Makerbot Lecture 3D Printing with David Wells

One of the nice things about all this crazy travel this summer is I have gotten to do and see some things that are just not available in Richmond, VA. Last night I got to go to the Makerbot store in NYC to hear a talk about 3-D Printing and Maker spaces.

3-D Printing Filament

The speaker was David Wells from the New York Hall of Science. He is the Manager of Creative Making & Learning - I know, best job title ever.

Last year my computer clubs project was 3-D printing. They fund-raised and bought a PrintrBot tight at the end of the year. I am so excited to see where this takes us next year.

The presentation was a great overview of 3-D printing, some of the recent changes and how to incorporate it into maker spaces. One of the general themes was that engagement with museums tapers off as kids hit their teen years, and these maker spaces are a great way to bring them back in.

Several of the folks working at the Makerspace for the summer were there to show off what they were working on. They are part of Maker Corps Education program. They are officially called explainers, which I might borrow for when we do recruitment in the lab.

Oh, and if you are in the neighborhood NYSCI is the host of the Maker Faire NY this fall on Sept 21 - 22. If you havent been to one you must go. Really - its your homework. Find a Maker Faire near you and get to it. I got to do the one at the Henry Ford Museum last summer in Detroit and it was amazing.

Resources:

• Interview with David Wells - best summary of the Maker movement Ive seen
• New York Hall of Science
• MakerSpace @ NYSCI
• Maker Corps 
• TinkerCad - Mind to Design in Minutes - This site lets you create the files that the 3-D printer uses
• Explainer TV from NYSCI - has some fun DIY projects and science explinations
• 
  

And if you need a story to help inspire you to the power of 3-D printing: 3-D Printer Brings Dexterity To Children With No Fingers.

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Right shift key and W

Today we will add the Right shift key and the W to what we have already learned on the keyboard.

After learning these new keys we will go to a website and do a little practice from there.

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Are American High Schools working in the Internet Age

(continuation of  Redefining Teachers in the Internet Age)

Before we can redefine teaching we must examine schools themselves.

One of the core issues the Internet in education raises: does this always mean we need to visit a teacher in person? Traditionally the most efficient way for an expert to share knowledge was to collect a large number of people in a room at the same time and talk. Now, the Internet has the potential of bringing this conversation to a much larger group that do not necessarily need to be housed in the same place at the same time.

For the traditional American high school this raises some large questions. A lot of modern educational theory centers around manipulating large numbers of mostly unwilling participants into absorbing information and skills that they do not inherently care about. We train teachers in both delivery and assessment, and spend an inordinate amount of time on behavior management. (* In case youd like to see an example: http://teachlikeachampion.com/the-classroom/ . *)

So what if we took this off the table? Lets say we now face the same questions education faced at the beginning of the last century when moves towards compulsory education first began. At that point there were not large buildings meant to house 2000 or more teenagers in order to teach them. At the time it was a new model centered around the need to be physically present with a teacher.

So, does this model still work? There is a lot of discussion currently around what is wrong and why in education. Perhaps part of it is the buildings themselves. Our underlying assumption that we have to put thousands of 16 year-olds in a building in order to effectively educate them might not be true anymore.

If we were, right now, building a compulsory education system from scratch would that the solution look like? Think about it for a minute. If you had to build an educational system from scratch, right now, with no infrastructure, school districts, buildings...what would you design? Would every student have access to high quality classes? How?

There are advantages to both in person and online teaching. Neither alone holds the solution to the myriad issues of quality and access that plague our educational system.

But it is time to start investigating - Are we doing it this way because it works or because of the infrastructure we already have in place?

And ultimately, what is the best way to introduce our children to collected human knowledge?

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Fifth Grade Project Grand Canyon

By: Giovanni

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Learn the 5 7

Today we will learn the 5 and the 7 in class.

Just as a reminder...the Crossword Puzzle is due this Friday.  You can turn this in today if you have it completed or tomorrow.  If you do not get this turned in by tomorrow it will not get graded as it is the end of the 3rd Quarter.

Also, next week is a vocab week, so if you are responsible for definitions for week 6 please get those definitions posted to the Wikispaces page as soon as possible.

