I think sometimes, probably more often than not.
I have a favourite youtube video, it is one that apple made that get staff to think about where they see themselves in their school, what makes it great. It is called, Think ahead.
I like the end part of the video, where it has three statements;
Think big,
Thing bold,
Think ahead.
Do we think big sometimes or do we crush our dreams, ambitions, that teachable moment,
Do we think bold enough, or do we just think regular?
Thinking ahead, with so many unknowns, are we able to think ahead.
We have so many choices, options in our classes, are we able? What is the final goal?
Also, I want to put this out there, is it something that should be explored?
This is just an blue sky idea at the moment,
I want to try something different with the year 9 ict class in term 4
I want to use myportfolio.school.nz with yours and mine year 9 students, just to get them to look at what they have done during school that week.
I want them to blog once a week, I know that you are doing with with your seniors, but i also see that we are going to have to do this next year with our junior ict classes.
The simple questions:
What have you done this week?
What went well?
What didn't go well?
What could you improve?
What are you doing next?
Though i would love too see some of these questions more focussed around justin hinds key competency PowerPoint.
I see atoned 20 minutes of there lesson being used for this, it will also mean I have something to go to Peter with and work around getting more time in year 10 classes if he sees that there is other benefits from the course.
This can be started by the students focussing on there learning in our class, but I can see it opening up to what is working well in the school, I also see it opening up to some interesting experiences around project 72 and getting the students to reflect on there experience.
As i said this is only a blue sky idea at the moment, there is still some thinking to be done.
I am also looking at this as being a way to work out on how to embed practice in the school when we get the net books, imagine period 5 on a wendesday when all year 9 and/or year 10 students jump online to blog about there week at school.
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Top 25 Ed Tech trends
1. Touch Screens
Taking touch screens out of fast food establishments, and making that software affordable for every classroom and new device is long overdue. Touch Screens are here, and if it takes a few more dollars to add the feature—do it. Whether on notebooks, whiteboard, slates, or displays—touch is intuitive.
Taking touch screens out of fast food establishments, and making that software affordable for every classroom and new device is long overdue. Touch Screens are here, and if it takes a few more dollars to add the feature—do it. Whether on notebooks, whiteboard, slates, or displays—touch is intuitive.
2. 3D Technology
There are different ways of doing 3D, with glasses, on display screen, one or two projectors. This technology is improving, so that it is now a viable classroom tool. The curriculum for 3D lags, but should catch up as more developers get education serious about this teaching tool.
There are different ways of doing 3D, with glasses, on display screen, one or two projectors. This technology is improving, so that it is now a viable classroom tool. The curriculum for 3D lags, but should catch up as more developers get education serious about this teaching tool.
3. Cloud Environments
Making teacher and student desktops 24/7 Web-available is only part of what a cloud environment can offer. This is not just having a tech product online; it is looking at delivering useful and seamless tech solutions, and at an incredibly low price. Naysayers present the data safety issue, but there are solutions there, too. Looking to the clouds is happening. Discussions are needed to define it better, but it certainly is something district leaders can understand.
Making teacher and student desktops 24/7 Web-available is only part of what a cloud environment can offer. This is not just having a tech product online; it is looking at delivering useful and seamless tech solutions, and at an incredibly low price. Naysayers present the data safety issue, but there are solutions there, too. Looking to the clouds is happening. Discussions are needed to define it better, but it certainly is something district leaders can understand.
4. Cell Phones/Smartphones
You can’t even call them phones anymore. They are handheld computers, with more capability than most computing devices in schools today. Preventing their use at schools isn’t an option. Some schools will provide them, and other schools will figure out how to manage student-owned.
You can’t even call them phones anymore. They are handheld computers, with more capability than most computing devices in schools today. Preventing their use at schools isn’t an option. Some schools will provide them, and other schools will figure out how to manage student-owned.
5. Apps
How many apps do you have? Good question to ask students, teachers, and administrators today. Life is getting easier for developers of apps, which until recently used to be too tightly controlled by a few very large companies. The race is on to create more, and on the education side—educators and students will benefit. Apps can easily supply everything from a measurement converter to a student magazine subscription.
How many apps do you have? Good question to ask students, teachers, and administrators today. Life is getting easier for developers of apps, which until recently used to be too tightly controlled by a few very large companies. The race is on to create more, and on the education side—educators and students will benefit. Apps can easily supply everything from a measurement converter to a student magazine subscription.
6. WiFi and Broadband
There are still many places where a connection to the Internet is better with a string attached to two cans, but it’s getting better. Figuring out how to get the Internet, which is now pretty much part of an education right, has the attention of the big broadband firms, but needs a nudge to get the discussion revved up. Yes, it may require a bit of Washington help for that, too.
There are still many places where a connection to the Internet is better with a string attached to two cans, but it’s getting better. Figuring out how to get the Internet, which is now pretty much part of an education right, has the attention of the big broadband firms, but needs a nudge to get the discussion revved up. Yes, it may require a bit of Washington help for that, too.
7. GUI/UI
GUI (pronounced gooey), or graphical user interface is not new. Many non-geeks use the term today, because that’s what separates software and hardware from those that are great to use, and those that are impossible to use. For kids and teachers it may be under the hood tech, but companies that get the GUI right and make it easy—sell products. Running something out of the box has gotten realistic—and expected.
GUI (pronounced gooey), or graphical user interface is not new. Many non-geeks use the term today, because that’s what separates software and hardware from those that are great to use, and those that are impossible to use. For kids and teachers it may be under the hood tech, but companies that get the GUI right and make it easy—sell products. Running something out of the box has gotten realistic—and expected.
8. Slates/Tablets/Convertibles
The modern day slate, whether used with a stylus or finger touch has become another way to teach a class from anywhere in the class, and to get students away from desks, too. Convertible devices offering a tablet attached to a laptop present a more traditional way to go. There will soon be more slate devices to choose, and when the pricing gets appropriately low—that will make a difference for districts.
The modern day slate, whether used with a stylus or finger touch has become another way to teach a class from anywhere in the class, and to get students away from desks, too. Convertible devices offering a tablet attached to a laptop present a more traditional way to go. There will soon be more slate devices to choose, and when the pricing gets appropriately low—that will make a difference for districts.
9. Netbooks
These light-running Web machines can’t be considered new anymore, but they continue to be great student computing devices. They’re inexpensive, and their battery life is almost scary-long.
These light-running Web machines can’t be considered new anymore, but they continue to be great student computing devices. They’re inexpensive, and their battery life is almost scary-long.
10. Response Systems
Many companies have jumped into the response system market. These little gadgets once were just voting or polling devices, but now there are texting solutions, too. With a little practice, most teachers can gather data—on the fly—during a lesson—and report the findings immediately, redirect teaching, and finally upload it all to grading or an SIS location.
Many companies have jumped into the response system market. These little gadgets once were just voting or polling devices, but now there are texting solutions, too. With a little practice, most teachers can gather data—on the fly—during a lesson—and report the findings immediately, redirect teaching, and finally upload it all to grading or an SIS location.
11. Interactive Presentation Solutions
We’re moving away from linking the word interactive with just one piece of hardware. The key today is having a total interactive solution in a classroom. That could be a whiteboard solution, along with teacher stations, a tablet, a projector, a document camera, and teamed up with devices in student hands. Don’t forget audio and media controls, as well as dynamic software for lessons and tying everything together.
