Review: Python for Kids
Python for Kids is a new No Starch publication written by Jason R. Briggs. Aimed at children from the ages of 10 up who would like to learn Python, the book starts with the very basics even down to in
Latest news & reviews
The Coding at School blog
Reviews of teaching software and books, computing news, and classroom ideas for KS2, KS3 and GCSE Computer Science — 47 articles from the archive.
AQA Computer Science
Kodu News
Kodu Kup Launched in the UK
Recently at this year’s BETT show, the Kodu Kup was officially launched in the UK. It has been running in the US for a number of years, but this is the first time UK students will get the opportunity
Graphics
The Art of Creative Coding
Taken from the PBSoffbook channel on YouTube:
Graphics
The Art of Motion Capture
Revision 3 have released their second episode of Good Job which looks at different opportunities in the gaming industry. This episode looks at the art of motion capture where they talk to Nateon Ajel
KS2
Review: Super Scratch Programming Adventure
Super Scratch Programming Adventure is a new publication from No Starch Press.
KS3
Codecademy After School Club
Codecademy have launched an after school club project which includes a scheme of work teacher’s pack and a lounge for teachers to discuss ideas.
News
gcsecomputing.org.uk Review (GCSE Resource)
gcsecomputing.org.uk is an independent subscription site run by Mike Coley. It hosts resources aimed at the OCR Computing GCSE (although AQA is also planned) and covers unit A451 as well as a few tip
Arduino
Creating a Touchless 3D Tracking Interface with your Arduino
A clever use of the Arduino to create a very simple touchless 3D tracking interface. Could be a good project for an after school club.
GCSE
New Python MOOC Course
A new style of course, MOOC, is about to launch and Python is first up.
Graphics
The Art of Glitch
Glitches – normally a headache for most IT users. Whether it be a corrupt upload or a scratched game disc. However, there are a group of people who are embracing these glitches and instead are turni
Graphics
The Evolution of 8-Bit Art
Following on from our story on Glitch Art, 8 bit art also has a good following. It doesn’t just end with graphics either, 8 bit music also popular and even has live gigs!
GCSE
GCSE WJEC CS Course Accredited for 2012
WJEC have gained accreditation for their new GCSE course and it is available from September 2012.
Alice News
Alice 3.1 Released
Alice 3 has finally moved from BETA to a full release. Designed to help support the transition to programming in Java, Alice 3.1 is aimed primarily at KS4 and A-Level students.
Alice News
Animation 12 Winners Announced
The winners of this year’s Animation 12 competition was announced this week and now the videos showcasing their efforts have been put online.
Kodu News
Kodu Mars Edition Announced
Kodu have announced that they are soon to release Kodu: Mars Edition
Electronics
Challenges of Getting to Mars
A great video outlining the difficulty in landing the NASA Curiosity Rover on Mars. It is mentioned in the video that it took over 500,000 lines of code to program the landing procedure.
GCSE
Why do YouTube views freeze at 301?
Numberphile pays a visit to YouTube and learns the secret behind one of the website’s famous idiosyncrasies – why view counts on new videos often freeze at 301.
KS3
Kuato: Play games and learn programming
Developers Kuato are currently working on a very interesting project to help teach kids how to program whilst playing a game. They have licensed the AI technology from SRI International – the company
Alice News
YGD: Bradford Workshop Highlights
Young Game Designers have taken the best bits from the live stream of their workshop at the National Media Museum and put them online as a video tutorial. Watch their guest experts share their top tip
GCSE
Guardian Seminar Round-Up
An excellent round-up of the recent Guardian seminar for Computer Science can be found here.
Courses
Scratch and Python Course
Coding at School is pleased to announce that we are running our first CPD course on the 9th and 11th July. It will cover both Scratch and Python and is aimed at teachers with little programming knowle
GCSE
Review: Code Avengers
Code Avengers is a website which aims to help teach Javascript (and soon HTML) to students. Designed by Michael Walmsley, Code Avengers is aimed at GCSE level students at was initially designed to cov
GCSE
Adobe Generation Course
Adobe have started a free online course for young, creative students. Aimed at students between the ages of 14-19 who would like to be games designers, animators, video artists, or photographers.
