Assignment #1 - Professional Learning Network
Bookmarked resources on Diigo found here Bookmarked resources on Pinterest found here Other teachers: Mrs. Mary Ann Brown Mr. Larry Wachs Mr. Mark Zielonko Computer Science at Fort Richmond Collegiate |
Assignment #2 - Unit Plan Introduction to Computer Science
One the onset, I would explain some of the misconceptions about computer science. Fact vs myth. Computer science is not another math class, although more like math than science. Computer science is not playing on the computer with games and videos. Computer science is about problem solving.
During the first week of classes to prepare my students I would divide the class into 30 minute blocks. The first half of the class, I would conduct an offline computational thinking activity. This would include sequencing activities, Lego instructional card(pairs of students build a Lego design. One person has the picture the other person has the Lego and the instructions are given to the builder without the builder seeing the image), Einstein's Riddle, escape room games and Rubric's Cubes. The second half of he class the students will use a variety of coding applications to begin some simple coding. Some examples would be code.org, kodu, scratch or CodeCombat.
SAMPLE
Einstein's House Riddle
This is a logic puzzle written by Albert Einstein, and it is said to be one of the most difficult puzzle ever. In pairs, students will use logic and problem solving skills to determine who stole the fish.
Ed Ted: Can you solve Einstein's Riddle
Einstein's House Riddle worksheet (https://allesl.com/einsteins-riddle/)
CodeCombat
This free online game allows student to learn actual JavaScript or Python coding (not block coding) through play giving step by step instructions and multiple choice methods to guide the hero through increasingly challenging levels.
https://codecombat.com/play
Microbits
Although microbits are generally not free, they can be. By contacting Kid Code Jeunesse they can be. Booking a free workshop with your class can give your school a class set of microbits. Now, there are other accessories that you can buy to complete a set for other projects but getting the actual microbits for free will certainly help. Kid Code Jeunesse also have unplugged resources that can be used for computational thinking activities.
https://microbit.org/
Code.org
There are lots of activities you can do with code.org, the most popular being "Hour of Code". Once a student has done an "hour of code" they can continue and do JavaScript programming. There are also some unplugged activities that can be used to promote computational thinking.
code.org
Scratch
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan or scratch but a lot of people like it. For Senior years students I think the interface is a little childish.
https://scratch.mit.edu/
Lego Mindstorm
If you are lucky enough to have Lego Mindstorm is this a great option. Who doesn't love Lego? Another option would be to use the virtual toolkit. This allows the student to program a virtual robot.
http://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/virtualbrick/
One the onset, I would explain some of the misconceptions about computer science. Fact vs myth. Computer science is not another math class, although more like math than science. Computer science is not playing on the computer with games and videos. Computer science is about problem solving.
During the first week of classes to prepare my students I would divide the class into 30 minute blocks. The first half of the class, I would conduct an offline computational thinking activity. This would include sequencing activities, Lego instructional card(pairs of students build a Lego design. One person has the picture the other person has the Lego and the instructions are given to the builder without the builder seeing the image), Einstein's Riddle, escape room games and Rubric's Cubes. The second half of he class the students will use a variety of coding applications to begin some simple coding. Some examples would be code.org, kodu, scratch or CodeCombat.
SAMPLE
Einstein's House Riddle
This is a logic puzzle written by Albert Einstein, and it is said to be one of the most difficult puzzle ever. In pairs, students will use logic and problem solving skills to determine who stole the fish.
Ed Ted: Can you solve Einstein's Riddle
Einstein's House Riddle worksheet (https://allesl.com/einsteins-riddle/)
CodeCombat
This free online game allows student to learn actual JavaScript or Python coding (not block coding) through play giving step by step instructions and multiple choice methods to guide the hero through increasingly challenging levels.
https://codecombat.com/play
Microbits
Although microbits are generally not free, they can be. By contacting Kid Code Jeunesse they can be. Booking a free workshop with your class can give your school a class set of microbits. Now, there are other accessories that you can buy to complete a set for other projects but getting the actual microbits for free will certainly help. Kid Code Jeunesse also have unplugged resources that can be used for computational thinking activities.
https://microbit.org/
Code.org
There are lots of activities you can do with code.org, the most popular being "Hour of Code". Once a student has done an "hour of code" they can continue and do JavaScript programming. There are also some unplugged activities that can be used to promote computational thinking.
code.org
Scratch
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan or scratch but a lot of people like it. For Senior years students I think the interface is a little childish.
https://scratch.mit.edu/
Lego Mindstorm
If you are lucky enough to have Lego Mindstorm is this a great option. Who doesn't love Lego? Another option would be to use the virtual toolkit. This allows the student to program a virtual robot.
http://www.robotvirtualworlds.com/virtualbrick/
Assignment #4 - Learning C#
In my practicum this term I'll be teaching grade 10 computer science with C#. I haven't used any C# so for this assignment I am choosing to learn C#.