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Lyndon B Johnson Lesson

How did Lyndon B. Johnson expand the rights and freedoms of people of our county?
How did Lyndon B. Johnson show positive character traits?

Click on the link above to explore the Lyndon B. Johnson glog.

Record important words that relate to the life of Lyndon B. Johnson to use in your word cloud. Choose words that will help you describe him and his efforts to expand our rights through the Great Society and expanding voting rights.

Go to http://www.wordle.net/ and click on the word "create." Type your words into the first box and click "GO." When you see your word cloud click "Print."

Practice reading through your word cloud, so youll be ready to share it with the class. Youll need to explain how each word relates to the life of Lyndon B. Johnson.

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Vocabulary introduction beginning week 2

This week:

Vocabulary
Create Wikispace accounts
Create a Classmarker account
Review of all keys learned
Learn N, G, Left Shift key, period (.)
Technique grade 

TODAY:
We are going to begin by talking about the vocab words and vocab lists for the class.  If you go to the vocabulary page on the blog youll see a variety of information - well be covering this today.  Additionally, youll need to have access to the wikispaces page so that you can submit vocabulary definitions (thats already been done by me - you will need to verify by checking your gmail, and well do that in a little bit).

The vocabulary for this class is really split into 2 parts - on one hand you will be responsible for knowing all of the vocabulary words for any given week, and you will demonstrate your knowledge by completing a vocab quiz.  On the other hand you will be required to find definitions for the vocab words and post them to the wiki for everyone to study off of.  This "research process" will be graded, just as the vocab quizzes will be graded (our first vocabulary quiz will be this Friday, and it will be taken online on a website called Classmarker).

When you post a definition to the Wiki, your definition should be easy to understand.  Sometimes, after finding a definition, you will see that the definition that you have found doesnt help you to understand what that vocab word means (or is).  Therefore, find definitions that are easy to understand, and if you cant find one that makes sense please see me so I can help you write an easy-to-understand definition.

Additionally, if you have a vocab word that is an acronym (GPS, WWW, or FAQ) then please include what the letters stand for (for example, WWW stands for World Wide Web, and when you enter your vocab definition on the wiki make sure to include that).
This will seem a little foreign to begin with, but we will be talking about this every day between now and the end of next week, which is when your first quiz will be.
You could set up a calendar reminder in Google so that you receive an email - this way you will be reminded several days in advance of when you need to have a definition posted on the wiki.  And, since you already know the words that you will be asked to define, you could find a definition for each of your words and save those definitions in a Google Doc - then when it is your week all you have to do is copy from your Google Doc to the Wiki.

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My Latest Project CodeVA

So anyone that has spent more than five minutes with me in the past three months has heard an earful about our new project. CodeVA is a non-profit focused on bringing computer science education to students and teachers across Virginia.

Launching in summer 2014 CodeVA brings two initiatives:

• Teacher Training
  • In partnership with Code.org CodeVA is working with four Virginiaschool districts to train new computer science teachers.
• Summer Camps
  • To bring computer science to kids across central Virginia CodeVA is running five summer camps.

Join us in bringing computer science to Virginia kids. Sign up for CodeVAs free monthly newsletter here. Well never share your information.

  

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Technique Tuesday Debating Computer Science

One of the other hats I have worn in my career is that of a debate coach. Lets face it, we love to argue.

Lincoln Douglas Debates

Debate can be a great way to get kids really thinking about a topic. Also I think we all need to learn to disagree civilly. It is the only way to move towards solutions on difficult topics. I use it a few times a year as a way of getting everyone involved in material we are covering.

I start them off with a game we used to play when I was coaching. Then we use this technique in a discussion board debate.

To play the game you divide the team in to two groups and line them up - one pro, one con. Assign the sides before giving the topic. The sides take turns offering points until everyone has gone twice. Team with the highest score wins.

I start them with Resolved: NASCAR is not a sport. Were in the south and every one of my kids has an opinion. You could also do something about cell phones in school, driving age...whatever your kids would get interested in.