Electronics
Electronic ‘LEGO’
Ayah Bdeir is an engineer and an artist. She has developed an open source system called littleBits of preassembled, modular circuits that snap together with magnets. It is similar in idea to LEGO, but
Alice News
BAFTA Young Game Designers
The BAFTA Young Game Designers competition has launched again, but this time there is a slight difference. Previously students could only enter a design plan for a game (Game Concept Award), but this
GCSE
Google: The Story of Send
Google has launched a new site the details the journey an email takes once you click the ‘send’ button.
AQA Computer Science
Exclusive: Computing GCSE News
Today I attended a computing qualifications meetup at Anglia Ruskin University that was attended by the three main exam boards; OCR, AQA and Edexcel. Please excuse any typos or mistakes – I have type
News
Scratch 2.0 News
The Scratch 2.0 prototype will be made publicly available from May 17 to May 21 at the following address: http://alpha.scratch.mit.edu
KS3
Review: Play My Code
Play My Code is a website by Studio Fortress offering a browser based development environment to program games.
History
IO: Changing The Game Cartoon
IO (Interactive Opportunities) has released a cartoon overview of the IT journey in the UK with examples of people who are already making a difference.
KS3
Learn 4 Life – Interviews (Apps for Good & Raspberry Pi)
Learn 4 life have conducted two interviews recently. One with Debbie Forster of Apps for Good and one with Pete Wood at the Open Hardware User Group about Raspberry Pi.
News
From Gamer to Racing Driver
For those gamers in your class that play games dreaming of it being the real thing, this story is a sign that maybe it isn’t completely out of reach.
KS2
Hackasaurus – ‘Mash up websites’
Hackasaurus is an open source project from Mission:Mozilla. It is a suite of tools and curriculum that make it easy for anyone to learn webmaking through HTML and CSS. It is built around their X-Ray
AQA Computer Science
New Computing GCSEs Event
For anybody interested in delivering GCSE Computing, there is an event coming up at Anglia Ruskin University with representatives from AQA, EDExcel and OCR talking about their GCSE in Computing/Comput
KS2
National Code Club Volunteers (KS2)
A volunteer project has been set up to try and encourage programming in primary schools. ’Code Club’ is aimed at students between the ages of 10-11 and their aim is to get the club up and running in
GCSE
Code Race – Revise your HTML
Code Race is a website that pits you against other coders in a race to solve HTML and CSS problems.
KS2
Raspberry Pi on CBBC
CBBC recently made a short video introducing the Raspberry Pi. Worth showing to younger students if you plan to purchase them for your school (if you can get your hands on any!).
GCSE
Facebook Launches ‘Groups for Schools’
Facebook has launched a new service called ‘Groups for Schools’. This allows teachers and students to collaborate together and share un-copyrighted files between each other. It plans to make it easier
GCSE
Inside Foxconn: How the iPad is made
An interesting video was uploaded to Youtube yesterday showing how the iPad in production in China. Certainly worth showing to your classes.
News
Google X: Project Glass
Earlier this month, Google released a video showing their idea of the future in Project Glass. The video shows somebody waking up and, through a first person perspective, follows them throughout thei
GCSE
How is computing taught in the rest of the world?
The Guardian recently published an article about how computing is taught in other areas of the world. The good news is that the recent changes here in the UK has been noticed around the world with ma
AQA Computer Science
AQA GCSE Computer Science now accredited
As expected, the new AQA GCSE Computer Science course has now been accredited. It is supported by Microsoft and designed around mobile, web and gaming technologies.
GCSE
Creating Bone Chilling Video Game Monster Sounds
A really good video looking at the people who are employed to create the sound effects for video games has been posted over at Revision3 (a great internet television site for tech news and info).
News
Scratch Day (May 19th)
Scratch Day is when ‘scratchers’ all around the globe get together to show off their projects. It has had a consistent following for the three years it has run with around 120 events taking place all
News
The difference between boys and girls
A study in the US looked at how girls and boys, who were taught using the same method, programmed.
News
Android PC on USB Stick
At Mobile World Congress 2012, a Norway-based company called FXI Technologies has made its Cotton Candy — a tiny computer the size of a chewing gum packet — available for pre-order.
KS2/KS3 – Web Development
Hackasaurus is an open source project from Mission:Mozilla. It is a suite of tools and curriculum that make it easy for anyone to learn webmaking through HTML and CSS. It is built around their X-Ray