We’re moving away from linking the word interactive with just one piece of hardware. The key today is having a total interactive solution in a classroom. That could be a whiteboard solution, along with teacher stations, a tablet, a projector, a document camera, and teamed up with devices in student hands. Don’t forget audio and media controls, as well as dynamic software for lessons and tying everything together.
12. Paperless Solutions
Most think printing less when thinking paperless. Now, if you’re a printer company, that doesn’t necessarily, keep you off a top trend list. Multifunction is the name of the game. While it’s true that printers still print, multifunction machines can do much more. They are becoming district, school, and teacher management devices. Beyond scanning documents, the “new printers” can create assessments, score them, and input data into student information systems, as well as e-mail the information to parents. Many districts are setting them up to manage district forms.
Most think printing less when thinking paperless. Now, if you’re a printer company, that doesn’t necessarily, keep you off a top trend list. Multifunction is the name of the game. While it’s true that printers still print, multifunction machines can do much more. They are becoming district, school, and teacher management devices. Beyond scanning documents, the “new printers” can create assessments, score them, and input data into student information systems, as well as e-mail the information to parents. Many districts are setting them up to manage district forms.
13. Education Communities
Whether it’s a few teachers creating a personal learning network (PLN), or many teachers joining larger organizations—teaching communities are a must. Education companies know that, and are offering, or thinking of offering these communities as part of purchasing packages. Beyond teacher chats and videos on how to use a particular product, the resources, and lessons/templates make them worthwhile. The best of these are all educator, and the worst can be merely commercials. Avoiding the latter brings educators and districts back for more.
Whether it’s a few teachers creating a personal learning network (PLN), or many teachers joining larger organizations—teaching communities are a must. Education companies know that, and are offering, or thinking of offering these communities as part of purchasing packages. Beyond teacher chats and videos on how to use a particular product, the resources, and lessons/templates make them worthwhile. The best of these are all educator, and the worst can be merely commercials. Avoiding the latter brings educators and districts back for more.
14. Resource Portals Educators
love links (URLs) to resources they can use. While hunting for URLS in a traditional search can benefit the few, who are good detectives, having sites that are dedicated to posting great and useful resources for educators are bookmarked and shared. Go to resource portals pay off.
love links (URLs) to resources they can use. While hunting for URLS in a traditional search can benefit the few, who are good detectives, having sites that are dedicated to posting great and useful resources for educators are bookmarked and shared. Go to resource portals pay off.
15. Professional Development
Professional development delivery methods have changed, and more companies are offering it. Whether specific or general, educators expect professional development, and administrators plan how to deliver it. More and more, professional development has moved out from the four walls and to the 24/7 delivery method. Video plays an important part. Schools no longer need to be closed, nor substitute coverage provided, so workshops can happen.
Professional development delivery methods have changed, and more companies are offering it. Whether specific or general, educators expect professional development, and administrators plan how to deliver it. More and more, professional development has moved out from the four walls and to the 24/7 delivery method. Video plays an important part. Schools no longer need to be closed, nor substitute coverage provided, so workshops can happen.
16. Alert/Notification Solutions
Contacting everyone, whether it’s just a simple message about an open house, a need to close school due to weather, or emergencies, such as a lock down situation is a necessity. There is no way a school secretary can do that today. Tying SIS, parent contact information, school/district communication, and doing it in many ways, and in many languages has to happen—immediately. These solutions have become quicker and more robust. If your district is talking security cameras on buildings, they’re also talking alert and notification systems.
Contacting everyone, whether it’s just a simple message about an open house, a need to close school due to weather, or emergencies, such as a lock down situation is a necessity. There is no way a school secretary can do that today. Tying SIS, parent contact information, school/district communication, and doing it in many ways, and in many languages has to happen—immediately. These solutions have become quicker and more robust. If your district is talking security cameras on buildings, they’re also talking alert and notification systems.
17. Online Courses/Virtual Schools
Going online for courses used to be just for credit recovery and distance learning. It still works for getting more kids across the graduation stage, and filling in for lost classes due to budget cuts, but virtual learning is now considered mainstream. There are many reasons, including more individualized attention, great video demonstrations, and interactive lessons, but the bottom line is that for many students, offering learning 24/7, away from the 4 traditional walls—works. The virtual student population is growing.
Going online for courses used to be just for credit recovery and distance learning. It still works for getting more kids across the graduation stage, and filling in for lost classes due to budget cuts, but virtual learning is now considered mainstream. There are many reasons, including more individualized attention, great video demonstrations, and interactive lessons, but the bottom line is that for many students, offering learning 24/7, away from the 4 traditional walls—works. The virtual student population is growing.
18. Video Conferencing Solutions
Gone are the days of expensive tools to do video conferencing with other classes, schools, and countries. Almost every computing device is set up to do it today—and to do it easily. Some companies are providing better hardware to do it, too. The difference today, over the “can you hear me now” software and hardware experiences of the past—is it works—and you don’t have to be a computer guru to do it.
Gone are the days of expensive tools to do video conferencing with other classes, schools, and countries. Almost every computing device is set up to do it today—and to do it easily. Some companies are providing better hardware to do it, too. The difference today, over the “can you hear me now” software and hardware experiences of the past—is it works—and you don’t have to be a computer guru to do it.
19. Social Media
You may not agree that social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter have a place in schools, but they are becoming a simple connection for educators nationally and internationally. Sharing a lesson, a link, a suggestion, a how to, or just a hang in there on Twitter or Facebook has become part of an educator’s daily routine. As for use in the classroom, that’s still up for debate.
You may not agree that social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter have a place in schools, but they are becoming a simple connection for educators nationally and internationally. Sharing a lesson, a link, a suggestion, a how to, or just a hang in there on Twitter or Facebook has become part of an educator’s daily routine. As for use in the classroom, that’s still up for debate.
20. Battery Life
We need to thank some incredible tech experimentation for a lot, but more than anything for the boost in battery life. First probably noticeable in netbooks, it is almost unreal to think we’ve gone from batteries that would maybe go an hour to those that are pushing past 10. This is great news for the 6-hour school day, and back-to-back class schedules.
We need to thank some incredible tech experimentation for a lot, but more than anything for the boost in battery life. First probably noticeable in netbooks, it is almost unreal to think we’ve gone from batteries that would maybe go an hour to those that are pushing past 10. This is great news for the 6-hour school day, and back-to-back class schedules.
21. Video
Everyone can do video today. Just as everyone learned digital photography and simple editing, video options are becoming necessities. Many educators think of video as an expected component to daily lessons—certainly their students do. There are companies that fill video needs for those lessons, and it has become increasingly easy for teachers and students to add their own.
Everyone can do video today. Just as everyone learned digital photography and simple editing, video options are becoming necessities. Many educators think of video as an expected component to daily lessons—certainly their students do. There are companies that fill video needs for those lessons, and it has become increasingly easy for teachers and students to add their own.
22. Security, Network Guarding and Management
Making networks secure and keeping students cyber safe can keep district tech leaders up at night. Options for gate keeping a district’s tech investment at a central location, using fewer tech support specialists can do it, and without breaking the bank. Classroom management tools can do the same for labs and classroom environments, where the number of computers to control has increased, and down time is not an option. It has also made it possible to create thin client computing environments that have no lag in computing power. Stringing together many monitors off of one sufficiently set up computer can be budget smart.
