Category: Computing Science

curricular area

Computing Science Scotland Week – Create a long special Nov 6th – Nov 10th 2023

Join us and our partners from across the country to celebrate Computing Science!  For the week of Monday 6th – Friday 10th November 2023, we are delighted to be delivering a host of live lessons exploring different aspects of Computing Science.

During this week you and and your learners can dive into Computing and learn new skills.  We have practical code and create a long sessions as well as some unplugged activities broadly suitable for BGE levels 2/3, and two especially for early level learners.

Topics covered during this week include

  • Data Science
  • Coding
  • Design
  • Prototyping
  • Physical Computing
  • Unplugged Computational Thinking

This week would not be possible without the support from:

  • Daniel Devine, Craig Steele (Digital Skills Education, Data Education in Schools)
  • Dr Amanda Ford (West College Scotland)
  • Suzanne Lustenhouwer (Apple Distinguished Educator)
  • Helen Orde, Roddy Graham, Catherine Little, Suzanne Pritchard and Paul Graham (Inspire Academy, Scottish Borders)
  • Callum Croughan, Mary Frances Stewart, Zoe Shanks and Alistair Mackay (Digital School Digital Pedagogy Practitioners, North Lanarkshire)
  • Dr Lorna Gibson (Micro:bit Educational Foundation)
  • Kate Farrell and Jasmeen Kanwal (Data Education in Schools project at the University of Edinburgh)
  • Isabella Lieghio, (Education Consultant, Icon Learning/Barefoot Volunteer)
  • Francisca Carocca & Jessica Blake-West, (DevTech Research Group, directed by Dr. Marina Bers in Boston College)

Most of these live lessons will take place via Glow.  There will be a team for you to join where the majority of the live lessons will take place.  If you are unable to join the Glow team then you can still access the live lesson via direct link, however you will not be able to see / interact with the chat functionality.

See below for the activities each day.

Register your interest in 1 or more of the sessions here

11am – Your Data Selfie

Digital Skills Education, Data Education in Schools
Daniel Devine, Craig Steele

Description

Join our YouTube livestreamed lesson where your pupils will combine computing, art, and data to create their own data-driven self-portrait.

In this practical workshop, pupils will learn about data visualisation and code a self-portrait using numerical personal data.

Our data experts will critique their self-portraits which will be showcased in our online portrait gallery.

Participants will follow instructions to edit and customise JavaScript code to create data visualisations based on data they collect about themselves.

Resources

  • Teacher plays the YouTube livestream on projector
  • Pupils take part individually on laptops/desktops

2pm – Game Design Part 1

West College Scotland 

Dr Amanda Ford 

 

The first game design session covering how to think about designing computer games.  Feel free to join either or both sessions! Next session on Wednesday 8th at 2pm

Session 1 Game Design Basics

This lesson will cover the basics of game design and walk through how to start coming up with an idea for a game then how to take it further. 

 

Resources 

  • paper/pencil 
  • Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector

11am – Celebrate you with Swift Playgrounds (iPad)

Apple Education/Education Scotland

Suzanne Lustenhouwer (Apple Distinguished Educator)

Swift playgrounds is an excellent way to learn code on iPad. In Swift Playgrounds you have the ability to build apps directly on iPad. In this session pupils will do a real time introduction to developing their very first app on iPad.

Guided by an Apple Professional Learning Specialist, pupils will learn the approaches to take when building an app from the ground up.

This will be an interactive lesson with your class and ideally aimed for students P6 and up who have a familiarity with Swift Playgrounds on iPad.

Students will need an iPad with the latest version of Swift Playgrounds installed and the About Me Sample project downloaded. Teachers can download an Educator Guide here

Equipment needed in the classroom:

  • Screen visible for all pupils to view the webinar
  • Speakers/WiFi
  • iPads for students with the latest update installed (check Settings – General – Software Update)
  • Swift Playgrounds (up to date) & About Me Sample Playground downloaded (check app store or LA app library)

Having these steps carried out before the webinar ensures that everyone can take part without missing key steps/info.

2pm – Build your own AI smart classroom

Education Scotland

Brian Clark

Learn how you can use the power of artificial intelligence to control a (virtual!) smart classroom and get started exploring how to create with artificial intelligence.  

In this project you will make a virtual classroom that can react to what you say to it.