Rules? Any good game has rules, and keeping score makes them more engaged:

1. +1 for a new point
2. +1 for asking a question
3. +2 for rebutting a point made by the other side
4. +1 if you cite a source - this is for the discussion board phase.
5. -2 talking during the other sides turn
6. Also, no personal attacks, be respectful, usual class rules apply

NOT that I adjust the points any, but the -2 for talking rule is good for keeping the score close. Try to keep it within about 3 points, if one team is winning by a landslide attention wanders.

We use the same teams for the discussion board debate. We did this last week and the class spent over 45 minutes going back and forth on the topic. A lot more effective than me yammering on forever. I had to kick them off the computers and send them off to their next class. Seriously, writing for 45 minutes.

Topics? Sometimes I chose a news article, but I try to crystallize it down to one core point.

Some ideas:

• Privacy on the Internet
• Tracking devices in cars to monitor speed and safe driving - hot button for sure
• Cybersecurity issues

In short, and computer science topic that related to broader values of society. The real goal is to get them thinking about where computer science fits into the society they live in.

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Writing a movie plot summary

Today we are going to learn how to use Microsoft Words word count feature.  This is very simple - in fact its on your document, but you just probably havent noticed it until now.

You also will be learning how to insert an image on your blog - that will be a part of what you will need to do to complete FA8.  After explaining these two items you will be given the rest of the day to work on FA8, and you will also have tomorrow to finish.  It will be due at the end of class on Friday. Activity 8.pdf

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Preparing for pitch day

Preparing for Pitch Day. Im am preparing for Pitch Day, Pitch Day is when I go and pitch my idea to a school board and they ask questions and think my idea is good or not. For Pitch Day I need to have a video to show to them that shows my idea. I need to make the video about computers and Im going to talk about my way Im going to build computers. In order to be ready I still need to make a video and figure out how Im going to explain my idea. I also need to probably post a little bit more on my blog so look out for that. I may or may not need to but still look out for more posts in the future I might try to put a calendar for when they come out to so. Thats a little bit about pitch day.

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Grade Level Blogs

Please visit our grade level blogs (to the right of this post)! Youll find lots of lists of educational sites by grade level and subject area. Enjoy!

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Internet Safety project continues!

We are still working on our Internet Safety project.  Since I havent said anything about it in a while, please make sure to check the rubric at the bottom of the Internet Safety page on the blog to remind yourself what you need to accomplish.  Also, keep in mind the theme of "Would a 3rd grader understand what you are creating?"  In other words, make it simple.

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Embed complete FA11

Just a quick reminder that tomorrow you will be taking Quiz #8 over the technical terms on the vocab lists.  Please prepare accordingly.

Today we are going to look at a couple of the vocab words for this week:  BYTE, GB (GIGABYTE), and EMBED.  To better understand EMBED we are going to watch the video below:

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Vocab Quiz 2 Hardware 2 Formatting Activity 1

Youll be given a few minutes at the beginning of class to review for the quiz - youll want to go to your Wikispaces page to do that.  Do NOT go to Classmarker until asked to do so.  As a reminder, make sure to submit your quiz answers - failure to do so will mean that you will have to come back and retake the quiz.

When you are done you will need to complete Formatting Activity 1, which is embedded below.  The instructions are given here - follow the instructions in order.  However, instead of completing steps 7 and 8 what you need to do is save your file to a flash drive. We will cover how to complete step 8 on Monday.  IF YOU DO NOT SAVE YOUR DOCUMENT TO YOUR FLASH DRIVE IT WILL BE ERASED AND YOU WILL HAVE TO START OVER NEXT WEEK!!!


FA1.pdf







If you get done you are welcome to go to the website resources page on the blog, go to the practice websites and play typing games.

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Top Five Industries go Mobile

This is from Mashables Business Section. It lists the top five businesses that have embraced mobile technologies.

For high school students it raises some interesting questions about where they might be working in the future. Many of the kids I teach do not end up working in fields strictly defined as computer science, yet no matter where they go they will be using computing devices.
So what does that mean for our students? To be part of the group of people that have influence...the deciders if you will, means you need to have a specific set of skills. Last century it was literacy. To have a chance at being a person of influence meant you had to read and communicate well.

