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Showing posts from July, 2017

Coding Instructional Approaches

The benefits of learning programming or coding in schools are quickly becoming accepted by education professionals. As more studies point to the cross-curricular applications of computational thinking skills, teachers of all certifications and licenses are starting to seek out resources, coding instruction programs, and extra curricular opportunities to provide learners with the opportunity to learn these skills. Given this uptick in teaching computer science, it’s imperative that educators understand instructional approaches for coding. Let’s take a look at two different approaches and a third that I’d like to propose. Some Clarification Before we dive into coding instructional approaches, let me clarify a couple of important points. I strongly believe young learners should learn code and algorithmic thinking skills, but programming alone does not constitute computer science education. Therefore a true computer science education requires attention to more practices than jus...

micro:bit Fireworks with Python

I used the MicroPython editor to program a fireworks animation that controls the brightness of the LEDs as the firework explodes on the LED display. For young computer science students, this is a great introduction to text-based programming, arrays, and animating LEDs. Code # Display message and show pacman with firework option from microbit import * firework1 = Image("00000:00000:00000:00000:00200") firework2 = Image("00000:00000:00000:00200:00100") firework3 = Image("00000:00000:00200:00100:00000") firework4 = Image("00000:00000:00900:00000:00000") firework5 = Image("00000:07870:08580:07870:00000") firework6 = Image("60706:01210:72127:01210:60706") firework7 = Image("30503:00000:50005:00000:30503") firework8 = Image("10201:00000:20002:00000:10201") all_firework = [firework1, firework2, firework3, firework4, firework5, firework6, firework7, firework8] while True: if button_a.is_pressed(): ...

Coding & Making in Ed Tech

I attended the 2017 ISTE Conference in San Antonio where I had the privilege to explore the latest trends and movement in educational technology. New platforms for teaching computer science skills to new technologies, like virtual and augmented reality, are really taking off in education. But is that enough? Virtual & Augmented Reality Let me get these two technologies out of the way first. Virtual reality puts learners in another environment. When they put on VR goggles or use a smartphone with the popularly cost-efficient Google Cardboard , students are given access to new worlds and locations they might never get to explore in real life. Virtual reality, I believe, is still in its infancy, both in the consumer and educational markets. Currently in education, I see virtual reality used to take students on virtual field trips. They can explore national monuments, tour the Louvre in Paris, or visit animals deep in the Pacific Ocean. In addition to exploring our world, other ...