You’ll be able to control the virtual devices in the classroom by saying what you want. You will teach the computer to recognise commands for different devices by giving it examples of each.

Resources

  • Learners should have access to a device that has internet access to the Machine Learning for Kids website and Scratch
  • Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector
  • Learners can work in pairs

11am – Create the next cool app – App Design Workshop

Inspire Academy, Scottish Borders

Helen Orde, Roddy Graham, Catherine Little, Suzanne Pritchard and Paul Graham

Description

Join us for an exciting live lesson where students will create their very own mobile app prototype! They’ll brainstorm unique app ideas to make life easier or assist others, then learn to design an app logo and finally, students will craft an app prototype that they can proudly showcase to their classmates.

Guided by our instructors, students will use Keynote (or PowerPoint and Google Slides) to design their prototype. We’ll demonstrate how quickly they can design and build an app without any coding required. Don’t miss out on this creative and engaging app design experience!

Resources

  • Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector
  • App Design planning sheet + pen/pencil
  • Pupils take part individually on laptops/desktops/iPads
  • Presentation software on device– either Keynote, Powerpoint or Google Slides

 

2pm – Game Design Part 2

West College Scotland 

Dr Amanda Ford 

 

The second session covering how to think about designing computer games.  Feel free to join either or both sessions!

Session 2 Character and Level Design

This lesson will cover how to design levels and characters for your game.  

 

Resources

  • pencil/paper
  • Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector

 

Woman holding laptop and micro:bit11am – Microbit Hot Potato Game

Micro:bit Educational Foundation

Dr Lorna Gibson

In this session, we will show you how to turn your micro:bit into a physical hot potato! In this game, you will start a timer with a random countdown of a number of seconds. When the timer is off, the game is over and whoever is holding the potato has lost!

We will also consider other simple games like that could be turned into a micro:bit program

Resources

  • A device with access to MakeCode Microsoft MakeCode for micro:bit (microbit.org)
  • micro:bits (if they have them). 
  • Sharing devices in pairs or small groups is absolutely fine (and actually appropriate for the hot potato game). 
  • Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector

Interesting fact! The Hot Potato game is going to feature at some point in a future BBC program too!

9th November 2pm – Build a game with MakeCode Arcade

North Lanarkshire

Callum Croughan, Mary Frances Stewart, Zoe Shanks and Alistair Mackay –  Digital School Digital Pedagogy Practitioners

Learners will build a maze game using MakeCode Arcade within an online web browser. Learners will explore aspects of computing science such as variables, algorithms, parallel programming and loops.

Resources Required:

  • Teacher Support Pack – Step by Step guide to support all aspects of the lesson (to follow via email)
  • Learners should have access a device that can access Microsoft MakeCode Arcade

Teacher joins team meeting and shares screen on projector

Join our 30 minute session to find out how you can provide practical, fun and creative early level computing science experiences across CfE.

In this information session, practitioners will learn about computational thinking and how our youngest of learners can explore computing science concepts and approaches – with absolutely no devices or programmable toys! This session is suitable for all practitioners across a range of settings. Unplugged activities can be adapted to suit the level of learner you are working with.

NOTE: This session is hosted via Microsoft Teams.

11am – Locked in the DATA Base: Data Science Escape Room
Data Education in Schools project at the University of Edinburgh
Kate Farrell and Jasmeen Kanwal

Briefing for Trainee DATA Agents: You were working late on paperwork from your recent DATA mission and you’ve realised that you’ve been locked in the base. Solve the puzzles to get out without setting off the alarm.

Description of learners’ task: Learners use graphs and tables of data about theme park rides to answer questions. The answers to the questions provide them with the alarm code to be able to escape the base.

Resources that learners will require

  • Access to a calculator or calculator app
  • Rollercoaster data sheets (printed or electronic) – one copy between 2-3 learners
  • Questions Worksheet (printed or electronic) – one copy between 2-3 learners
  • The resources are on our website: https://dataschools.education/escape/

There is also an optional pre-activity logic puzzle, also available on our website.

 

Children’s Create Along – Unplugged Explorations: Introducing early level computational thinking with Barefoot Computing
Isabella Lieghio, Education Consultant, Icon Learning/Barefoot Volunteer

Description

Join this 45 minute create along, online session with Isabella Lieghio as she introduces us to the wonderful FREE Computing Science learning materials from Barefoot Computing and takes us through one of the early years activities, step by step. This session is suitable for early and first level learners.