Making networks secure and keeping students cyber safe can keep district tech leaders up at night. Options for gate keeping a district’s tech investment at a central location, using fewer tech support specialists can do it, and without breaking the bank. Classroom management tools can do the same for labs and classroom environments, where the number of computers to control has increased, and down time is not an option. It has also made it possible to create thin client computing environments that have no lag in computing power. Stringing together many monitors off of one sufficiently set up computer can be budget smart.
23. Assessment and RTI
Assessment and what to do with them continues to be the big education question,. Today, there are many methods and ways competing to most effectively test and prescribe to student needs. There is always the overhanging warning to poorly performing districts and schools as well, which keeps RTI providers on their toes. Some companies have added assessment and response to intervention to their solutions, while other companies provide it as their sole solution. While it’s a district preference and choice, all are Web-based today, because keeping data in a file drawer doesn’t get it shared—and acted upon.
Assessment and what to do with them continues to be the big education question,. Today, there are many methods and ways competing to most effectively test and prescribe to student needs. There is always the overhanging warning to poorly performing districts and schools as well, which keeps RTI providers on their toes. Some companies have added assessment and response to intervention to their solutions, while other companies provide it as their sole solution. While it’s a district preference and choice, all are Web-based today, because keeping data in a file drawer doesn’t get it shared—and acted upon.
24. District Websites, Blogs, Branding and Media
How a community perceives a district is important. Creating a public presence demands that a district and school have online place. It can’t be stagnant; it must be active. Media and branding are good for businesses, and also for education. Some districts have people who can do these things internally, but there are a number of companies that can help create a very professional look for districts to share with the community. The key is that these sites need to share, but also look professional today. Gone are the days of slap something up—just to get there. Today, the Website represents the district more than ever.
How a community perceives a district is important. Creating a public presence demands that a district and school have online place. It can’t be stagnant; it must be active. Media and branding are good for businesses, and also for education. Some districts have people who can do these things internally, but there are a number of companies that can help create a very professional look for districts to share with the community. The key is that these sites need to share, but also look professional today. Gone are the days of slap something up—just to get there. Today, the Website represents the district more than ever.
25. eReaders
Some would argue that a netbook would be better than an eReader in class, because it can do more. Well, if you just want something to fill a reading need in class, or in a resource room, an eReading device makes sense. Downloading books is simple and inexpensive, and eReaders are easy to use. Look for more of them in class. It’s always about using the right education tool for the right situation.
Some would argue that a netbook would be better than an eReader in class, because it can do more. Well, if you just want something to fill a reading need in class, or in a resource room, an eReading device makes sense. Downloading books is simple and inexpensive, and eReaders are easy to use. Look for more of them in class. It’s always about using the right education tool for the right situation.
Note: Thank you Nano Tech
Small is definitely better. Devices, screen sizes, and gadgets are smaller—taking up less classroom real estate. Teachers, students and administrators are pretty much wearing technology today.
Small is definitely better. Devices, screen sizes, and gadgets are smaller—taking up less classroom real estate. Teachers, students and administrators are pretty much wearing technology today.
from http://blogs.scholastic.com/royaltreatment/2010/09/top-25-ed-tech-trends.html
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Guidelines for Effective Adolescent Literacy Instruction
Guidelines for Effective Adolescent Literacy Instruction
(GEALI'S)
I am posting them up on my blog as I cannot find any description of information anywhere else about these. They have been made up by a provider - team solutions
1. Instruction provides students with extensive opportunities to engage with a wide range of appropriately challenging written text.
2. Instruction is differentiated to address individual literacy need, interests & experiences.
3. Effective literacy instruction clarifies and shares literacy learning intentions and criteria for success.
4. Instruction provides students with specific feedback about the language aspect(s) of their learning.
5. Instruction supports students to make effective use of how texts are organised (e.g. heading, different paragraph structures).
6. Instruction develops students’ skill to make links to prior knowledge and/or build necessary background knowledge
7. Instruction develops students’ vocabulary and vocabulary-solving skills.
8. Instruction develops students’ skills to employ key comprehension strategies.
9. Instruction develops students’ skills to flexibly use and integrate written, oral, and visual modes.
10. Instruction develops students’ skills in both receptive and productive language use.
11. Instruction develops students’ skills to engage with text beyond a literal/factual level.
(GEALI'S)
I am posting them up on my blog as I cannot find any description of information anywhere else about these. They have been made up by a provider - team solutions
1. Instruction provides students with extensive opportunities to engage with a wide range of appropriately challenging written text.
2. Instruction is differentiated to address individual literacy need, interests & experiences.
3. Effective literacy instruction clarifies and shares literacy learning intentions and criteria for success.
4. Instruction provides students with specific feedback about the language aspect(s) of their learning.
5. Instruction supports students to make effective use of how texts are organised (e.g. heading, different paragraph structures).
6. Instruction develops students’ skill to make links to prior knowledge and/or build necessary background knowledge
7. Instruction develops students’ vocabulary and vocabulary-solving skills.
8. Instruction develops students’ skills to employ key comprehension strategies.
9. Instruction develops students’ skills to flexibly use and integrate written, oral, and visual modes.
10. Instruction develops students’ skills in both receptive and productive language use.
11. Instruction develops students’ skills to engage with text beyond a literal/factual level.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
m-learning and class
Sorry, I don't really know what title this would come under, but I came across this today on twitter from someone,
november- classwork should become homework and vice versa with the cellphone being the backpack. now that idea can blow room full of minds! http://twitter.com/nathanmarting/status/20316649851
it has got me thinking and I hopefully will come back to this blog and reflect on the statement a little more
it is from a presenter that works here http://novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/
november- classwork should become homework and vice versa with the cellphone being the backpack. now that idea can blow room full of minds! http://twitter.com/nathanmarting/status/20316649851
it has got me thinking and I hopefully will come back to this blog and reflect on the statement a little more
it is from a presenter that works here http://novemberlearning.com/resources/archive-of-articles/digital-learning-farm/
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
subject option choice .8a
carried out changes to the database and index page due to the changes of levels instead of years. Some stuff to still do surronding information that will be displayed to the students. Preloading of some students subjects needs to occur, this is the new6 field in the students table.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
mlearning
I went to a conference on Wednesday about mlearning, this was through the university of waikato.
One of the sessions I went to has still got me thinking.
Ahh, the slide that almost got me in some serious trouble, the first brown line in this slide talks about a digital curriculum.
One of the sessions I went to has still got me thinking.
these were some of the questions that were posed to us in groups. some of these I would love to use with teachers in some ICTPD later in this term.
Monday, 28 June 2010
scratch resources
I am about to embark on something different,
1) Programming concepts and skills supported in scratch(pdf) (doc)
What problem solving, project design skills, fundamental ideas about computers and programming, and specific programming concepts does Scratch support (and for the latter does not support)? This is an excellent summary, highly recommended, you need to download for the examples (code snippets) provided too, which are really good. Also notethis discussion thread on the Scratch forum about this document, especially the comments by kevin karplus and responses by natalie, the document author, to his suggestions
Scratch supports these Specific Programming Concepts:
sequence, iteration (looping), conditional statements, variables, threads (parallel execution), synchronisation, real-time interaction, boolean logic, random numbers, event handling, user interface design
Scratch does not currently support data structures (arrays, etc.), procedures and functions, recursion, inheritance, defining classes of objects, exception handling, parameter passing and return values, text input, file input/output
2) Scratch Programming Projects
Ten excellent projects described in just the right amount of detail, with requirements and extras:
Introductory tutorial, clearly explained with screenshots
4) Comparison of different languages (thread in Scratch forum)
This comment by pkimelma presents a well thought out sequence for teaching Scratch using a games theme.
