HelloWorld Issue 3

WELCOME TO THE NEW MAGAZINE FOR COMPUTING & DIGITAL MAKING EDUCATORS 10 TIPS TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT LEARNERS Keep your independent students engaged and motivated with our expert advice Issue 3 Autumn Term 2017 helloworld.ccBACK TO CODE CLUBBASIC FOR Using BASIC and GOTO to teach TEENS the foundations of programming New resources forBUILD PONG 9- to 13-year-oldsIN SCRATCH A lesson plan for 11-year-oldsAPPROACHINGASSESSMENTOur international panel of experts discusses innovative approaches OPEN-SOURCEand technologies for assessing programming skills RESOURCESEMBRACING PLAY Computing has benefitedHow play could make you a better educator from open-source. Can education too?PLUS LEARNING THROUGH HACKING • WILL A COMPUTER TAKE YOUR JOB? • CS UNPLUGGED • MATHEMATICAL1 (helloworldGM.ccEU)TSTIINNGGSG•IRYLOS UCTOUDBINEGC•L ASSR OOM • RASPBERRY PI & CODERDOJO MERGE • WHAT DOES A PROGRAMMER DO? APPS FOR GOOD AWARDS 2017 • ASSIGNING VARIABLES • SCHOOL LEADERS MATTER



CELEBRATING SUBSCRIBERS ISNUBPSRCRINIBTE EDITORIALHELLO, WORLD! FOR FREE Managing Editor TURN TO PAGE Russell Barnes elcome to issue three of Raspberry 32 [email protected] Pi and BCS/Computing At School’s Oliver Quinlan explores ‘assessment for learning’ Contributing Editor magazine for digital making and CS in computing. As Nicholas Tollervey remarks in Miles Berryeducators worldwide.  his feature on life as a developer, “Tests express [email protected] For those of us in the northern hemisphere, how I expect my code to run, and well-testedwe’re at the start of a new school year, with code is better because writing tests makes you Sub Editormuch enthusiasm and excitement about new reflect on how your code should behave.” Is Rachel Churchercourses, classes and clubs. The attention of something similar true for teaching?many English secondary teachers is likely to be DESIGNon the new Non-Examination Assessment that Marc Scott provides some insights into thenow forms part of GCSE Computer Science – connections between open-source software and Critical Mediaexa.foundation’s Alan O’Donohoe provides an open educational resources. Hello World itself criticalmedia.co.ukexcellent ‘bluffer’s guide’ here.  is an open educational resource – our content is We’re exploring more aspects of assessment all published under a Creative Commons licence, Head of Designin this issue’s cover feature, with expert insights and we’d love to share your news, views and Dougal Matthewsinto how projects and questions can help lesson plans! We’re launching a letters page instudents and teachers alike understand where this issue, and would be very glad to receive Designersthey are and where they’re heading. Elsewhere contributions from any readers – just drop us Lee Allen, Mike Kay, andin this edition, Chris Roffey discusses the a line at [email protected]. Daiva BumelyteBebras computational thinking challenge and Miles Berry Illustrator: Contributing Editor Sam Alder Cover photography: Brian O’Halloran/Raspberry Pi Foundation CONTRIBUTORS Lucy Hattersley, Phil King, John Stout, and Mark WainwrightFEATURED THIS ISSUE Hello World is a joint collaboration:LINDA LIUKAS ALAN O’DONOHOE CAT LAMIN This magazine is printed on paper sourced from sustainable forests and the printer operates anPROGRAMMER, CAS MASTER TEACHER RASPBERRY PI CERTIFIED environmental management system which hasSTORYTELLER AND AND LEADER OF EDUCATOR AND CAS been assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.ILLUSTRATOR EXA.FOUNDATION MASTER TEACHER Hello World is published by Raspberry PiLinda is a programmer, storyteller Alan taught Computing and Technology Former primary school teacher, (Trading) Ltd., 30 Station Road, Cambridge,and illustrator from Helsinki, Finland. in schools for more than 20 years. He founder of Coding Evening and CB1 2JH. The publisher, editor, and contributorsShe is the creator of the Hello Ruby runs Exa.Foundation, a non-profit real-life geek girl, Cat is enthusiastic accept no responsibility in respect of anybooks, bringing computational thinking organisation that promotes and supports about getting teachers and children omissions or errors relating to skills, productsactivities to 4- to 10-year-olds. computing and digital making. interested in coding and computing. or services referred to in the magazine. Except where otherwise noted, content in this magazine is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). helloworld.cc 3