The activity will be about recognising, continuing and creating patterns from the ‘Winter Warmers’ activity.

Where do you see patterns in you home, garden, playroom, classroom?

We will share the printable resources with you, once you have signed up.  Alternatively you can use any resources to create patterns during the create along (loose parts or natural materials such as leaves, conkers, pine cones, twigs, or various colours of playdough, small construction, sorting and counting resources).

You may even  choose to wear a patterned item of clothing that day!

NOTE: This session is hosted via Microsoft Teams. (a Glow log in is not required)

Resources:

Please register for a free account with Early Years | EN | Barefoot Computing and watch the ‘Getting Started’ video for practitioners before the session.

Winter Warmers printable – this will be shared with you via email after sign up.

Computing Science Scotland 2023: Review and Resources

If you missed Computing Science Scotland Week, we have (most!) sessions available for you to view again!  (Unfortunately the tech gremlins appeared in a few recordings!)

These videos, and many others are available to watch on our youtube channel playlist

All links and descriptions of our recorded sessions are below, but first we’d like to say thank you to all of you that participated in #CSscot23 and made it the success it was!

For You and Your Learners

Inspiring Sustainable Behaviour with micro:bit #CSscot23

Making a difference in the world around us can seem a little daunting but there are lots of easy, individual and local things we can do to help. Using the accelerometer on the BBC micro:bit, we will code a random sustainability activity picker to inspire us all to make a difference and to have fun doing it.

This session is suitable for learners first – 4th level.

This session is based on the activity picker project – https://microbit.org/projects/make-it-code-it/activity-picker/

YouTube player

Monitor and Encourage Sustainable Behaviour, micro:bit #CSscot23

This session for you to watch with your class at your own leisure. The video will be made available from 17th May at 11am within the Curriculum Live Channel.

Encouraging those around you to make better choices in their sustainable behaviour is hard. One important thing to encourage change is to convince them with data. Using the data logging feature on the BBC micro:bit, we will build a manual data logger to allow you to gather data for your local area. You could look at transport on the way to school or the types of litter in your local environment. The choice is yours but remember collecting the data is only the first step. Then you need to think about how you will present and share that data in order to make a difference.

This session is suitable for 2nd – 4th Level learners.

This session is based on the traffic survey project – https://microbit.org/projects/make-it-code-it/traffic-survey-data-logger/

YouTube player

Watch with your learners

MITCH RESNICK creator of Scratch, Live Assembly & Sustainability Challenge #CSscot23

Join Mitch Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, as he explores and shares how he develops new technologies to engage educators and learners in creative experiences.

His Lifelong Kindergarten research group developed the Scratch programming software and online community , used by millions of young people around the world. The group has also collaborated with the LEGO Company on the development of new educational ideas and products, including the LEGO robotics kits.

There will be an opportunity to ask Mitch questions at the end of his talk and learners across Scotland will be invited to take part in a national Scratch sustainability challenge. Projects developed will be showcased globally on the Scratch website!

This live assembly will be relevant for learners in the upper first level – senior phase.

YouTube player

Here is the sustainability challenge!

 

 

Technology to Protect our Planet – Live Assembly, Tech She Can #CSscot23

Are your students interested in technology and how it can help us protect our planet? Could they see themselves working in a green career in the future? Join us on Tuesday 16th March at 2pm, when Tech She Can Learning Design and Development Officer (and experienced primary school teacher), Poppy Patel, will deliver a live virtual 30-minute Tech We Can assembly for children aged 8 – 11. Poppy will highlight the role technology plays in helping us to protect our planet and fight climate change – and also show some of the green careers within tech that students could pursue in the future.

 

YouTube player

 

CLPL Sessions for Educators

ELC Practitioner Code Along, with Scratch Jnr #CSscot23

Celebrate #CSscot23 with the Education Scotland Digital Team, by joining a short 30 minute evening ‘Code Along’ session to explore the free online block-based coding app Scratch Jnr.

Scratch Jnr provides an introduction for early level learners to experiment with programming their own interactive stories and games through block-based coding, with endless opportunity to problem solve and express themselves creatively.

This session is suitable for all practitioners working with early level learners across a variety of settings.

Please download the app prior to the session and ‘Code Along’ with us.

The app be downloaded here. For more information about Scratch Jnr, please click here.