Other comments in this thread compare Scratch with Phrogram (which has 3D graphics), Alice, Starlogo and others.
5) Kevin and Abe Karplus Scratch page looks to have a nice collection of scratch exemplars
resources of ideas for development by students
1) Use the Letter shapes to write your first name on the page. Then introduce some special effects such as making the letters wobble and change their appearance.
2) Point, click and move
Make an object both point and glide towards the mouse position when you click on the stage
Hint: Motion > point towards
Hint: Sensing > mouse down?
3) Make Dan or Anjuli or Cassy or ballerina dance to a beat, using all of their dance shapes. Include a suitable background that changes colours as the lights flash.
4a) Make two animals have a forwards and backwards conversation
Hint: Use broadcast, (ask for help if you don’t know how broadcast works)
4b) Make it an interesting conversation with each animal speaking at least 3 times and making gestures too
5) Make a sprite gradually grow in size and then shrink
6) Make 2 different balls move around on the stage
a) the first ball moves in straight lines but bounces randomly whenever it hits the edge
b) the second moves randomly, gliding from one position to a new random position continually
7a) One sprite chases another sprite around the stage. The first sprite moves in straight line but bounces off the edge randomly. The chasing sprite chases the first sprite but is moving slower.
b) Extension – if the chasing sprite catches the other sprite then it says something sensible and makes a suitable sound
8a) Play all the different drum sounds automatically
Hint: create a variable for the drum number
b) Extension – keep recycling through all the drum sounds automatically
9a) Count down on a timer. A rocket takes off when you reach zero
Hint: Use the number icons in the letters folder
9b) Your rocket has pulsating exhaust and disappears at the top of the screen
10) Add, multiply or subtract two variable numbers
Hint: Just to do addition only you will need 4 variables: firstNum, secondNum, answer (computer calculated) and myAnswer (human calculated)
11) Variable coloured squares
a) Write a script that can draw a square of any size
Hint: Make a variable for the side length
b) Use the variable square script to draw a series of square with variable sides, with a single click
c) Now add variable pen colour and pen shade to the variable square script and use it to draw a variety of different coloured squares, with a single click
12) Draw lines of random thickness in random directions with random colours. The pen must be lifted up and moved for each new line.
Hint: pen group contains set pen color, set pen size, pen up, pen down
Hint: colours range across the spectrum (ROY G BIV) starting with red = 0. There are about 190 colours in total and you need to display them all!
13A) Make a race
a) choose two suitable sprites, they must have at least 2 costumes to simulate motion
b) the sprites move at random speeds, you can’t predict the winner
c) make a finish line, using a new sprite is best
d) suitable background music
e) when the winner crosses the finish line it announces that it won
f) reset scripts to start again
13B) Extension: Make it a multi-lap race, the number of laps can vary
g) make a variable to set and count the laps (use this on just one of the sprites otherwise you will be counting the laps twice)
h) use “x position” with an if tile rather than “if on edge bounce” to manage the turning and lap increase value
i) hide the finish line so that it only appears for the final lap
14A) Play the scales on a piano
a) Check out the sound > play note tile
b) Teacher has supplies a graphic of a keyboard. Import it to your scratch project.
c) Program the computer keyboard so that it plays a series of notes on the piano keyboard
d) As the notes are played alter the keyboard graphic to make it appear they are being pressed and they revert back to blank when the key is released
e) Add some suitable background graphics
14B) Extension
f) As the notes are played a sprite dances to the tune created by the notes, ie. each note triggers a particular movement
g) The names of the notes are spoken by a new sprite as they are played
h) Find a way to play ALL the notes on the keyboard
for more ideas http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/search/label/scratch
1) Programming concepts and skills supported in scratch(pdf) (doc)
What problem solving, project design skills, fundamental ideas about computers and programming, and specific programming concepts does Scratch support (and for the latter does not support)? This is an excellent summary, highly recommended, you need to download for the examples (code snippets) provided too, which are really good. Also notethis discussion thread on the Scratch forum about this document, especially the comments by kevin karplus and responses by natalie, the document author, to his suggestions
Scratch supports these Specific Programming Concepts:
sequence, iteration (looping), conditional statements, variables, threads (parallel execution), synchronisation, real-time interaction, boolean logic, random numbers, event handling, user interface design
Scratch does not currently support data structures (arrays, etc.), procedures and functions, recursion, inheritance, defining classes of objects, exception handling, parameter passing and return values, text input, file input/output
2) Scratch Programming Projects
Ten excellent projects described in just the right amount of detail, with requirements and extras:
- "Chasing/Eating" (Pac Man Type Game)
- Red Light/Green Light
- Pong
- Target Game
- Communication Project
- Animation of a short story
- Virtual Musical Instrument
- Virtual Board Game
- Basic Space Target Game
- Shape Drawing Robot (Polygon Robot)
Introductory tutorial, clearly explained with screenshots
4) Comparison of different languages (thread in Scratch forum)
This comment by pkimelma presents a well thought out sequence for teaching Scratch using a games theme.
Other comments in this thread compare Scratch with Phrogram (which has 3D graphics), Alice, Starlogo and others.
5) Kevin and Abe Karplus Scratch page looks to have a nice collection of scratch exemplars
resources of ideas for development by students
1) Use the Letter shapes to write your first name on the page. Then introduce some special effects such as making the letters wobble and change their appearance.
2) Point, click and move
Make an object both point and glide towards the mouse position when you click on the stage
Hint: Motion > point towards
Hint: Sensing > mouse down?
3) Make Dan or Anjuli or Cassy or ballerina dance to a beat, using all of their dance shapes. Include a suitable background that changes colours as the lights flash.
4a) Make two animals have a forwards and backwards conversation
Hint: Use broadcast, (ask for help if you don’t know how broadcast works)
4b) Make it an interesting conversation with each animal speaking at least 3 times and making gestures too
5) Make a sprite gradually grow in size and then shrink
6) Make 2 different balls move around on the stage
a) the first ball moves in straight lines but bounces randomly whenever it hits the edge
b) the second moves randomly, gliding from one position to a new random position continually
7a) One sprite chases another sprite around the stage. The first sprite moves in straight line but bounces off the edge randomly. The chasing sprite chases the first sprite but is moving slower.
b) Extension – if the chasing sprite catches the other sprite then it says something sensible and makes a suitable sound
8a) Play all the different drum sounds automatically
Hint: create a variable for the drum number
b) Extension – keep recycling through all the drum sounds automatically
9a) Count down on a timer. A rocket takes off when you reach zero
Hint: Use the number icons in the letters folder
9b) Your rocket has pulsating exhaust and disappears at the top of the screen
10) Add, multiply or subtract two variable numbers
Hint: Just to do addition only you will need 4 variables: firstNum, secondNum, answer (computer calculated) and myAnswer (human calculated)
11) Variable coloured squares
a) Write a script that can draw a square of any size
Hint: Make a variable for the side length
b) Use the variable square script to draw a series of square with variable sides, with a single click
c) Now add variable pen colour and pen shade to the variable square script and use it to draw a variety of different coloured squares, with a single click
12) Draw lines of random thickness in random directions with random colours. The pen must be lifted up and moved for each new line.
Hint: pen group contains set pen color, set pen size, pen up, pen down
Hint: colours range across the spectrum (ROY G BIV) starting with red = 0. There are about 190 colours in total and you need to display them all!