Clearly those skills are still crucial, but in the past few decades a parallel set of skill has emerged. Computing.

I dont mean typing and application literacy. Beyond that students need to understand computing at a deeper level to be able to decide what problems computers can, and cannot, be used to solve.

That is why this graphic is so interesting to me. Think about your student planning on going into the restaurant/food industry. While mastery of a particular programming language may not be something they need I would argue that the underlying ideas and concepts of computer science will serve them well. That skill sets them apart in an industry that is becoming more and more reliant on computing devices.

Its an advantage more of our students should be getting.

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Power of a Challenge

One of the hardest things about teaching, especially computer science, is the wide range of abilities. You know the drill. Most of the class is plugging away at practice problems and you are hopping from desk to desk answering questions.

Then there is the kid. The one that finishes everything early, and perfectly, and is bored now thank you very much.

First off I feel very strongly that it is not OK to keep them busy with clerical work, or more busy work, or helping other students. This are the students most likely to go into computer science without our encouragement, and they need to be engaged and challenged. That said, it is OK for them to have to help other kids sometimes, and they obviously need to work collaboratively. But they are not mini teachers.

I have learned a few techniques that do work with these kids. The first is The Challenge.

I usually present it when I am telling the whole class what the days practice exercises are going to be. Tehn as an aside I mention that at teh bottom there is the challenge problem, and it is worth bonus points, f you get that far. No pressure.

For example - in my intro class today we learned the ELSE statement. they had about 15 problems practicing IF-ELSE structures, then at the bottom was the challenge:

Input three numbers - print them in order from smallest to largest.

Once done have me check it off for extra credit! You must use IF-statements to solve this puzzle.

This is called SORTING. It is one of the major problems computer scientists must solve. Think about iTunes, or the Amazon website - what kinds of things do they sort?

Now, I know that at least three kids skipped the 15 boring problems and went right to the challenge. One even finished it. At least seven kids tried it. It doesnt matter that they didnt all get it right - they were all super engaged in a problem that required them to put together what we just learned in a new way. They coded for over 20 minutes, did sketches, talked together - they worked on a solution. Which moves them one step closer to being computer scientists.

(oh, and the thing about having to use IF-THENS is for the freshman that has figured out that he can just push everything into a drop-down list in VB and have it sorted...sneaky)

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Computer Science Recipe Sidewalk Chalk Prototyping

We do this while the kids are working on their Programming Portfolios in the APCS Principles class. We pick a sunny day early on when they start this portfolio and head outside.

Ingredients:

• Markers
• Blank Paper
• Sidewalk chalk - feeling crafty? Heres a recipe
• Sidewalk

Steps:
The Portfolio for Programming is a partner project. A lot of the writing they will have to do will analyze how the program came together. It is helpful for teh students to stop and draw out the program so they have a clear mental piture of what it is supposed to do.

At the beginning of class I give each pair some paper and markers.  I ask them to draw a picture of what their program does. They can illustrate it anyway they want, but no words.

I then have them do an elevator speech and present their drawing to the class. They have 30 second to give a snapshot of what they are working on.

Towards the end of class we head outside. For this drawing they are illustrating how they will create the program they described. I do not give any structure to this.

We then do a chalk walk and each team describes how they plan on solving the problem.

The main point is to get them really describing what the program does and how they intend to get there.

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The Data Cake

Interesting read for the APCS Principles course on open data and the impact on research. The article is especially interesting in light of the Data Portfolio Task that asks students to find a publicly available data set as a part of their exploration.

And I know that it is now the Investigate Performance Task, not the Data PT, but to be honest my brain is full these days and cannot take all these name changes.

There is also this: "we must redress the dominance of knowledge generated in the global North". Very interesting to think of covering the Data and Global Impacts together in this way. This would make a great class discussion and journal topic.

I may also use the graphic as a writing prompt. One of the goals I have for the students is to articulate the difference between data and information.

