Please Let Me Know of Any Computing Blog Posts That Can Be Added Here
This is a crowd-sourced document to show resources that are available for the proposed computing curriculum. Share this document with anyone who will find it useful!
Please let me know of any computing blog posts that can be added here
http://carryonlearning.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-proposed-computing-curriculum.html
Lots of ipad apps have been collated here http://www.ipadsinprimary.co.uk/control-and-programming
Please add comments - or links to existing ideas. Add more rows if necessary.
Key Stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
1. understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructions
2. write and test simple programs
3. use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
4. organise, store, manipulate and retrieve data in a range of digital formats
5. communicate safely and respectfully online, keeping personal information private, and recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.
Strand / Resources / Synopsis / Added by1,2,3 / Beebots / Programmable floor robots. For more information try
or do a google search! Lots out there!
Great beebot idea book at
TTS http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1721943/Bee-Bot-Book/ / @SheliBB
1, 2, 3 / Beebots app on ipad / Program our favourite beebot on the ipad. Two apps available / @SheliBB
1, 2, 3 / Daisy dino / ipad app that allows you to learn the basics of programming by animating Daisy / @SheliBB
1, 2, 3 / Flobot / Sherston software - my children love it! Get Flobot dancing / @SheliBB
1, 2, 3 / Cargobot (ipad) / Teach a ‘Cargobot’ to move crates with simple commands / @SheliBB
Textease turtle / look at and use the examples (e.g. Floppy's walk) then create your own to go with what your children are learning. For example, we will be programming the Gruffalo to get back to his cave. / @SheliBB
Roamer / if you have these in school, use them! Useful support resources here http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/kentict/kentict_ct_roam_index.cfm / @sheliBB
Kodu / 3D environment with simple programming tools, ideal for game development. Good tutorials built in. / @mberry
1 / Lego Models (or other construction toys) / Teach students to follow a series of instructions in the same way that a computer program executes code. / @eslweb
1,2 / Blind Navigation / In a safe environment blindfold (or ask a student to follow instructions exactly.) a student and ask pupils to create instructions to move around the room. For children who cannot write confidently use arrows and steps. / @eslweb
4 / Media trials / Bring in a USB stick, CD-RW, DVD-RW, access to cloud storage (E.g. Google Drive) and an external hard drive. Then conduct an experiment to store a small file or picture. Ask children which is the easiest to do, how they can share the files with each other, how fast it is and how breakable each device is. Also do a Maths lesson with MB, GB and TB. Show them how much each drive can store. Perhaps with bricks or sand to show relative sizes. / @eslweb
1,2,3 / Scratchel / New problem solving approach to introduce students to computer programming through MIT Scratch with Funky robots. New problems ranging in difficulty added each week / @dcallanit
1 / Sandwich Bot (Could do with graphical instructions/cards for younger children, but it’s a start) / Students begin to understand how algorithms work by creating sandwiches and the teacher is a sandwich bot / @eslweb
3 / Computer games / Most would work well here - playing a computer game is often about figuring out how it will respond to what you do. You’re essentially trying to reverse engineer some aspects of its algorithm. Start simple, get harder. / @mberry
4 / Most application software / Using most programs involves retrieving data, manipulating it and then storing it. I think one could build understanding rather than mere skills by looking at how the data gets stored. Try opening files in text or hex editors to get a feel for how the program stores its data.
You could have (significant levels) lots of fun playing around with hex for image files, and seeing what effect this has - a quick step to steganography and hiding secret messages inside a bmp. / @mberry
1 / Pack of cards (digit cards would be good, or just a set with random numbers on) / Lots of opportunities for getting pupils to think creatively about algorithmic solutions. cards with the smallest difference? Competitive group work - Which table can find the smallest number? Which table can put the cards in order fastest? Which table can find the two From here to working on lists in Scratch is a big, but not insurmountable step. / @mberry
1,2,3, / Pixies / programmable floor robots - more controls than beebots, easier than roamers / @traceyab1
1 / PE / devise series of instructions eg if you find blue spot then jump 10 times etc to familiarise with some basic algorithmic lang - early Kudo / @traceyab1
1,2,3 / Lego Weedo / build model following instructions and then program to move (software with easy instructions) / @traceyab1
4 / old fashioned paper data cards / Nothing shows children more clearly how a computer works than them being able to do it themselves man ually. Start with a basic block graph eg fav sport - Pose question like how many girls liked football? How many 7 year olds liked bowling? so they see the need for a more refined data handling system.
Get them to fill in a data card with series of fields. Create same block graph again but now children can see answers to other questions. Manually sort cards in various ways
Then show how this looks on computer using software eg 2simple 2Investigate / @traceyab1
4 / giant branching tree created on carpet using paper and items
eg sports equipment/toy animals / as above - manually get children to find a question with yes/no answer to sort objects - create giant branching tree on carpet using strips of paper, YES/NO cards .