CONTENTS COVER 20 80FEATURE GUIDE TO NEA Bluffer’s Guide to Non-Examination Assessments for GCSE CSASSESSMENT IN CS 62COMPETITIONS Motivating your classInnovative approaches to testing and learningNEWS AND FEATURES06 NEWS 25 PARSONS PROBLEMS 40 LEADERSHIP TOOLKIT What’s new in CS education? A tool for learning Seeking support from your school and assessment leadership team14 ONLINE VIDEO 26 AUTOGRADING 42 ONLINE TRAINING Learning for the Autograders for Scratch New courses from YouTube generation and Snap! The Raspberry Pi Foundation16 #INSIGHTS 28 DIGITAL BADGES 44 LANGUAGE BARRIER The future is automated Online credentialing Teaching Python to EAL students20 APPROACHES TO ASSESSMENT 34 PLAYFUL PROGRAMMING 46 OPEN-SOURCE RESOURCES Ideas for assessment in CS Embracing creative coding The open education revolution21 NEA LOWDOWN 36 BAREFOOT COMPUTING 59 RSA AND PRIME NUMBERS An introduction to NEAs Resources for teachers Encryption techniques22 ASSESSING PROGRAMMING 38 CS UNPLUGGED 60 VARIABLES AND VALUES Judging the quality New teaching materials Sharing and copying of code24 MULTIPLE CHOICE 39 PHYSICAL COMPUTING 62 COMPETITIVE LEARNING Writing robust questions Getting excited about coding Competitions for your students4 helloworld.cc

34 CONVERSATION 78 10 TIPS Teaching independent learners 80 BLUFFER’S GUIDE Your guide to the new NEA 84 FAQ PLAYFUL PROGRAMMING Your questions answered Hello Ruby and Reggio Emilia 94 LETTERS Join the conversation44 76 LEARNINGPYTHON AND EAL TUTORIALS & LESSON PLANSDoes language matter? WHITE HATS 48 SCRATCH PONG Hacking as a learning experience Assess the abilities of your new Year 7 students with this simple activity 50 SCRATCH CLOCK Learn about algorithms, and code your own stopwatch64 SHOW YOUR WORKING 76 HACKERS IN THE CLASSROOM 52 GAME DESIGN Using exercise books in CS Cybersecurity and ethics You’re the client, and your students are the game designers in this cross- CAREER INSIGHT BOOK REVIEWS curricular project66 What does a software engineer do? 88 What we’re reading this term SERVER-FREE SQL 56 Introducing SQLite3, a database-68 BEAVERING AWAY 90 EVENT GUIDE building Python library Bebras and computational thinking Part two of our guide to running your community event70 TEACHING GOTO 98 MANY LANGUAGES? Programming foundations Fluency and range in71 BASIC LESSONS programming languages Revisiting the BBC Micro72 HANDS-ON MICRO:BIT Hands-off teaching73 SCRATCHJR Programming with Year 174 SMELLY CODE How sweet is your Scratch code? helloworld.cc 5

NEWS FEATURE n T he finalists and winners gather on stage to celebrate their achievementsAPPS FOR GOOD AWARDS 2017 Students pitch their innovative technology ideas to experts at annual awardsENTER APPS FOR T he Apps for Good 2017 annual “It was both exciting and daunting,”GOOD 2018 awards ceremony has taken place said Kirsty and Savannah from Booksy at the Barbican Centre in London. The (helloworld.cc/2fpmk7C). After weeks of Apps for Good is an educational movement event rewarded the hard work of young talking through, designing, and researching powering a generation to change their world tech entrepreneurs around the world, their app, they had the chance to present it with technology. Students aged 8-18 work and students took the opportunity to to an audience of industry experts. Booksy, together in teams to find real-life issues they pitch their ideas to industry experts an app for simple and social note taking for care about, and learn how to solve them using and partner tech companies. GCSE revision books, won the prestigious technology. Since the launch in 2010, its courses Information Category award. have been delivered to over 100,000 students Solving problems with technology in more than 1,500 schools across the UK Now in its sixth year, Apps For Good and internationally. Finalists were selected from the 25,000 celebrates today’s young tech entrepreneurs. students who created a technology The event, at the end of the school year, is a Give your students the opportunity to be product tackling the problem or issue they culmination of all the ideas, learning and hard award winners in 2018 by delivering the free Apps care about. The prizes at stake, such as work that students and teachers have put into for Good course. For information on becoming an lucrative work experience opportunities the completion of the Apps for Good course. educator, go to helloworld.cc/2vLaADm. and mentoring from industry leaders, Prizes recognising the achievements of the mean that the weeks leading up outstanding teachers who deliver the course, to the awards can be tense for the as well as the dedication of the schools which selected finalists. take part, are also presented on the day.6 helloworld.cc