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GPS and router video blind assignment Learn M and X

We are going to start with watching two videos - one explains the GPS and the other explains what a router is (you should remember me talking a little bit about a router from last week).

Next is the router video:

View What Is an Internet Router? on Howcast

We will take a few minutes to warm up for the blind assignment.  Todays process will be slightly different than what we did in class on Tuesday, and the difference is just that we are printing out today (which we didnt do on Tuesday).  Therefore, when we get done I will explain what I want you to do. 

The rules for this assignment are as follows:  if you pull your document back on your screen you will lose .5 pts; any misspelled word loses you .5 pts; every time you forget to hit return between words will  reduce your score by .5 pts; and if you take your speed skin off while we are working on this you will lose .5 pts every time you are caught.

After completing all of this we will also learn two new keys - the M (R1) and the X (L3).

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Benefits of Texting

Spotted this on Pinterest over the weekend. Ill be using it for the prompt for our second to last discussion board topic in my computer science classes.



From: OnlineCollegeCourses.com

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Congratulations!

Wow! Most all of our classes were able to earn 4 points each time they visited the lab! If your class earned 16 points, then this week or next youll have 15 minutes of free time on your choice of sites or programs we have worked with over the last 4 classes! Congratulations!

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Speed test learn W and Right Shift Key

We are going to start by reviewing all of the keys, with a concentration on the keys we learned yesterday (the U and the C).

After reviewing we are going to take a speed test to see how fast you are keying.  This will not be for a grade, but it will give us an idea as to where you are now, and then when we do this later how much you have improved.

After the speed test we will head back to learning two new keys - the W (L4) and the Right Shift Key (R4).

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Meatballs beat computer programming

So my youngest came home with an project about a foreign country. Due the second to last day of school. My first reaction - only a deranged person would assign something like this. I should have tried a bit harder at the PTA fundraiser this year. Or sent a better teacher gift before winter break.

Then I read over the list of ideas...this is an official list of possible projects from the Dr Carol Tomlinson at the UVA Curry School of Education. There at the bottom:

It says: Write a computer program. Be still my heart. I suggested  something done in Alice, or Scratch, but for now she is leaning towards meatballs. She says its what the kids want. There was a lot of eye rolling involved in this conversation.

When I asked why she wasnt interested in a program, she said shed done all that and wanted to try something new. Fair enough...apparently I am my own enemy on this one.

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Untangling the CS Principles Learning Objectives

Struggling with the CS Principles Learning Objectives? Try them as Flashcards: CS Principles flashcards - Learning Objectives

One of the thing I have found most challenging in working with the APCS Principles Topic list over the last 3 years is the Learning Objectives themselves. None of them are all that hard in of themselves, but trying to make sure I am covering everything can sometimes be overwhelming. Unlike the existing APCS course, the topic list does not really suggest any particular sequence, so trying to make sure everything has been covered at AP depth can be a challenge.

Here are the LOs in Flashcard format if you would like to print them out. This has been really helpful for me as I lesson plan to make sure everything is in there. Sometimes it is fun to draw a few cards randomly and try to come up with an activity to cover them. this has helped with some out of the box combinations of topics.

**Note - these are the learning objectives as of Dec 2013. If you are reading this more than 6 months from now you should make sure they still align with the LOs. The course is still in pilot phase and the LOs are subject to adjustment as Collegeboard gets ready for the launch of the new course in 2016-17.

Collegeboards AP CS Principles site

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Data Unit Day Two

(This is a day by day of the Data: Lets do the Numbers Unit in CS Principles. The overview is here.)

Today we are diving into data.

Coloring

The idea is to get a bit more specific and build some vocabulary around data. We also started looking at our first data sets and talking about what they could be used for.

I started by asking them what they thought the difference is between data and information. They had some great responses, including:

Data is the hard code in a computer, the numbers, the statistics.

Information is the actual wording of what we as people know. 

Data is something that has no format. Information has been converted into audio, text, or video. Data is more scientific. 

Data is raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed. Data can be something simple and seemingly random and useless until it is organized.When data is processed, organized, structured or presented in a given context so as to make it useful, it is called information. 