13A) Make a race
a) choose two suitable sprites, they must have at least 2 costumes to simulate motion
b) the sprites move at random speeds, you can’t predict the winner
c) make a finish line, using a new sprite is best
d) suitable background music
e) when the winner crosses the finish line it announces that it won
f) reset scripts to start again
13B) Extension: Make it a multi-lap race, the number of laps can vary
g) make a variable to set and count the laps (use this on just one of the sprites otherwise you will be counting the laps twice)
h) use “x position” with an if tile rather than “if on edge bounce” to manage the turning and lap increase value
i) hide the finish line so that it only appears for the final lap
14A) Play the scales on a piano
a) Check out the sound > play note tile
b) Teacher has supplies a graphic of a keyboard. Import it to your scratch project.
c) Program the computer keyboard so that it plays a series of notes on the piano keyboard
d) As the notes are played alter the keyboard graphic to make it appear they are being pressed and they revert back to blank when the key is released
e) Add some suitable background graphics
14B) Extension
f) As the notes are played a sprite dances to the tune created by the notes, ie. each note triggers a particular movement
g) The names of the notes are spoken by a new sprite as they are played
h) Find a way to play ALL the notes on the keyboard
for more ideas http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/search/label/scratch
Monday, 14 June 2010
Where am I at
1 reports
2 Application development
3 Course design
4 future
1. reports are now coming to a close, yes those dreaded things that teachers spend a whole lot of time to complete, for students to read in less than 10 seconds, and then the wonderment if they get home for parents to read and see. that's if they get to see the reports. These have bee a struggle for me this year as the changes with the Students Management System and they way school does reports have hit. I was not at school last year around this time, and I will tell you something, it is a shock for them to come up, get proofread, make changes to the ones that are needed, and deal with those staff that start getting angry at you for making there jobs harder because you kept him/her within the comment, ok that one was not me.
2. Application Development
Changes to the option choice selection need to be made by Thursday night, with a new layout and design this year we need to make the changes, though one slight problem... I got given the change document last Friday. I have yet to get my head around the changes and still have not been told what to do with the new subjects, as well as who needs access to it. I will get a large amount of work done tomorrow on it, when I get myself around excel and create the 10-15 course for each departmentt that they can put in. though i now see one giant problem just typing this in, I have year level subjects and school wants to change it to level subjects, maybe I need to create a form that staff can put the information into in google apps that I can then take and put into my system, I don't think that this is gonna work too good right now.
3. course design
oh man are there some changes coming or what, with the introduction of digital technology in the technology curriculum, means that we are having to redo some of our courses. the biggest change will be to the year 11 course, or at our school the Level 1 course. We are looking at three sections of the new standards, Digital Information, Digital media, and Programming and computer science. Though I have no idea what language or media we are going to use yet. but we have also been asked to look at the progression of courses for the future as well.
We have some time coming up in which we can talk about this as a department and make the changes that are needed to support the New Zealand Curriculum 2007.
4 future
can't say anything yet, still in the process of writing.
Ok, Ok, I got runners up in a award for innovative programme, now one of the things that this is about is a course that looks at environmental issues at the school, we have a stream down the back, students are to design an application to record the data that they collect down at the stream, Now I have not had time to get this implemented yet, though term 3 and 4 will look just about right, and it can carry out next year as well. It is a case of getting the students on task and developing there creative thing at the moment.
The book and moodle course that I am using for the programming course and working well, though they slower students are starting to slacken off and the motivated students are getting crazier in there programming, and the exercises are getting harder. I have an issue around some of the students not doing as much as they could do, because I cannot move them, if I move them it affects the year 13 cprogramming class as well due to I am using virtual hard drives to do teh work.
I would love to play around with some more software, especially when it comes to flow charts. I want to get Visual Studio Learning Pack 2.0 as I can see some applications within it useful.
I really want to play with
Visual Programming Flow Chart is a supplementary teaching tool designed to help students understand program control flow. It generates flow charts for functions and saves them in the JPG picture format. This tool is easily activated from the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) by simply right-clicking on a function name and choosing “Generate flow chart…” from the context menu. The resulting flowchart can be customized by changing its colors and other effects. This visual tool provides an intuitive way to explore source code, to examine its control flow, and to identify logic errors.
2 Application development
3 Course design
4 future
1. reports are now coming to a close, yes those dreaded things that teachers spend a whole lot of time to complete, for students to read in less than 10 seconds, and then the wonderment if they get home for parents to read and see. that's if they get to see the reports. These have bee a struggle for me this year as the changes with the Students Management System and they way school does reports have hit. I was not at school last year around this time, and I will tell you something, it is a shock for them to come up, get proofread, make changes to the ones that are needed, and deal with those staff that start getting angry at you for making there jobs harder because you kept him/her within the comment, ok that one was not me.
2. Application Development
Changes to the option choice selection need to be made by Thursday night, with a new layout and design this year we need to make the changes, though one slight problem... I got given the change document last Friday. I have yet to get my head around the changes and still have not been told what to do with the new subjects, as well as who needs access to it. I will get a large amount of work done tomorrow on it, when I get myself around excel and create the 10-15 course for each departmentt that they can put in. though i now see one giant problem just typing this in, I have year level subjects and school wants to change it to level subjects, maybe I need to create a form that staff can put the information into in google apps that I can then take and put into my system, I don't think that this is gonna work too good right now.
3. course design
oh man are there some changes coming or what, with the introduction of digital technology in the technology curriculum, means that we are having to redo some of our courses. the biggest change will be to the year 11 course, or at our school the Level 1 course. We are looking at three sections of the new standards, Digital Information, Digital media, and Programming and computer science. Though I have no idea what language or media we are going to use yet. but we have also been asked to look at the progression of courses for the future as well.
We have some time coming up in which we can talk about this as a department and make the changes that are needed to support the New Zealand Curriculum 2007.
4 future
can't say anything yet, still in the process of writing.
Ok, Ok, I got runners up in a award for innovative programme, now one of the things that this is about is a course that looks at environmental issues at the school, we have a stream down the back, students are to design an application to record the data that they collect down at the stream, Now I have not had time to get this implemented yet, though term 3 and 4 will look just about right, and it can carry out next year as well. It is a case of getting the students on task and developing there creative thing at the moment.
The book and moodle course that I am using for the programming course and working well, though they slower students are starting to slacken off and the motivated students are getting crazier in there programming, and the exercises are getting harder. I have an issue around some of the students not doing as much as they could do, because I cannot move them, if I move them it affects the year 13 cprogramming class as well due to I am using virtual hard drives to do teh work.
I would love to play around with some more software, especially when it comes to flow charts. I want to get Visual Studio Learning Pack 2.0 as I can see some applications within it useful.
I really want to play with
Visual Programming Flow Chart is a supplementary teaching tool designed to help students understand program control flow. It generates flow charts for functions and saves them in the JPG picture format. This tool is easily activated from the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) by simply right-clicking on a function name and choosing “Generate flow chart…” from the context menu. The resulting flowchart can be customized by changing its colors and other effects. This visual tool provides an intuitive way to explore source code, to examine its control flow, and to identify logic errors.
Monday, 10 May 2010
untitled
I have been working on a moodle course for the year 12 programming class. It has been couple of years in development, but finally this year I developed a 148 page book full of homework, assessment tasks, interface guidelines, and incorporated some english work.
It has been developed in the school LMS as part of the trail, however it has not been smooth sailing. The issues around the setup and development has lead me to question why I am using such a resource.