In my practicum this term I'll be teaching grade 10 computer science with C#. I haven't used any C# so for this assignment I am choosing to learn C#.
Jan 13 2020:
I downloaded the development environment (Visual Studio) and borrowed books from both the University of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Public Library. I also reviewed Larry's website. Jan 20 2020: I found an interesting online tool for C# tutorials from Microsoft. Jumping into Visual Studio seemed overly complicated. I managed to get "Hello World" to work. Yay me! |
Feb 3 2020:
Ran the Microsoft Tutorial for creating variables, concatenating, interpolating strings and other string methods.
Feb 10 2020:
Continued with string functions including StartsWith, EndsWith and Contains.
Feb 14 2020:
The next tutorial in the series is using mathematical functions. It uses the basic math operations and including minvalue, maxvalue, remainder/mod and using data types int, double and decimal. It also reviews the Math library to use things like PI as a predefined constant.
Ran the Microsoft Tutorial for creating variables, concatenating, interpolating strings and other string methods.
Feb 10 2020:
Continued with string functions including StartsWith, EndsWith and Contains.
Feb 14 2020:
The next tutorial in the series is using mathematical functions. It uses the basic math operations and including minvalue, maxvalue, remainder/mod and using data types int, double and decimal. It also reviews the Math library to use things like PI as a predefined constant.
Assignment #5 - Professional Development Plan
1. Drupal/ CiviCRM: A couple months ago I started working for the Canadian Association for Young Children (www.cayc.ca) doing website and membership support. This is a new product for me. So far on the Drupal side, I have done some web content updates, and created the node for the national conference. With CiviCRM I have done membership updates and generated mass emails. Becoming more familiar with these products with assist in teaching a web design class. One of my assigned tasks is to fix errors that were created in the database before my arrival. This requires direct access to the database through Linux, identifying and fixing records that were accidently archives and/or duplicated.
2. Upgrade to Auroral Activity Indicator: This is the project I worked on with Richard Hechter written in Python. (This is the only work I have done in Python) Now that it has expanded a bit there are a couple upgrades I'd like to add, which in turn will give me a little more experience using Python.
a) Create a menu to select a light source: this will be a fairly easy fix.
b) because of the travel router we are using the IP address can change, the code has the IP address hard coded. I need to find a way to either set up the router to use a static IP address or use the Philips API utility within the code to read the IP address assigned to the router. This fix will be more difficult.
c) Add more error checking
This will help me become more familiar with Python in order to teach it if I need to.
1. Drupal/ CiviCRM: A couple months ago I started working for the Canadian Association for Young Children (www.cayc.ca) doing website and membership support. This is a new product for me. So far on the Drupal side, I have done some web content updates, and created the node for the national conference. With CiviCRM I have done membership updates and generated mass emails. Becoming more familiar with these products with assist in teaching a web design class. One of my assigned tasks is to fix errors that were created in the database before my arrival. This requires direct access to the database through Linux, identifying and fixing records that were accidently archives and/or duplicated.
2. Upgrade to Auroral Activity Indicator: This is the project I worked on with Richard Hechter written in Python. (This is the only work I have done in Python) Now that it has expanded a bit there are a couple upgrades I'd like to add, which in turn will give me a little more experience using Python.
a) Create a menu to select a light source: this will be a fairly easy fix.
b) because of the travel router we are using the IP address can change, the code has the IP address hard coded. I need to find a way to either set up the router to use a static IP address or use the Philips API utility within the code to read the IP address assigned to the router. This fix will be more difficult.
c) Add more error checking
This will help me become more familiar with Python in order to teach it if I need to.
February 5 2020:
Here I created a method that will dynamically determine the IP address of the bridge. The travel router we used will dynamically assigns an IP address from a list. Instead of hardcoding the IP address then checking and changing the IP address, I use the utility for Philips Hue developers to read the IP address that was assigned by the router. |
February 4 2020:
Now that there are 2 sets of lights for the KP Lights (AAI), I wanted to create a simple menu to allow the user to select which light source he/she would like to access. Previously, the light source (the number associated with each set of lights as assigned by the Philips Hue App) was hard-coded in and changed within the code to change the light source. This menu does some simple error checking. This is my first attempt at using input in Python, and created a method to separate the menu actions. |
3. WestCAST: February 20 2020 Vancouver BC - Presented AAI at WestCast, also attended several technology based PD sessions including Artificial Intelligence and coding with MicroBits.
4. Arduino: Last year I tried to help a group of girls with an Arduino project. My exposure was limited and I would like to learn more.
5. AAPT Conference: July 2020, Grand Rapids, MI - Invited to attend the conference this summer, I plan to participate in sessions by STEM coding
4. Arduino: Last year I tried to help a group of girls with an Arduino project. My exposure was limited and I would like to learn more.
5. AAPT Conference: July 2020, Grand Rapids, MI - Invited to attend the conference this summer, I plan to participate in sessions by STEM coding
Photos by Karen Latimer