methods, manipulates information rate the implementation of the interface from the processing required for each in the data structures and returns action. results via the Control (c) to the View (d) for the user to see. As another exercise, construct a state diagram that explains the operation of a media player, with controls to open, play, pause and stop media, and to exit. MVC was originally developed for Then use the diagram to build an interface for the player. the early Object Oriented language Smalltalk. Note there are lots of dif- Finally use your state diagram to construct an implementation of a slide show ferent and not necessarily consistent player for images. Here, because the image sequence continues to play until takes on MVC. More about design the user pauses or stops it, it’s helpful to think about MVC and how to introduce patterns in Java, including MVC in interacting threads for each component. the tutorial at bit.ly/1P6mCtx.
23 SWITCHEDON: www.computingatschool.org.uk A crop of books in recent years give advice about interviews for tech jobs. The demand for such books is a measure of the compe- December 2015 was the 200th anniversary of Ada Love- tition for positions in sought after lace’s birth. To celebrate, the cs4fn team at Queen Mary, companies. A personal favourite is University of London joined with Oxford University, support- “Are You Smart Enough To Work ed by EPSRC, to explore Victorian computer science in At Google?”, written by the Ameri- their normal offbeat way. Issue 20 explores Ada’s work, can author and columnist William looking at where modern computing research has taken Poundstone. Whether books like her ideas, and how her work linked to the very modern idea of com- this offer practical help is debata- putational thinking. Rather than focus just on Ada, they also look at the work of ble but, being full of interesting her friends and influences, the people she influenced, and how their collective puzzles, they are a great source ideas and inventions both foresaw and provided the foundation for the age of of classroom ideas. Take, for ex- the computer a century later. ample, the hundred doors problem.
We see, for example, how Ada’s friend Charles Dickens included computing A row of 100 doors are all initially ideas in one of his novels, how Ada foresaw the challenges ahead in writing closed. You make 100 passes of programs, how Braille was a precursor to the way we represent characters in all the doors. The first time binary, how Ada’s ideas about computational modelling of the way the human through you visit every door and body works is becoming a reality, and how she also saw the benefits of citizen toggle it (the door is closed so science and crowdsourcing. Ada was friends with a whole host of important open it). The second pass only intellectuals. These Victorian pioneers, friends and colleagues together had a visits every 2nd door (doors 2, 4, vision of computer science that is still only just being realised. Download your 6...), so even numbered doors copy from bit.ly/1YOoKMp. are closed. The third time, every 3rd door (3, 6, 9..) etc., until you only visit the 100th door. Which doors are open after the last pass? QuickStart Computing, the CAS Toolkit supporting the new Computing curriculum, has been shortlisted in the Free We could approach this problem Digital Content / Open Educational Resource (content mathematically. After all, doors suite) category of the BETT Awards, 2016. Launched at will be visited on passes that are BETT last year, the primary and secondary kits offer mate- factors of their number. So door rial to colleagues develop new schemes. Funded by the DfE 28 will be visited on pass 1, pass and Microsoft they can be downloaded from bit.ly/1R88AaS. 2, pass 4, pass 7, pass 14 and pass 28. An even number of vis- its will return the door to its origi- nal closed state. Given this in- sight, we could, of course, labori- ously calculate the state for every door. As all divisors come in pairs (1 x 28, 2 x 14 and 4 x 7) stu- Computing At School was born out of our excitement with the discipline, combined with a dents may think all doors will fin- serious concern that students are being turned off computing by a combination of factors. SWITCHEDON is published each term. We welcome comments, suggestions and items for ish in their original state, but this inclusion in future issues. Our goal is to put the fun back into computing at school. Will you isn’t the case. help us? Send contributions to [email protected]
Many thanks to the following for help and information in this issue: Richard Asher, Jo A better approach might be to write Badge, Phil Bagge, Irene Bell, Miles Berry, Paul Curzon, Claire Davenport, Roger Davies, Stuart a short program (using just 2 loops Davison, Lorna Elkes, Remi Gauvain, Emma Goto, Sue Gray, Jonathon Hocker, Dave Honess, and an array) and investigate the Lyndsay Hope, Simon Humphreys, Simon Johnson, Cat Lamin, David Levy, Dawn McMaster, Greg Michaelson, Emma Norton, Adrian Oldknow, Carrie-Anne Philbin, Maria Quevedo, Siobhan output pattern. Most will spot the Ramsey, Theresa Russell, Marc Scott, Andrew Shields, Sue Sentance, John Stout, Alec Titterton, doors remaining open are square Nicholas Tollervey, Yvonne Walker, Jane Watkivs, Louise Weisbloom. and Michel Wermelinger. numbers since only one toggle is used for two divisors e.g 3 x 3. www.computingatschool.org.uk
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