Pitching to the experts n T eam Micro:gate, Maliha, Talia, Eden, and Macey (helloworld.cc/2ulqLCW), from Thornleigh Salesian College, present their product, which aims to easily create GCSE science practical equipmentAll the finalist teams spent the morningat accelerator sessions, perfecting theirpresentations with the support of partnertech companies. There was a buzz ofexcitement as the teams arrived at theBarbican ready to pitch to the panel ofexperts. The team behind the Home Helpapp (helloworld.cc/2ulBSzQ) summedup the sentiment among the students:“We were really happy to get shortlistedbut a bit nervous. After working with ouraccelerator, we were well prepared forthe presentation.” As everyone prepared to showcasetheir ideas to the judges, the impressiveprototypes created by the Internet ofThings course finalists were a real talkingpoint among students, teachers and Appsfor Good team members. 2017 saw the IoT“ THE MARKETPLACE IS AN IMPRESSIVE presented by Apps for Good Fellows DEMONSTRATION OF ALL THE DIFFERENT (graduates) Jashvanth and Alex. The ASPECTS OF THE APPS FOR GOOD COURSE Fellows demonstrated the incredible opportunities available to graduates of the course. As the winners in each category were announced, everyone could see howcourse piloted in ten schools, and the ideas with a very difficult choice, as the products their hard work and determination hadon display at the awards were intriguing offered solutions to a wide variety of brought them this far. Teachers, studentsand eye-opening. problems in very innovative ways. and guests left the awards inspired andAfter presenting their ideas to the Everyone’s hard work culminated excited to continue working on theirdragons and their fellow finalists (which in the award ceremony, which was technology ideas.many students found the most nerve-wracking part of the day!) it was time n The team from Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, David, Zamyrah, Hayden, Samiyah, Caleb and Kamira, bringto head to the marketplace. their app Read:it (helloworld.cc/2uGjYDm), which helps children to read on their own, to the marketplaceIdeas showcaseThe buzz of the marketplace was the mostfun part of the day and students say it’swhat they look forward to most. They havethe chance to showcase their ideas toindustry leaders, experts and professionals.Everyone is excited, and students’ ideas arebrought to life with illustrated displays. Themarketplace is an impressive demonstrationof all the different aspects of the Apps forGood course. The display of creativity andteamwork behind the ideas proves howmuch the teams achieve on top of thetechnical aspects of the course. As well as inspiring the guests at themarketplace with their ideas, the students’other aim was to win votes in the prestigiousPeople’s Choice Award. Guests were faced helloworld.cc 7

NEWS FEATURE CODE CLUB AGE RANGE EXPANDS WORLDWIDE New resources and training available for Code Clubs for 9- to 13-year-olds ode Club is expanding to cover 11-13 age group, and to collect feedback on existing projects. A particular favourite among how Code Club’s new projects would work students was ‘Rock Band’, a project where C older students, aged 11 to 13 with an older age range. students compose songs from the current charts using new instruments. Games such asyears. From September, the popular coding “We asked them to try out some projects, ‘Beat The Goalie’ also proved popular. “Thisclubs will be officially supported for 9- to and they told us whether they were too hard became a competition amongst the students13-year-olds globally. or too easy,” says Sarah Sheerman-Chase, to see who could make their game most Participation Manager for Code Club UK. difficult,” Stewart tells us. “There are currently almost 6000 CodeClubs in the UK, and already more than 600 We spoke to a teacher who has been Following feedback from the trialof them are in secondary schools,” says Maria running a Code Club for 11- to 13-year- programme, Code Club has released newQuevedo, Director of Code Club UK. olds. Natalie Stewart, Subject Leader for resources based on Sonic Pi, an open-source Computing and ICT, and STEM Coordinator programming environment that can be usedStudent feedback at Hadley Learning Community, told us: on any computer to make music using code. “The students were more than excited at the New resources include building drum loops,Code Club chose 50 of those schools to run prospect of more challenging projects.” Until creating special effects, and a live DJ project.a pilot programme during the summer term. now, they have been enjoying Code Club’sThe programme was used to understand howCode Clubs are currently working with then O lder Code Club children can mentor, and look after, younger recruits8 helloworld.cc