Children manually move objects past questions along the correct branches. Then show how this looks on computer eg using …... / @traceyab1
5 / safer internet day / range of resources on http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/guest/sid-2013 / @traceyab1
use school photocopiers, digital cameras etc / general experience of how a certain sequence of buttons makes something work in a particular way
(continuing from FS) / @traceyab1
1,2,3 / Charlie chimp’s modelling party / On the computers and ipads. My children like it! / @sheliBB
1,2,3 / Cato’s hike
ALEX / Two great ipad apps shared by @skinnyboyevans on his blog / @sheliBB
1,3,4 / The Magic Cloud / Simple Pc software, lets children choose what multimedia happens if their tagged object is placed on a soft cloud cushion (usb). Creative intro to computing and 'what if' possibilities. / @plingtoys
1,2,3 / 2go (In the Infant Video Toolkit in the 2Simple collection) / ● In pairs, one describes how to draw a shape or letter from a card or whiteboard, partner follows instructions and compares
● Getting from A to B - use the backgrounds to plot a route
● Turn on the extra features (Ctrl, Shift + O) to allow programming of sequences for more able - plan the whole route before trying. / @ngcbrown
2 Control NXT / ● NXT Robot - build your own courses to navigate using the onscreen lego blocks
● Logo - Move onto written commands (and sequences) using Logo language / @ngcbrown
Key Stage 2
Pupils should be taught to:
1. design and write programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
2. use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output; generate appropriate inputs and predicted outputs to test programs
3. use logical reasoning to how a simple algorithm works and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
4. understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the world-wide web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
5. describe how internet search engines find and store data; use search engines effectively; be discerning in evaluating digital content; respect individuals and intellectual property; use technology responsibly, securely and safely
6. select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.
Strand / Resources / Synopsis / Added by4,5,6 / Mozilla Hackasarus / Use basic coding skills to mash up existing web pages. Easy to follow site that walks you through your hack / @SheliBB
4,5,6 / Mozilla Thimble / Create web pages whilst learning basic principles of code. / @SheliBB
5,6 / Mozilla Popcorn
1, 2, 3 / Kodu / A great free resource to create and play your own games. Easy to follow tutorials (part of the program) guide you through your learning. This resource needs downloading. / @SheliBB
1, 2, 3, 4 / Scratch / Free resource to download. Use basic programming skills to create games, animations and more. Start with the scratch cards and check out Simon Haughton’s blog for more ideas. / @SheliBB
TouchDevelop / Lovely web-based platform for developing cross platform apps, without the need for typing. A good bridge between Scratch (etc) and text based programming. Again, good tutorials built in, and the facility to create your own interactive tutorials. / @mberry
4 / Edmodo / Great free resource to introduce safe and easy networking for children / @SheliBB
Roamer
1,2,3,4,5,6 / Scratchel / New problem solving approach to introduce students to computer programming through MIT Scratch with Funky robots. New problems ranging in difficulty added each week / @dcallanit
Textease turtle
Lego wedo
1,4,6 / Sketchup / Teach students to design 3D graphics. Resources available here. Can also be used to show how students can collaborate via the Sketchup Warehouse. / @eslweb
1, 2,3 / Big Trak / Teach sequences of instructions to navigate obstacle courses. / @eslweb
5 / The Manual search engine (Dictionary Search) / 1. Ask students to do a manual search for a word.
2. They then look it up in a dictionary.
3. Use a dictionary program or Spreadsheet to show how a computer finds it.
4. Tell pupils that Google uses something called Pagerank, which finds all the results and then sorts them by popularity. So a search for Dinosaur would give you the most popular page. / @eslweb
5 / Teacher/School Search / Ask the students to search for their teachers or school in Google. Do these results show the teacher or school in a good light? What should be done to make sure that the wrong things do not appear online? How should children be very careful? (Please check searches in advance to avoid embarrassment) / @eslweb
5 / Give Us a Clue / Choose a busy picture with children in it. Ask the children what they can tell about the children from the picture. Once they have established what can be found out, ask them to think about pictures they have online and how they could be giving away their personal identities. Encourage them to establish rules for what they post online.
/ @eslweb
2,3 / Codea / Real textual coding on the iPad, which created the Cargo bots. (LUA) / @eslweb
4 / Minecraft / Encourage children to set up their own Servers on Minecraft and then ask them what is the difference between a server on their local network and one on the Internet. (Should be faster) This can be done on PCs, iPads, Raspberry Pis etc. / @eslweb
4,2 / Minecraftedu / Use the educational mod (officially sanctioned) for Minecraft. Contains many tools to help guide structured yet open-ended learning / @sharland
1,2,3 / Computercraft Mod with MinecraftEdu / Use the computercraft mod with Minecraftedu (or vanilla Minecraft) to add programmable computers, turtles etc. Using the language Lua pupils can quickly learn basic programming concepts such as if, while, for and many other concepts in an engaging scenario. / @sharland
3, / Computer Science Unplugged / A whole scheme of work to teach computing without computers. Excellent! Suitable for KS1 (ish) and KS3 too. / @MrAColley
3 / Computational thinking games / Online games to help pupils understand how decomposition, patterns, abstraction & algorithms work. / @MrAColley
4 / Packetville / Show students how a network works and how data flows around the Internet. Lots of fun with cartoon games, but note that this is a CISCO branded activity / @eslweb
2 / Wacker Art Fractal Generator or the slower, but prettier Java Fractal Generators (Both require Java, but there are iPad apps available) / Generate fractals. Students can directly see the results of the variables that they input and look for patterns to see how the maths repeats to generate these beautiful pictures. / @eslweb
4 / Draw my school network (Google Drawings, Gliffy or pen and paper.) / Students take a tour of the school to see how all the computers are connected. It could be wired, wireless, there could be Switches or routers and a connection to the Internet. Students then draw a network diagram. (Perhaps ask the school technician to conduct the tour.)