The department has there own moodle server running as part of our system, the reason why we did this was that we could not wait for the LMS provider to allow us access, so we installed it and have been using it ever since.
It requires the odd update and installation of users, but we have this down to an art now. However the school one is managed through an interoperability websync, which is causing issues. I am starting to question why we even have this as it just is not working to its best. We always seem to be bug finding and finding configuration issues.
I am getting to the point where I am going to leave the schools LMS.
The latest is surrounding professional development. I sat in a PD session where people where showing off what the system could do, and heard more about what it could not do. And I was thinking the entire time, but it can do this, it can do that. It is the person running it within the school that keeps saying no it can't. They do not even know what it can do.
I would like to take all my work off it and move it to the other installation, but I think I need to carry on doing what I am doing, running the course through the current installation, but I will be backing it up and doing a restore on the department installation.
It has been developed in the school LMS as part of the trail, however it has not been smooth sailing. The issues around the setup and development has lead me to question why I am using such a resource.
The department has there own moodle server running as part of our system, the reason why we did this was that we could not wait for the LMS provider to allow us access, so we installed it and have been using it ever since.
It requires the odd update and installation of users, but we have this down to an art now. However the school one is managed through an interoperability websync, which is causing issues. I am starting to question why we even have this as it just is not working to its best. We always seem to be bug finding and finding configuration issues.
I am getting to the point where I am going to leave the schools LMS.
The latest is surrounding professional development. I sat in a PD session where people where showing off what the system could do, and heard more about what it could not do. And I was thinking the entire time, but it can do this, it can do that. It is the person running it within the school that keeps saying no it can't. They do not even know what it can do.
I would like to take all my work off it and move it to the other installation, but I think I need to carry on doing what I am doing, running the course through the current installation, but I will be backing it up and doing a restore on the department installation.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Saturday, 20 March 2010
busy times
We have just completed one of the largest exercises at school, e-asTTle testing.
This involves testing all year 9 and 10 students in their reading and numeracy skills. The reading test was done on paper, and required the students to sit a 50 minute test, and then for the multichoice results to be entered into the e-asTTle program. Whereas the Maths department did a purely online test which required access to computer rooms, and the students to login and sit the test. I think I outlined the issues surrounding the online test in a previous post last year.
We never seem to be able to get a successful import from out student management system into e-asTTle. A number of issues surrounding NSI numbers caused this testing to be delayed a week due to an update in our student management system and ENROl sis not want to talk to each other properly, also information that the previous schools put into ENROl was not accurate enough. We have a number of students that seem to change names when they enter secondary school. So all these changes had to be entered.
e-asTTle have an issue surrounding NSI Numbers and ENROl as well. For every 100 students imported, it pops up and error, which normally requires you to remove the students NSI number from the e-asTTle csv file and upload it. Though you cannot export a student from the SMS without a NSI number. Catch 22 situation.
Once we had a successful import it was all on,
Issues surrounding the next set are school related,
Failure of communication from deans on changes to Year 10 classes, all the login papers had been printed and supplied to teachers, this also meant that a number of students in the english tests could not be found by the data entry people which required the test to be reassigned to students and marked by me.
Also meant that some year 10 maths teachers did not have the login codes for students, which meant issues for IT support to be in the room at the start of all tests.
Year 10 Maths test had a written answer question, which required it to be marked before the scores were released to teachers. Marked over 660 questions, which if you take too long or press the wrong key, you have to redo again.
Getting access to computer rooms, we selected two rooms to carry out the test, but already some of these had been booked already so early in the term, which does place some stress on planning and development of lessons.
Technical Issues surrounding internet access, this was resolved after the first day due to the virtualisation project over the holidays.
Assembly for all female students in year 10, which impacted on the test, meant there had to be a catch up later one.
Catch ups, organsied catch ups, but some teachers failed to read emails, or not understand to just send the student, they did not need the login sheet, as we have all the details available to us.
More understanding by the teachers why this is so important,
Training for teachers on how to set there own test and run it.
This involves testing all year 9 and 10 students in their reading and numeracy skills. The reading test was done on paper, and required the students to sit a 50 minute test, and then for the multichoice results to be entered into the e-asTTle program. Whereas the Maths department did a purely online test which required access to computer rooms, and the students to login and sit the test. I think I outlined the issues surrounding the online test in a previous post last year.
We never seem to be able to get a successful import from out student management system into e-asTTle. A number of issues surrounding NSI numbers caused this testing to be delayed a week due to an update in our student management system and ENROl sis not want to talk to each other properly, also information that the previous schools put into ENROl was not accurate enough. We have a number of students that seem to change names when they enter secondary school. So all these changes had to be entered.
e-asTTle have an issue surrounding NSI Numbers and ENROl as well. For every 100 students imported, it pops up and error, which normally requires you to remove the students NSI number from the e-asTTle csv file and upload it. Though you cannot export a student from the SMS without a NSI number. Catch 22 situation.
Once we had a successful import it was all on,
Issues surrounding the next set are school related,
Failure of communication from deans on changes to Year 10 classes, all the login papers had been printed and supplied to teachers, this also meant that a number of students in the english tests could not be found by the data entry people which required the test to be reassigned to students and marked by me.
Also meant that some year 10 maths teachers did not have the login codes for students, which meant issues for IT support to be in the room at the start of all tests.
Year 10 Maths test had a written answer question, which required it to be marked before the scores were released to teachers. Marked over 660 questions, which if you take too long or press the wrong key, you have to redo again.
Getting access to computer rooms, we selected two rooms to carry out the test, but already some of these had been booked already so early in the term, which does place some stress on planning and development of lessons.
Technical Issues surrounding internet access, this was resolved after the first day due to the virtualisation project over the holidays.
Assembly for all female students in year 10, which impacted on the test, meant there had to be a catch up later one.
Catch ups, organsied catch ups, but some teachers failed to read emails, or not understand to just send the student, they did not need the login sheet, as we have all the details available to us.
More understanding by the teachers why this is so important,
Training for teachers on how to set there own test and run it.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Catch up
It has been a while since I have last posted,
I have been busy getting the schools google apps domain up and running this year, with the changeover of student logins to an new schema, though I can see this needing to be changed again next year with possible changes throughout the sector.
The other stuff we have been working on is getting moodle in schools up and going, www.moodleinschools.org.nz this has been a great benefit to the department as this is where we can see things moving to in the future. We already have other departments wanting to jump onto our server to make use of the various features.
myportfolio.school.nz is a new one that we are trying out with the art department as a way to keep an electronic prortfolio. We signed up yesterday and already have the students in and starting to put work up. It has been a bit of a mission to get the usernames and passwords up, as our temporary passwords for students did not meet there criteria.
e-asTTle has also been a thorn in my side this year, with the requirement of NSI numbers to be included, and not having all this going straight away with our SMS and ENROL is has caused it to be put back a couple of weeks. Maths department are doing it online with multichoice questions, though I had to mark 500 students maths papers this morning due to there was a written question still left in the test. English are doing there reading test on paper and getting outside people to enter the results in e-asTTle. It was due to a professional development meeting yesterday morning that we realised that these haven't been entered yet, as they want to present the results next week.
Other things have been going on as well, but that is another post...
I have been busy getting the schools google apps domain up and running this year, with the changeover of student logins to an new schema, though I can see this needing to be changed again next year with possible changes throughout the sector.