START A CODE CLUB n Code Club’s free resources can be thought-provoking for older students Anybody can set up or volunteer at a Code Club. As a Code Club leader, you’ll play an essential part in helping children gain useful skills; not just in coding, but in problem-solving, planning, design, and collaboration. You don’t need to be a programmer, and you can learn along with the students. All you need is a venue, computers with web browsers, and children aged 9-13. Visit the Code Club website for more advice on how to get started: helloworld.cc/2vBdlXz “We think they will be very popular Mentoring younger students says Quevedo. “For example, Code Club couldwith teenagers,” says Sheerman-Chase. be a good thing to do on induction day, andCode Club is also planning to launch new The Code Club resources were “invaluable” we know of schools where the older studentsprojects in the Autumn term for more said Stewart. Eventually, the students were support the younger ones at Code Clubs.”advanced students. running the Code Club and “supporting each other, especially new recruits.” It is this change Support and resources“ THE STUDENTS WERE MORE THAN Teachers of 9- to 13-year-olds can access all EXCITED AT THE PROSPECT OF MORE of the free resources available at Code Club. CHALLENGING PROJECTS “The idea behind the projects is that Existing resources include projects to spanning a wider age range of students they’re flexible,” Quevedo tells us. You canbased on Python, HTML, CSS, and physical that lends itself to mentoring. Code Club will use any computer with a web browser, andcomputing – also perfect for use with an older be a superb “transition activity” for students all the materials and training are free.age range. moving from primary to secondary school, Club leaders do not need to be codingn Code Club resources are now officially available for 9- to 13-year-olds experts to run a club. They can come to one of Code Club’s regular training sessions, or learn alongside the students. They can also complete any of the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s courses on the FutureLearn platform (see page 42 for details). These courses can be a “fantastic” preparation for running a Code Club, says Quevedo. All the Code Club resources are free to download (helloworld.cc/2vJpM2Z). Teachers and volunteers can find plenty of support for their Code Club by registering at the Code Club World website (helloworld.cc/2vfNNhE). It is important that teachers register their Code Clubs with us, Quevedo reminds us. The resources are open to everybody, but there are “huge advantages to registering, as registered clubs have access to lots more resources and support.” Teachers who register gain access to supporting materials, such as posters, certificates, and competition prizes. helloworld.cc 9

NEWS FEATURE CS4FN MAGAZINE A new free magazine for primary schoolsn T he pilot issue of A bit of cs4fn. Image credit: A bit of cs4nf T he CAS London team behind history, science, music, and art. The pilot Computer Science for Fun has issue explains how the Romans invented created a new free magazine for primary- pixels, so they could have mosaic floors aged pupils called A bit of cs4fn. The anywhere in the empire. Another feature pilot issue of the magazine combines explains how Victorian Countess and articles with games and puzzles. mathematician Ada Lovelace foresaw the “A bit of cs4fn is designed to help key ideas behind the digital age. girls and boys to become computational thinkers for fun,” says Paul Curzon, “We also investigate whether an Professor of Computer Science at Queen invisibility cloak could ever become a Mary University of London. reality,” says Curzon; and the magazine The magazine mixes computing with explores what “machine learning is all topics from other subjects, supporting about” to explain how our brains work. numeracy and literacy while drawing on Sign up for free copies of A bit of cs4fn at abitofcs4fn.org. NEW ZEALAND ANNOUNCES NEWDIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES CURRICULUM Digital Technologies expanded to cover primary and secondary schools N ew Zealand’s Education Minister, as algorithms and programming, while the n New Zealand’s Education Minister, Nikki Kaye Nikki Kaye, has announced a new DDDO area includes ‘understanding ofcurriculum for students from their first the digital information technologies that The draft curriculum for consultationyear of schooling. people need in order to locate, analyse, is available at helloworld.cc/2ule2jQ. Called Digital Technologies/Hangarau evaluate, and present digital information The official announcements can beMatihiko, the new curriculum is backed up efficiently, effectively, and ethically’, as well found at helloworld.cc/2vicQz0 andwith $40 million of funding to support the as becoming ‘more aware of how to build, helloworld.cc/2ulTE67.change. The money will provide professional install, maintain, and support computers,learning and development for teachers, networks, and systems’.the development of interactive resources,and an equity fund, plus scholarships, and The draft includes a Te Reo Māori (Māoricompetitions for students. language) version that covers the same A draft of the curriculum has been material as the English medium curriculum,published for consultation, which will run but also has extra material that reflects theuntil mid-November. A final curriculum is to unique aspects of Te Marautanga o Aotearoabe released for use from the beginning of (the national curriculum for Māori-medium2018, becoming mandatory in 2020. teaching). The aim is to ‘enable students to The draft Digital Technologies material is learn about digital technologies in variousequivalent to computing in the UK. It has two situations from a Māori world view, andknowledge areas: Computational Thinking demonstrate Māori values and principles to(CT) and Designing and Developing Digital ensure that designers and users create aOutcomes (DDDO). CT includes topics such positive impact in their whānau, hapū, iwi and local and global environment.’10 helloworld.cc