After they copied the notes (topics listed below) They did a coloring activity to show the difference between analog and digitized data. They blended two colors using colored pencils then took a digital picture of the color they created. They used the Paint program to zoom in and look at the individual pixels of color the camera captured.

Next we looked at some small data sets and I had them pose questions about the data. After that they completed the Exit Ticket.



Here is the listing of what we did:

• Fast Start:
• Discussion Board Entry: What do you think is the difference between data and information?
• Notes: Data 
• These covered:
• data  vs information
• connected back to the binary we did in unit 1 and that data is stored in binary
• Data compression
• Analog vs Digital
• NPR article on MP3 Compression
• Activity: color! 
• Data Sets - with a partner 
• You will hand in one sheet of paper. Grab a tablet for your group.
• Navigate to:Data Sets
• With a partner pick one of the data sets from this website...brainstorm at least five questions you could answer using this data set. 
• When done - look at the website here . Which of these are data sets? How could you gather information from these sets of data? What problems might you run into?
• Exit Ticket Day 2 
• Do you use data in your life (outside of school?) If so how?
• How about information?

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Huawei Mobile Partner Troubleshooting

Huawei Mobile Partner Troubleshooting for Windows 8

Here we discuss a serious issue related to the Huawei Mobile Partner latest version on Windows 8 machine.  As we all know, Huawei Mobile Partner latest version has an built-in functionality of sharing internet through WIFI Hotspot if you are on Laptop device or having Desktop with external WIFI cards.


Few users including myself found a serious issue when using Huawei Mobile Partner latest version on a Windows 8 system where Connectify Hotspot was already installed.

Since Connectify Hotspot is a very well known tool for sharing any available internet connection via Hotspot.  It is a very useful tool but due to both softwares having a same functionality at some point as they both having WIFI Hotspots, they have a compatibility issue when installing both softwares on a single machine having Windows 8.

So if you are finding trouble using Huawei Mobile Partner latest version on your machine and you are getting frequent driver issue or getting frequent blue screens of death, check if you have Connectify Hotspot any version installed.


If you have installed Connectify and in order to use Huawei Mobile Partner, you unfortunately need to remove Connectify Hotspot.

Comment below..
Enjoy... 

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Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

From Rebecca Dovi President at CSTA - Central VA Richmond, Virginia Area Id like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. - Rebecca Confirm that you know Rebecca You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Unsubscribe © 2012, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA

OK - this is really cracking me up. I accidentally hit THAT button in LinkedIn a few weeks back. Many of you know this since you have suffered the spam it has generated. Apparently it also asked my blog to join my network.

To be honest I am not sure what LinkedIn does besides spam a lot of very nice people. A lot. Sorry if you were one of them. Please feel free to explain it to me, school is about to start and my brain is on overload and I could be missing something amazing.

Reason number 15 why neglecting your blog for three weeks is a bad idea...it starts joining social networks due to loneliness.

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Computer Science Education Week Day 1

Happy Computer Science Education Week!

Here are a couple of videos to celebrate:

• Grace Hopper Explains a nanosecond
• CSEd Week Videos - Todays Theme: Computer Science and Entertainment

Here in the lab we are doing recruitment activities all week. Tomorrow we are inviting freshmen in to visit. The plan is to show off some student work, then have some of the Finch Robots out for folks to try using the Snap interface.

Today the Intro to Programming kids will be starting a Careers in Computer Science project and working on some animations.

We also have ice cream.

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APTITUDE QUESTIONS

guys download c,c++ and java programming aptitued questions and solved......
frequently asked questions in interview fields......

file size:742 kb

click here to download

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MP3 Compression

We just finished doing number calculations in the CS Principles class. This coming week well be looking at data compression and encryption.

• NPR Story about MP3 Compression This story did a nice job of explaining how the MP3 format works, and talks about some of tis limitations

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Best Quote Ever

So my Exit Ticket Question for my Intro to Programming kids was "What do you think you can do with Computer Science?"

My favorite answer so far:

Anything that our minds can think of, like movies, animations, and special effects. It is a tool for creativity.

The best.

