Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

Coding & Robotics (9)

Using Robotics to Spark Girls’ Excitement about STEM

It should come as no surprise to anyone that there is a massive skills shortage in STEM. Unfortunately, another common issue that you often hear about is the lack of females studying and working in computing and technology. In fact, females working in some areas of technology, such as data science, are sometimes referred to as unicorns because of how rare they can be in that area.

Breaking down barriers to coding

Whilst we know that the skills associated with computational thinking are vital for today’s children to flourish in the 21st Century workplace, the practicalities of teaching coding during school hours can sometimes be perceived as a challenge. There is often a misconception that incorporating workshops and lessons that will instill the important skills associated with computational thinking will take a lot of work. But, with simple techniques, we know ...

How far have we come with coding?

Coding has been around for a while now, yet how far have we really come in terms of teaching and learning? There still appears to be a certain nervousness among teachers when incorporating it into lessons, perhaps stemming from a lack of knowledge, skills or resources. Despite this, with a little time and practise, coding can be quite an easy task to weave into classroom activities. So let’s explore ...

SOLE and chips, part 2

Well what a year this has been. SOLE has moved on with such a pace I have to stop and think about where we started. September saw us return with new children joining the group of before. We made lots of plans, not least of which the resolutions proposed and agreed by the whole group.

Programming with Minecraft

Children love programming. A simple statement, but one that my experience as a Primary school teacher and a Computing subject leader has provided me with a glut of evidence to support. Visual programming applications are commonplace in the vast majority of Primary schools, but what about those pupils who are eager to take the step and cross the divide into the world of text based coding. This can be a ...

Infographic: Decoding dyslexia

An infographic to explain dyslexia, how it affects people, and what’s being done to combat these effects:

What a Robotics Project can offer your school

Robotics are fun and interesting, but how can a school go about implementing them into their school? Restech’s Zan Nadeem gives her top tips on the topic. The changes to the curriculum, although daunting in some ways, are hugely exciting. Most people, kids and adults, have a love for making things. The power to create/ and the joy from finishing a self conceived model, drawing, cake, knitted jumper etc, ...

Coding: Is it a necessity in the classroom?

Given that the new computing curriculum is coming into effect after the summer, we revisit an article the Code Club’s managing director Laura Kirsop, where she examines the importance of coding at school. As seen in the February 2014 edition of our magazine. For the last two years, everyone’s been talking about learning to code. From Google chairman Eric Schmidt, to will.i.am and Barack Obama. But what ...

Learning basic programming and engineering with LEGO Robotics

Four years ago, Stanborough School started its LEGO Robotics Club. Our goal was to introduce pupils to the principles of robotics and computing, and to give them an enthusiasm for engineering. The club offers an initial six-week course in which pupils learn to design, build and program standard robots from instructions provided with the LEGO Mindstorms kit. They then move on to build and program machines of their own design. ...