ROYAL SOCIETY COMPUTING EDUCATION REPORT 2017 Teachers can download the 2017 report from October T he Royal Society is due to launch “A well-taught curriculum should cover Teachers need “more support and its new report into the provision these three strands”, said Do Quy, so that investment,” said Do Quy.of computing in UK schools. young people are equipped with the skills to The report is influenced by “thrive in our digital world”. The 2014 reform moved the curriculumevidence gathered from individuals away from an ICT approach, to oneand organisations who are interestedin computing. Teachers will be able “ A COMPUTING CURRICULUM NEEDS TOto download the report in October FOCUS ON THREE AREAS: IT, DIGITALfrom the Royal Society website, LITERACY, AND COMPUTER SCIENCEat helloworld.cc/2hFn755. The new report follows the Royal Recruitment of computing teachers also focused on computational thinking skills.Society’s seminal 2012 report, Shut needs to be addressed. Only 68 percent While there is widespread enthusiasmdown or restart? (helloworld.cc/2vibUdX). of the recruitment target is reported for the new subject, it has not yet reached The old national curriculum in ICT “has to have been met, which is lower than the same level of uptake at A level as thebeen discontinued” said David Do Quy, in any of the sciences. The report will old ICT qualification. Do Quy notes thatComputing Project Leader at The Royal outline actions to address the shortage “more work needs to be done” to growSociety. In its place, we have a computing of computing teachers. the subject, “especially for girls”.curriculum with three areas: IT, digitalliteracy, and computer science. helloworld.cc 11

NEWS FEATURE n P hilip Colligan (left), CEO of The Raspberry Pi Foundation, and Giustina Mizzoni (right), Executive Director of the CoderDojo Foundation RASPBERRY PI MERGES WITH CODERDOJO Teaming up to deliver more for young makers and coders n A Dojo in action, with experts and mentors helping kids make and code T he Raspberry Pi Foundation and the CoderDojo Foundation have merged, with Raspberry Pi Foundation CEO Philip Colligan joining the CoderDojo board. The two Foundations will share back-office resources and expertise to deliver more quickly on their shared goals. CoderDojo fans won’t see any change at the Dojos, however. CoderDojo spokesperson Rosa Langhammer tells us that “CoderDojo is and will always remain 100 percent content, software and hardware neutral! The Raspberry Pi Foundation works to put the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world,” continues Rosa, “and the CoderDojo mission is to give every young person an opportunity to learn and create with technology. By combining our efforts we get closer to these shared goals.”12 helloworld.cc

The merger will allow CoderDojo to reach why Raspberry Pi will be “bringing all WHAT ISeven more young, enthusiastic makers and of the capabilities and expertise of The CODERDOJO?coders. We’ll hear more about these plans Raspberry Pi Foundation to support thesoon, but Rosa did reveal that part of the growth of the CoderDojo movement Aimed at young people between thestrategy review includes “mapping the path around the world.” ages of 7 and 17, CoderDojos are free,to 5,000 Dojos [worldwide] by 2020.” community-led programming clubs for “The CoderDojo Foundation team is anyone curious about coding. Whether But, “the first priority,” Philip tells us, “is really excited,” says Rosa, “and is looking that’s building websites and apps, orto make it as easy as possible to set up and forward to working with a wider team just figuring out how technology works, Dojos have always offered freedom from“ WE DECIDED WE SHOULD JOIN FORCES hardware and software restrictions – any TO ACCELERATE THE GROWTH OF THE tool is fine, as long as you’re coding. CODERDOJO MOVEMENT ”The CoderDojo mission is to giverun a CoderDojo. That means investing in of people with similar goals, cooperating every young person an opportunity tothe tools and resources that CoderDojo on new projects, and pooling all our learn and create with technology,” aschampions and mentors need.” experiences and talents to give more spokesperson Rosa Langhammer puts it. people the opportunity to learn and be Enabling more people and businesses creative with technology.” Key to the movement are theto set up Dojos won’t be easy. That’s volunteer ‘Champions’ who set up the Dojos. If you or your organisation wouldn Any hardware and software is fine, as long as you’re coding like to set up a Dojo, the CoderDojo Foundation will help you get started. Visit helloworld.cc/2vBgAhE for details. You don’t need technical skills to start a verified Dojo, just the ability to bring people together, and a passion for the power of code to build a positive future. To search for a Dojo near you, check the interactive map at zen.coderdojo.com. Perfect timing Why now? “In a word: demand,” Philip explains. “We know that young people all over the world are crying out for places they can go to learn how to get creative with digital technologies. Education systems aren’t responding quickly enough to that demand, so we decided that we should join forces to accelerate the growth of the CoderDojo movement.” Both Foundations were established at around the same time, and “we’ve been working together in lots of ways from the beginning,” says Philip. “Lots of the people who are CoderDojo champions and volunteers are also members of the Raspberry Pi community.” He also confirms that “we have no plans to change the approach to Code Club or CoderDojo; our priority is encouraging the growth of both initiatives all over the world.” helloworld.cc 13

