Diary of a Lead Teacher: Cross-Curricular Computing
Computing week is fast approaching at Prendergast Primary School and this month we have been working hard to plan how to engage parents, teachers and children in all things computing.
Diary of a Lead Teacher: Animating environmentalists
So we’ve come to the end of the first half term…where did all that time go?! As I get to work on the long half term holiday to do list, I am most excited about planning for our new STEM club. Along with our secondary school, we will be running weekly sessions focusing on how science, technology, engineering and mathematics can work together. And, of course, computing comes into this in a big way. Our big focus is on skills development in these areas, in particular, working scientifically and computational thinking.
Just Dance with the Algorithm
Just Dance with the Algorithm was developed by Digital Schoolhouse in partnership with Ubisoft, and is based upon the original workshop ‘Get with the Algo-rhythm’. This workshop combines dance and video games to teach core programming and computing concepts in a way that appeals to a diverse range of students. The workshop begins by creating flow charts of instructions to perform dance moves from popular music tracks.
Teaching Game Design and Development
Last week, Digital Schoolhouse (DSH) hosted its first Lead Teacher Meeting of the new academic year, bringing together our community of Digital Schoolhouse teachers to harness and grow their programme outreach and development.
Teaching Computing with the BBC & BAFTA YGD
Games engage and excite students in a way that few other topics can. It's why so many teachers ensure that games development is attempted at least once during each key stage. Using the medium of games we can bring together all the different strands of computing and combine it with artistic creativity and fun.
Inaugural Esports Tournament Kicks off
"...Can you just press the 'x' button please, I'm getting really tense!!..."
The Educated Bananas, Slumdog Mignolet & the Archbishops of Banterbury are just some of the teams competing in this year’s Digital Schoolhouse eSports tournament.
App in a Day: An Apps for Good Taster Workshop
“Apps have been changing the way people communicate, work and play. Traditional businesses, from media to retail, have been seeing their business models disrupted by start-ups that amass millions of users within the space of a few months with minimal marketing budgets.” (Vision Mobile, 2014) Apps have become an important part of our digital world today and the industry attracts developers and designers from across all age groups, from teenagers to 65+.
Let's Doodle: What will you create?
This is a computing lesson with a difference. This cross-curricular workshop developed with 3Doodler involves no programming, but covers every strand of the Computational Thinking Framework and allows pupils to accelerate and work towards Key Stage 3 strands in the Programmes of Study. The new Design & Technology Programmes of Study are also partially covered at both Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3.