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windows 8 become RTM

RTM version (release to manufacturing) of Windows 8 is ready . With other words , Windows 8 development ended and Microsoft will begin  to se
nd it the integrators . Also on this occasion Microsoft will  do windows 8 available for programmers , testing and development . Starting of 15 august windows 8 will be downloaded from TechNet and MSDN ,obvious of those who have access .

http://blog-de-filme-online.blogspot.COM/

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Recruiting

We are registering for classes on Dec 14th this year. Really early, but it overlaps nicely with CS Education Week. Have you pledged to participate? Do it now, Ill wait.

So this year the CS club is holding an open house during our regular weekly meeting. I havent had time to go to classes to do demos, so instead I am asking teachers to nominate students they think will do well.

Next week I will hand deliver a nomination letter to each student  inviting them to the open house. I usually also mail a letter home to the parents letting them know their child was nominated.

The plan is to have student programs set up to demo what we do in the various classes. I usually try to serve food - this year were doing ice cream and toppings. CS Club kids bring in the toppings and I supply the ice cream.

Also, following the rule of reciprocity, everyone will get a button. They all say Computer Science is... then the words underneath were suggested by my current students. I do think the button maker is one of the best investments I have ever made - super useful.

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Finish FA5 Alice tutorial Witch vocab week 8

Today you need to finish FA5 and hand it in - it is due before the end of the hour.  The instructions are still on last Fridays blog post if you need them.

Once you get done with FA5 you need to complete the Alice tutorial at the following website.  You should have already worked in Alice, but its been quite a while.  Therefore, go to the following website and complete the tutorial - this will help you in re-learning how Alice works.

http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/alice09/tutorialsAlice3/gettingStartedTutorials/witchCauldron/witchTutorial.pdf

As a reminder, there is a vocab list week, and it is list #8 - Technical.  We have a couple videos to watch on this subject this week - below is the first one.

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Recruiting for Computer Science the AP Potential Report

For many high schools it is recruiting season. If you school has an AP program there is a little kown report, called the AP Readiness Potential, that can help you in attracting kids to your classes. This is an especially helpful way of identifying girls and other groups that may not already be taking your Computer Science classes.

Basically this report takes students PSAT scores and predicts the AP tests they are statistically likely to score well on. It is based on a past correlation between past PSATs and AP exams.

While we do not yet have this for APCS Principles, since no AP tests have been given yet, we do have it for the current APCS class.

A new feature is teachers can now log in to see the reports. To access the report you will need an access code. You can get this code from the person in your building that coordinates the AP exams. I find that person often doesnt know about the report, or have any idea of how to find the code.

You can call to get your schools code. The number is 866-630-9305. You just have to identify yourself and your school.

The login for the site is here. Youll need an account for AP Central. Once you pull the report the site even has sample letters to send home to parents. I have found letters directly to parents to be a powerful way to attract kids to computer science.

Long term I am very curious to see how this test correlates for the new APCS Principles class. Since much of the assessment for this course will be written it will be interesting to see if a correlation with the writing section of the PSAT.

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Short day learn Caps Lock key question mark and TAB key

Today you only have a 1/2 day of school (the teachers still have to work a full day...be sure to think of us when youre out riding your bike or playing with your friends this afternoon!), and so we are going to use the shortened time to learn 3 new keys.  They are the Caps Lock key (L4), the question mark (Left shift + R4), and the TAB key (L4).

There is a vocab quiz tomorrow so please prepare yourself accordingly.

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Why Teach Computer Science Facebook Discussion

So last week on Facebook I posted this link: Teach US Kids to Code. It brought up a really interesting discussion between some of my former students about computer science classes.

Now back when I taught these kids (now very much grown up and in their careers) my focus was mostly code, code and more code. I am happy to say my teaching has grown since then. Our discussion centered on the fact that many kids just dont "get" coding. They pointed out that half the kids in our classes never really moved beyond variables. And honestly this was my fault.

Without the broader context the abstraction of computer science can be overwhelming. Especially for an age group that has not necessarily hit the abstract thinking phase of development. Abstract thinking starts in early adolescence and continues until they are in their early 20s. And as teachers we cant control where they are in that spectrum.