OPINION CARRIE ANNE PHILBIN DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AT THE RASPBERRY PI FOUNDATION WATCH AND LEARN How online video is changing the way we teach computer science remember writing my first computer program (helloworld.cc/2hktjzb), a YouTube channel full to the brim with content for teachers at every stage of their computing I on a BBC Micro as if it was yesterday. It was journey. Videos include tips and tricks on how to teach of course during a maths lesson in which I had particular concepts at different key stages, learning howalready completed the set work, so I was allowed to use the to plan a scheme of work, and even how to engage under-computer! Logo was my favourite – typing commands to represented groups.make pretty geometric pictures on a monitor was exciting. The BBC Micro has a lot to answer for. It inspired a Some CAS TV videos also explore creativity and innovationgeneration of computer enthusiasts and professionals like me, with leading developers. Genevieve Smith-Nunes looks atand led to the development of the Raspberry Pi Computer how dance can represent data (youtu.be/uIj7DMCHdkA),and other small form factor programmable devices. But and Andrew Fitzgibbon introduces computer vision andwhat was really revolutionary about the BBC Micro was machine learning (youtu.be/AqEqTQeQ2DI). Many of theits accompanying television series, called The Computer videos are delivered by practising teachers in both primaryProgramme, where you could learn to use it alongside the and secondary schools, including Phil Bagge and Rebeccahost, Chris Searle. Franks, as well as leading teacher trainers like Miles Berry, Before this TV programme, the most common way to Jane Waite and Alan O’Donohoe. It is quickly becoming thelearn about computers and how to program them was one-stop shop for a short burst of professional development.through magazines and books, or even the trusty computermanual. The availability of video tuition really helped me, Learning with online video has become so popular thatand now 30 or so years later we have video-based platforms whole courses have been developed for video delivery, forthat provide content on every aspect of computing, computerscience and technology. They can help us both develop our n Access bite-sized CPD from leading teacher trainers on the CAS TV YouTube channelsubject knowledge as computer science specialists, andsupport our students through all the stages of their learning.Content for teachersContinued professional development can be tricky to fit inwith the everyday demands of being a teacher. Trying tofind time to be released from the timetable to attend coursesis always a cause of frustration. Thankfully, Computing AtSchool (who spend every moment thinking about how theycan support computer science teachers) created CAS TV14 helloworld.cc

n Practical lessons from Geek Gurl Diaries Skills-based videos are a great way to supplement student and teacher development, especially in programming. When I’m trying to work out how to write a function in an unfamiliar language, I’m often drawn to find the answer through online video. I learnt lots about Python thanks to Trevor Payne’s video tutorials. They start off with the basics of computer programming and expand to cover broader and deeper topics (helloworld.cc/2w2pceq). Embracing video While teaching in a state secondary school in Dagenham,example on the Open University’s FutureLearn platform, I noticed two things: most of the students who had chosenor Harvard and MIT’s edX. In the last few years, this MOOC my subject were boys, and they would often search for(massive open online course) structure has moved towards supplementary material – not on Google, but on YouTube.developing educators as well as teaching students. The I decided that I would start to create online video content thatTeaching Computing course (helloworld.cc/2f55FWX) from demonstrated my passion for computer science and digitalThe National STEM Learning Centre and the University making, as well as what I was learning or teaching at theof East Anglia is available free of charge, and can be time. My channel, Geek Gurl Diaries (helloworld.cc/2ugI7Ad), was a real labour of love outside the classroom.Learning with online video has become Recently, I’ve taken a break from producingso popular that whole courses have content to work on Crash Course Computer Science, and learn from the professionals how tobeen developed for video delivery make great educational videos. However, I will continue to create content for my channel, and I encourage you as a computing educationworked on at your own pace. This year The Raspberry Pi practitioner to do the same. You’ll help your students evenFoundation launched a number of courses on FutureLearn more than you already do, and without realising it you’ll also(helloworld.cc/2uye60k), including Teaching programming help many more learners around the world.in primary schools, Teaching physical computing When I think back to how I learned about computerwith Raspberry Pi and Python, and Object-oriented science, I know that video played a key role. When I thinkprogramming in Python (more details on page 42). The about my continued learning in this field, I know thatMOOC model also includes plenty of social interaction, I turn to video first to find what I am looking for. Whenwith the FutureLearn platform promoting lots of discussion it comes to teaching, I make videos for others to learnpoints and opportunities for comments. from. Let’s embrace online video – even though I’m sureContent for students we will never be able to compete with the original title: The Computer Programme.One of the best features of online video is that it can beplayed over and over, slowed down or paused. There Carrie Anne Philbin is Director of Education atwere days when I wished I could replay my teachers’ The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a Computing At Schoolexplanations, especially when I was revising! Onlinevideos can also be used to help supplement the teaching board member, author and YouTuber.of difficult concepts for students. n Find free high-quality educational videos for everyone on the Crash Course YouTube channel Sometimes understanding how the ALU works, andthen being able to explain it to someone else, or evenanswer an exam question on it, can be difficult. Thankfully,the team behind the successful YouTube channel CrashCourse has created an entire series on computer science(helloworld.cc/2ugM0ox), supported by PBS DigitalStudios. The videos break down concepts into ten-minutechunks of explanation, with animations to show whatis happening. Another great channel is Computerphile(helloworld.cc/2hkMtVP), which boasts videos ‘all aboutcomputers and computer stuff’, and is really fun to watch.Resources like this make great homework or revisionexercises, and give students that extra support. helloworld.cc 15