The other stuff we have been working on is getting moodle in schools up and going, www.moodleinschools.org.nz this has been a great benefit to the department as this is where we can see things moving to in the future. We already have other departments wanting to jump onto our server to make use of the various features.
myportfolio.school.nz is a new one that we are trying out with the art department as a way to keep an electronic prortfolio. We signed up yesterday and already have the students in and starting to put work up. It has been a bit of a mission to get the usernames and passwords up, as our temporary passwords for students did not meet there criteria.
e-asTTle has also been a thorn in my side this year, with the requirement of NSI numbers to be included, and not having all this going straight away with our SMS and ENROL is has caused it to be put back a couple of weeks. Maths department are doing it online with multichoice questions, though I had to mark 500 students maths papers this morning due to there was a written question still left in the test. English are doing there reading test on paper and getting outside people to enter the results in e-asTTle. It was due to a professional development meeting yesterday morning that we realised that these haven't been entered yet, as they want to present the results next week.
Other things have been going on as well, but that is another post...
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Software design project
I don't know if I have posted this before,
The Task: Scavenger Hunt
Mobile phones with inbuilt global positioning systems (GPS) are becoming more and more widespread. This means that you can use services like Google Maps on your mobile phone to see exactly where you are. It also makes it possible to play scavenger hunt games with your mobile phone. Imagine you could have a game on your mobile phone that gives you quests and clues depending on your position in the real world, and guides you through the scavenger hunt. Imagine that you could create such games yourself with your mobile phone, and send them to your friends.
Your task is to make a proposal how a program for a mobile phone should look like that allows the users to create scavenger hunt games. The user should be able to specify a sequence of quests. Each quest should have a GPS position and a question that the players have to answer. During the game, when a player enters the correct answer, then the position for the next quest is revealed.
In your answer you should:
- explain the different functions you think this system should have;
- describe the user interface elements of the program that allows you to use these functions;
- give arguments for your design.
I would like to do this with my year 12 students as a test during the year.
Monday, 28 December 2009
The Buzz Contest
The buzz contest is not your playstation game, it is a contest in which you have to think about numbers,
This is what I am considering as a competition or test for my year 12 programing class
For the purposes of this, I will be using only Buzz, Wizz and Pop
So far, the game as described is too easy. To complicate matters, some numbers are designated as special. When it is a student’s turn to call out a number and that number is special, the student should not say the number, but should instead say some combination of codewords relating to the number. The codewords and their meanings are:
BANG: The number contains a 5 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 5.
BUZZ: The number contains a 7 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 7.
CRASH: The number is prime.
FIBBI: The number is a Fibonacci number. The Fibonacci numbers are constructed as follows:
F1 = 1, F2 = 1 and Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn. . So F3 = 2 , F4 = 3, F5 = 5, etc.
Thus, the first 6 Fibonacci numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8.
POP: The number is the product of two distinct primes.
SQUAWK: The number is the sum of two squares. For example, 9=32 + 02, and 5 = 22 + 12
WHIZZ: The number is square-free (is not divisible by a perfect square other than 1).
ZIP: The number is a perfect k th power with k greater than or equal to 2.
These codewords are not all in force at the beginning, but are introduced or removed gradually at the will of the moderator and in any order. For example, suppose Michael, Deena, Christa, Heath and Amy are still in the game. The codewords Fibbi, Bang, Pop and Zip are in force, and it is Deena’s turn on number 29. The sequence would sound something like this…..
Deena: 29
Please note that a lot of students are likely to fall in the 40’s and 50’s as it is very easy to lose track of what number we’re on. The proctor will not advise the students. It is the responsibility of each student to keep track for themselves even as others are eliminated.
The discussion at this link should help you determine which, if any, of the code words apply to a particular number.
This is what I am considering as a competition or test for my year 12 programing class
For the purposes of this, I will be using only Buzz, Wizz and Pop
The Buzz Contest is the mathematical equivalent of a spelling bee. Its 1992 revival at Texas A&M University marked the 10th anniversary of the last time Texas high school students had played the game at the 1982 Lamar Mathematics Day competition. Since then, this contest has been a popular feature of the Texas A&M University Math Tournament.
The general structure of the game is as follows: The students line up and count off. The first student calls N, where N is an integer between 1 and 20, which is randomly determined, the second student calls N+1, and so on. If a student gets his or her number wrong, he or she is eliminated and the next student in line must say the number the previous student should have said. All of this is done very quickly; a student may be eliminated for "delay of game".
So far, the game as described is too easy. To complicate matters, some numbers are designated as special. When it is a student’s turn to call out a number and that number is special, the student should not say the number, but should instead say some combination of codewords relating to the number. The codewords and their meanings are:
BANG: The number contains a 5 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 5.
BUZZ: The number contains a 7 (in its base-10 representation) or is divisible by 7.
CRASH: The number is prime.
FIBBI: The number is a Fibonacci number. The Fibonacci numbers are constructed as follows:
F1 = 1, F2 = 1 and Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn. . So F3 = 2 , F4 = 3, F5 = 5, etc.
Thus, the first 6 Fibonacci numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8.
POP: The number is the product of two distinct primes.
SQUAWK: The number is the sum of two squares. For example, 9=32 + 02, and 5 = 22 + 12
WHIZZ: The number is square-free (is not divisible by a perfect square other than 1).
ZIP: The number is a perfect k th power with k greater than or equal to 2.
These codewords are not all in force at the beginning, but are introduced or removed gradually at the will of the moderator and in any order. For example, suppose Michael, Deena, Christa, Heath and Amy are still in the game. The codewords Fibbi, Bang, Pop and Zip are in force, and it is Deena’s turn on number 29. The sequence would sound something like this…..
Deena: 29
Christa: Bang
Heath: 31
Amy: 32 (This is wrong; Amy is eliminated.)
Michael: Zip
Deena: Pop
Christa: Pop, Fibbi
Heath: Bang (This is wrong; Heath is eliminated.)
Amy: Bang Pop (The next number is 36.)
Please note that a lot of students are likely to fall in the 40’s and 50’s as it is very easy to lose track of what number we’re on. The proctor will not advise the students. It is the responsibility of each student to keep track for themselves even as others are eliminated.
The discussion at this link should help you determine which, if any, of the code words apply to a particular number.
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Holiday Reading
From a csta post http://blog.acm.org/archives/csta/2009/12/holiday_reading.html
Ah, the holiday break. Time to relax, catch up on sleep, and perhaps read a book or two. If you are looking for some interesting reading related to CS education, here are three books that I read over the summer and really enjoyed:
Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing, by Jane Margolis, Rachel Estrella, Joanna Goode (CSTA Board Member), Jennifer Jellison Holme, and Kimberly Nao. MIT Press, 2008.
Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown & Co., 2008.
Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion, by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis. Addison-Wesley, 2008.
As a CS teacher, if you haven't read Stuck in the Shallow End yet, you really should. It gives a detailed analysis of factors that have led to our shortage of CS students, especially among women and minorities, and describes the project currently underway in L.A. to try and address these factors. All of Malcolm Gladwell's books are interesting and fun to read. This one looks at characteristics that lead to success (and so complements Margolis' book very nicely). Blown to Bits is a great description of the technological changes going on in society and how they impact our lives. Lots of fascinating facts and anecdotes you can impress your students with ;-).