What I can control are the activities and topics we do in class. By building a scaffolding through engaging activities you create a framework and a context for all these abstract things. Though practice comes understanding.

This leap from teaching code to teaching computer science has been the biggest development in my career.

NCIS

So here is what I wrote. It is the core of why I think every kids deserves computer science in school.


In a way it is asking the question from the wrong angle. For instance in Latin there is no expectation that every student become a master level linguist. There is an understood intrinsic benefit to studying something rigorous even if you do not hit mastery.

For too many cs classes we have a kind of Jedi master approach  You will either become expert, or get nothing out of the experience. I think there is a valuable middle. 

I assume all of my students will engage with some type of computing device in their professional lives. Having some experience with programming means they have a better understanding of what these devices can and cannot do.

Weve hit the point where cs is the magic trick...watch any old episode of NCIS to see that. For too many people you hit the button, magic occurs and answers appear. Any person with some cs experience knows how untrue that is, and how manipulative it can be.

We are at a point where you are either someone that understands this, or is getting tricked. It has become a basic literacy issue.

So no, many of my students will not master abstraction or recursion, but my classes also cover the culture of cs. They dont have to get every nuance of programming to understand some of the science behind what we do.

And that knowledge puts them on the stage with the magician, maybe holding the hat but still on stage, rather than in the audience. Cs should be more than a fun show. We depend on these devices so much that cs is a core part of being a literate person of influence.

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Fifth Grade Project Yellowstone National Park

By: Sam

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Breaking News! Computer Science for Graduation Credit

In case you missed it Washington state now allows computer science to count as a math or science credit towards graduation.

For the IB diploma cs has recently moved from an elective to a science credit.

Here in VA there has been a lot of conversation around where cs should sit at the high school level. For us it currently sits as either a CTE credit or as a math elective after Algebra II.

The issue comes in for kids planning on pursuing more education in technical fields. The reality is they need more than Algebra II.

Does anyone know of any other states moving this direction?

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Catch up day

Today we are going to use to catch up with whatever you dont have done.  Here are some possibilities:

Crossword puzzle 1-6
Any formatting activity that has been due during the 4th quarter (FA2 - FA8)
Wiki spaces definitions
Vocab quiz make ups (Quizzes 6 - 8)
Spring Break blog post

If you have been doing what has been asked and you have everything completed you have three choices:

Practice websites
Read a book
Homework from another class

As Ive stated before, it is important for you to get your assignments submitted as any score you receive would be much better than a zero.  For those with missing assignments youll notice that your grade dramatically improves once you turn in an assignment that had previously been scored as a zero and score points - depending on the assignment and your grade sometimes as much as one whole letter grade!

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Why you Need a Popcorn Maker

Ok - I know, this is not exactly a programmable device.

But, I am assuming you want to get kids into your lab. I spent $20 on this last year and it has by far been the best piece of equipment I have added to our lab.

Why?

• Teenagers like food
• I have never in 16 years had a kid allergic to pop-corn
• It is cheap food, and I am a teacher...enough said
• As a mom I like that popcorn is relatively healthy. We eat it plain - no junk added. They grumble, but they still eat it.
• The aroma brings kids in from the hall. I have at least two kids in my classes this year that first came to the lab for the popcorn

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Big Data Research

When I start off with a new topic in class I like to gather as much information as possible. Most of it will never make it to the notes of activities the kids see, but I find the more stuff floating around the ol noggin the better I do with teaching the topic.

Data in particular is difficult. I majored in math - which was great for the theoretical underpinnings of mathematics (totally practical on a daily basis). The field of Operational Research was brand new when I was going through college, so again, not a huge foundation for this whole data thing.

Some of the resources I have been using, in no particular order:

• Computer Science Illuminated - this is my go to book for the CS Principles course. Great place to start.
• Code - great book
• List of Publicly available Data Sets
• Big Data at CSAIL - MIT 
• Ted Talk - Human Face on Big Data
• http://humanfaceofbigdata.com/
• Census Bureau API
• CEISE- live data sets
• Exploring Data

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