RESEARCH #INSIGHTS ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Diagnose your students’ learning needs by asking the right questions M ention assessment in schools STORY BY Oliver Quinlan Assessment revolution and most people think of tests. Memories of creaky exam halls and themselves. When this is executed well, This work led to many developments in regulation stationery may come first, students are given feedback as they schools, with the government in the UK but there are several developments in learn and have the opportunity to act taking up ‘assessment for learning’, teachers assessment that can change how we on this feedback immediately. It’s about being trained to regularly assess students’ think about discovering what students the teacher not just delivering and then learning within lessons, and students being have learned. assessing later, but regularly checking for provided with feedback to act on as they Back in the late nineties, Black and understanding and adapting their teaching. learn. More recently this approach has Wiliam challenged educators’ views on It’s also about the learners getting regular been supported by Hattie’s meta-analysis assessment with their seminal work Inside insight into how they are learning and, of influences on achievement in schools, the Black Box, which popularised the crucially, having an opportunity to act on which puts feedback at the very top in idea of ‘assessment for learning’. They the feedback they get and ensure that they terms of the size of the measured effect. suggested an approach which brought are making progress. The assessment is assessment into the learning activities designed to serve the students’ learning, Truly effective formative assessment is and not to certify that they have achieved not just about finding out whether students a set standard. have ‘got it’ yet. It’s about understandingImage: CoderDojo Dún Laoghaire GETTING GIRLS CODING T he challenges around gender and computing are well documented, with women under-represented in technology jobs and in classes studying for computing qualifications. Lots of people are trying different approaches to addressing this problem. Dr Claire Quigley, from Glasgow Science Centre, worked with CoderDojo Scotland and Digital Scotland to look at some of these approaches and see how well they work.16 helloworld.cc

how they are thinking about a topic, what questions themselves are put together. If Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring tomisconceptions or naive understandings a question has a correct answer and three bring this approach to computer science.they have, and how your teaching or their laughably implausible answers, then it Project Quantum is a two-year projectactivities can be adjusted to address this. won’t be a useful tool. However, if each exploring the potential for crowdsourcingGiven the abstract nature of computing, the answer represents a different level of diagnostic questions for the computingpotential for misconceptions is very high. understanding, or a common misconception, curriculum, and using them for formative then the answer the student gives is useful assessment. They have been encouragingDiagnostic questions even if it is the wrong one. Imagine being teachers to add questions to the platform, told after an assessment not just who and use the questions that have built upEd tech company Diagnostic Questions is in a class had got the right answers, but already, with their students to help themseeking to address this with their online why those who got it wrong did so, and better understand their learning. Thisassessment platform. Diagnostic Questions’ potentially what misconception you need project brings the potential of a relativelyassessments look familiar at first: multiple to address for each group of students. new approach to assessment to computerchoice questions with four answers. science teachers, and a chance to betterMultiple choice questions have been given For the last 18 months, Diagnostic understand how students make sensea bad reputation by some educators, but Questions has been working with of difficult topics.their quality all comes down to how the Computing At School and the DurhamGirls-only coding than girls. It could also reinforce the idea or involving lots of jargon, were much less that girls do not usually code. There was successful in attracting girls. The effect ofQuigley looked at data from 36 CoderDojos some evidence from a Dojo that organised descriptions that are attractive to girls wasin Scotland. These informal programming a sequence of girls-only sessions that this much stronger than the effect of the off-events had tested several initiatives to longer experience gives girls a chance to putting descriptions, so it’s important toencourage more girls to get involved in their develop attitudes which move past these avoid things like jargon, but also to activelyactivities. Some tried girls-only introductory stereotypes. The dataset for this was small, describe activities in a way that makessessions as a way to create an environment but 40 percent of girls from this initiative went girls want to get involved.that girls might find more attractive to on to attend mixed CoderDojo activities.get involved in. These findings are closely linked to Descriptive challenge cultural contexts, so the effects in other The girls-only events did attract girls parts of the world are likely to be different.to attend and have a go at programming, The work on descriptions showed that how However, they offer both an interesting setproviding an important introduction to an activity is presented may have a large of recommendations for trying to attract morethe activity. However, this did not translate effect on the proportion of girls. Descriptions girls to informal computing activities, and ainto more girls graduating from these emphasising creativity, familiarity, and reminder that it is always worth collecting andintroductory sessions to attend the mixed with specific descriptions of what young looking at data to see whether the initiativessessions. Quigley suggests that this may people would do attracted more girls. Those educators implement are working as intended.be because an introductory session is not emphasising competition, teamworking,enough to overcome the cultural trope that the need to publicly showcase your work, You can read the full report here:boys are more suited to technical subjects helloworld.cc/2uZ124z helloworld.cc 17