I have read stuck in the shallow end, I brought the book off amazon, however this time I want to read blown to bits, the dollar at the moment is not good, so I have looked at books.google.com for a copy and found one. Blown to bits-books.google.com
Ah, the holiday break. Time to relax, catch up on sleep, and perhaps read a book or two. If you are looking for some interesting reading related to CS education, here are three books that I read over the summer and really enjoyed:
Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing, by Jane Margolis, Rachel Estrella, Joanna Goode (CSTA Board Member), Jennifer Jellison Holme, and Kimberly Nao. MIT Press, 2008.
Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown & Co., 2008.
Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion, by Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, and Harry Lewis. Addison-Wesley, 2008.
As a CS teacher, if you haven't read Stuck in the Shallow End yet, you really should. It gives a detailed analysis of factors that have led to our shortage of CS students, especially among women and minorities, and describes the project currently underway in L.A. to try and address these factors. All of Malcolm Gladwell's books are interesting and fun to read. This one looks at characteristics that lead to success (and so complements Margolis' book very nicely). Blown to Bits is a great description of the technological changes going on in society and how they impact our lives. Lots of fascinating facts and anecdotes you can impress your students with ;-).
I have read stuck in the shallow end, I brought the book off amazon, however this time I want to read blown to bits, the dollar at the moment is not good, so I have looked at books.google.com for a copy and found one. Blown to bits-books.google.com
Monday, 21 December 2009
2010 course
since I am not teaching year 13 programming next year, I have brought some of the course forward to year 12.
I am planning on using the csta curriculum, or parts of it to help teach my students.
I am planning on starting with the problem solving part of the course first. This is due to the fact that I want to scare some of the students with what could be involved in the course, as with any course with computers students think that they will just be on the internet playing games. This is false.
The first problem is how to break a 200g cadbury chocolate bar into 12 equal pieces, using he least breaks possible, this is sounding like it is going to be a christmas problem that I will use my family to solve.
I also have to remember that there are two other things that have to be done during this time, 1 is the wai care visit, and second is the design of the screen of a software development project for the university of auckland. These are starting to sound like friday challenges. A new challenge every friday to spice the course up?
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Small Basic
I have been looking at a number of blogs surrounding programing and they have been talking about a development called small basic, a simple easy to use programming language, which would be great for a year 11 course.
Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming. By providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment, Small Basic makes programming a breeze. Ideal for kids and adults alike, Small Basic helps beginners take the first step into the wonderful world of programming.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/0/6/90616372-C4BF-4628-BC82-BD709635220D/Introducing%20Small%20Basic.pdf
A great blog to look at different things dealing with small basic http://blogs.msdn.com/smallbasic/
Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming. By providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment, Small Basic makes programming a breeze. Ideal for kids and adults alike, Small Basic helps beginners take the first step into the wonderful world of programming.
Microsoft Small Basic pdf getting started
A great blog to look at different things dealing with small basic http://blogs.msdn.com/smallbasic/
also http://blogs.msdn.com/paulcornell/archive/tags/Small+Basic/default.aspx who seems to be posting a new method a day at the moment.
Small basic http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx
Small basic http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/cc950524.aspx
Sunday, 13 December 2009
the national walking trail
While working on design the year 13 web design course, I planned to do some work with the old walkways New Zealand project that there was in the 1980's. There is information on this in the previous blog posts around april/may/june I think.
There is a national walking trail currently being created in New Zealand at the moment, http://www.teararoa.org.nz/ The Long Pathway.
This will be give me some guidance on how I would like the project to end up. Also I have to remember there is some designs in one of my visual diaries about this idea and design.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Google supporting computer science week
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/celebrating-computer-science-education.html
Love this section
Integrating computing curriculum across K-12 core subjects
A group of Google engineers and K-12 "teaching fellows" is working on building and testing models of curriculum to encourage innovation. These curriculum models revolve around "computational thinking", a problem-solving technique that draws on the thinking and analysis skills that computer scientists use everyday. Our goal is to integrate computational thinking across subject areas in K-12 by connecting these skills, which are already a part of core curriculum, more explicitly to computer science. We're also taking this a step further by integrating simple programming concepts in appropriate areas of core K-12 curriculum, such as algebra. Our hope is that by making computer science more visible and showing its connection to every subject area, students will experience the full power and utility of technology in areas of interest to them. Integrating CS into other subjects will also have the key added benefit of leveling the playing field, so that many more students will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of computing.
Love this section
Integrating computing curriculum across K-12 core subjects
A group of Google engineers and K-12 "teaching fellows" is working on building and testing models of curriculum to encourage innovation. These curriculum models revolve around "computational thinking", a problem-solving technique that draws on the thinking and analysis skills that computer scientists use everyday. Our goal is to integrate computational thinking across subject areas in K-12 by connecting these skills, which are already a part of core curriculum, more explicitly to computer science. We're also taking this a step further by integrating simple programming concepts in appropriate areas of core K-12 curriculum, such as algebra. Our hope is that by making computer science more visible and showing its connection to every subject area, students will experience the full power and utility of technology in areas of interest to them. Integrating CS into other subjects will also have the key added benefit of leveling the playing field, so that many more students will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of computing.
Personal Teaching Statement
I have been looking for a while at personal teaching statement, and today I found one that is me...
It is called Avoid Passion to Porridge
I have always been impressed by those experiences teachers, educational leaders, school administrators and heads of department who nurture and encourage those teachers who enter with a passion for teaching and ensure that the flame of passion never dies. The same holds true for those teachers who ensure that their students maintain a love for learning. Conversely, I am highly unimpressed by people who use a relentless cynicism to affect some teachers so that their passion turns to a 'porridge-type' performance. Unfortunately we also find that many students have become cynical about learning and have lost that early quality learning and have lost that early quality of curiosity which characterises young children. I am impressed with schools where leaders and teachers are all pushing the same message of personal excellence, persistence and the benefits of a good education. Leadership is exactly that - it is letting everyone know that what we are doing is our schools is important.
If all teachers were to treat their classroom as if it were their own business, say a corner shop, then passion for what they are doing would be the least that their clients expect. We can no longer expect students to be docile Pavlovian learners. They expect to be impressed and motivated by teachers who believe absolutely in their business of education!
It is called Avoid Passion to Porridge
I have always been impressed by those experiences teachers, educational leaders, school administrators and heads of department who nurture and encourage those teachers who enter with a passion for teaching and ensure that the flame of passion never dies. The same holds true for those teachers who ensure that their students maintain a love for learning. Conversely, I am highly unimpressed by people who use a relentless cynicism to affect some teachers so that their passion turns to a 'porridge-type' performance. Unfortunately we also find that many students have become cynical about learning and have lost that early quality learning and have lost that early quality of curiosity which characterises young children. I am impressed with schools where leaders and teachers are all pushing the same message of personal excellence, persistence and the benefits of a good education. Leadership is exactly that - it is letting everyone know that what we are doing is our schools is important.
If all teachers were to treat their classroom as if it were their own business, say a corner shop, then passion for what they are doing would be the least that their clients expect. We can no longer expect students to be docile Pavlovian learners. They expect to be impressed and motivated by teachers who believe absolutely in their business of education!
Monday, 7 December 2009
Three days to go
ahh, three days to go. It seems like this has gone so fast and I have multiple things to do. Will look at posting an image of my post it notes on here tomorrow. But why has it seemed to go so fast, we have had the last three weeks without senios, but I think this is due to the project that we have been working on, all of this takes time. Time that is running out fast, been at a learning management system all today looking at what is coming out in 2010. The biggest fear is the yui file uploaded by yahoo. This means drag and drop uploading. I have a meeting next week in Wellington along more ict developments in schools in new Zealand.
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