YouTube player

 

ELC Practitioner Play Along, with Barefoot Computing #CSscot23

Celebrate #CSscot23 with the Education Scotland Digital Team, by joining a short 30 minute evening ‘Play Along’ session to explore the free resources from Barefoot Computing

Barefoot Computing allows you and your learners to explore computational thinking using simple practical activities.

YouTube player

Esports Scotland: The Journey into Education

Join Esports Scotland to hear about their journey into education and their future plans.

Over the past 18 months Esports Scotland have been working within education in Scotland. Today’s session will talk about our journey into education and our future plans. -Overview of partnership and Esports projects

-Project wins and hurdles partnerships helped overcome

-Esports Scotland and education

-D&A college and Esports progression

YouTube player

 

Artificial Intelligence – Exploring Opportunities for Scottish Educators #CSscot23

Join Education Scotland for a short session exploring Artificial Intelligence and it’s potential in Scottish Education. This session is suitable for educators in Scotland. In this session we will explore…
  • What is artificial intelligence
  • What is generative AI and some examples
  • Prompt-craft
  • How might you use generative AI tools to support your work
YouTube player

BBC micro:bit – The Next Gen : Register for 30 free micro:bits!

BBC micro:bit – the next gen, is a new partnership between BBC Education, The Micro:bit Educational Foundation and Nominet. The partnership will donate a set of 30 micro:bits to every primary school across the UK!

The campaign aims to empower primary learners with the digital skills to understand the world around them and shape their futures.

Register for your school set here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/microbit

The campaign aims to empower primary school children aged 8 to 11 with the digital skills to understand the world around them and shape their futures.

Teachers will be supported by teacher training and a suite of cross curricular teaching resources alongside an array of inspiring classroom activities to get children coding.

18 May, 11 – 11:45 Live Lesson, Soft Robotics and AI with National Robotarium

Join Engineers from the National Robotarium as they take learners through Soft Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Soft Robotics focuses on technologies that more closely resemble the physical characteristics of living organisms, such as a tentacle arm gripper, artificial octopus or a worm. Materials used are unlike the usually materials found in robots, they are ‘soft’ such as, silicone, polymers and liquid crystals.

Soft robotics is being used widely throughout the medical field (surgery, prosthetics and pain management) their movement demonstrates their closeness to humans, animals and plants. A Soft Robotics Engineer will be showing examples and discussing how soft robotics is being used throughout many different industries.

Book Your Place Here

19 May 11:00 – 11:45 Next Tech Girls Scottish Computing Science Week Event

This is an amazing opportunity for secondary school students around the UK to find out what it means to work in tech and hear from women studying or working in the industry in Scotland. Hosted by Next Tech Girls

“We hope to encourage the students to pursue studies and careers in tech too. They don’t need to be studying Computing/Computer Science now to join the event.

Students won’t need access to computers, just a screen they can all see with the video call on it. They might want paper and pens.

The women speaking at the event will include a Software Developer at Barclays and Computing undergraduate at the University of Glasgow. We will share more information nearer the time.”

Sign up here! 

15 May 16:00 – 17:00 Esports Scotland: The Journey into Education

Join Esports Scotland to hear about their journey into education and their future plans.

Over the past 18 months Esports Scotland have been working within education in Scotland. Today’s session will talk about our journey into education and our future plans. -Overview of partnership and Esports projects

-Project wins and hurdles partnerships helped overcome

-Esports Scotland and education

-D&A college and Esports progression

Sign up here! 

16 May 19:00, ELC Practitioner Play Along, with Barefoot Computing #CSscot23

Be part of #CSscot23 by joining the Education Scotland Digital Team in a short 30 minute evening ‘Play Along’ session and be introduced to the concepts and approaches of Computational Thinking with Barefoot Computing, through fun, interactive activities.

We use Computational thinking strategies in our everyday lives and may not even realise it! Computational thinking is about learning to solve problems, with or without a computer. These problem-solving skills not only support the computing science curriculum but also play a part in many other areas of the curriculum and our lives, from PE to storytelling, maths and baking! Join us to find out more.

This session is suitable for all practitioners working with early level learners across a variety of settings.

Please have a pen and paper and small piece of playdough/plasticine to hand, to take part in the hands-on activities.

Barefoot resources for early level learners can be accessed here. For more information about Barefoot please watch this short video.

Sign Up