RESEARCHComparative judgement research showing that humans are FURTHER relatively poor at making objective INFORMATIONCreativity, problem solving and original judgements about individual objects, butapproaches are key to computing, yet these very good at making comparisons. Play a n Inside the Black Box:things are very difficult to assess using musical note to most people and ask them helloworld.cc/2tZXFsytraditional approaches. It’s very common what it is and they will struggle. Play themin education to use criteria to assess how two notes and ask them which is higher n D iagnostic Questions:well students are performing. We might and they are likely to be successful. Repeat diagnosticquestions.comset them a programming problem and this several times, with a clever algorithmthen tick off whether they have used a to keep track, present them with the right n P roject Quantum:Loop or an If statement, showing that they combinations, and you can come up with helloworld.cc/2jAJXL3have understood those things. However, a scale. These rankings have been shownreal-life programming is often more about to be very reliable – even more so if you n N o more marking:the elegance of the design of a solution. involve several people as judges. www.nomoremarking.comWhat if the most accomplished studentdoesn’t use the things you have on your This method has been shown to workchecklist? This is a particular problem when well even for judging things for which we“ STUDENTS ARE GIVEN FEEDBACK AS THEY for the assessment of skills that involve LEARN AND HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO approaching problems in an open-ended ACT ON THIS FEEDBACK IMMEDIATELY way, and assessing complex skills without resorting to trying to predefine whatusing wide briefs for tasks, or even open- don’t have clearly defined criteria, such as successful students must do. Assessmentended projects. looking at working in maths and asking organisation No More Marking is exploring ‘who is the better mathematician?’ It can this approach for English and Maths Comparative judgement is a field also be reliable, even when the judges in partnership with schools.relatively new to education practice, which are peers at a similar level of proficiency.offers huge potential for solving this This opens up some exciting new ground Assessment is all about students gettingproblem. It’s based on well-established better at something, but it seems there are also some promising avenues for educators to get better at assessment. n Assessment for Learning is designed to serve the students’ learning - not to certify that they have achieved a set standard.18 helloworld.cc

WILL A COMPUTER TAKE YOUR JOB? A s self-driving cars and blockchain- New technologies are moving in intelligence. In the UK, think tank based smart contracts become a surprising directions, though. Increasingly Nesta has been making the case forreality, what will be the impact of artificial clever sensors and nimble robotics, the importance of creativity in educationintelligence on our working lives? coupled with artificial intelligence, are to prepare young people for the future Oxford academics Frey and Osborne set moving into non-routine manual tasks this paper depicts.out to quantify this complex situation in their in manufacturing. Routine cognitiveseminal paper The Future of Employment. tasks such as searching documents It’s not yet clear what the fullThey found that although there has often and assessing fraud are already being implications of this work are for educators,been concern from workers about the impact but it is clear that the future holds hugeof technology, historically, across the labourmarket as a whole, people have adapted. In “ WE FACE A HUGE TEST OF OUR CREATIVITYthe nineteenth century, mechanisation led to AS INDIVIDUALS, AND AS A SOCIETYdeskilling as the tasks of artisans were movedto factories. However, increased productivity automated, with even surprisingly complex challenges for the young people theybrought the development of new jobs, and tasks such as the work of junior solicitors work with. Sticking to the tried and testedworkers adapted to the new skills required. already being replaced by computation. is unlikely to be the safe bet it used toIn the twentieth century, many manufacturing be, something made very clear by thejobs were automated by increasingly capable The researchers then used this challenges to junior positions in thetechnology, but the boom in cognitive understanding of technological capabilities traditionally high-status legal profession.work involving information created new and types of task to assess which of As automation continues to expand intoopportunities for workers. People have been today’s jobs are most susceptible to being the non-routine tasks in the job market,very good at adapting, learning new skills, replaced by automation. we face a huge test of our creativity asand finding new opportunities. individuals, and as a society, to make Person or machine? sure we can cope with the changesNew technologies that are coming. How many jobs are at risk from these newThe past alone can’t predict the future, so Frey technologies? The answer, in the USA at THE FUTURE OFand Osborne studied the latest developments least, is quite a shock. 47 percent of jobs EMPLOYMENT: HOWin artificial intelligence, machine learning, and were classified as being at risk, including SUSCEPTIBLE ARE JOBSmobile robotics to find out what these new most of the transport industry, office, and TO COMPUTERISATION?technologies are suited to. They categorised administration roles, and the majority ofjobs on a scale of manual (physical tasks) manufacturing and production roles. BY Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborneto cognitive (thinking tasks), and routine URL helloworld.cc/2vtmNMGto non-routine. In the past, it was routine The next question to answer is whatmanual jobs that became automated, and won’t be automated? The bottlenecksnew opportunities have been created in non- for technological development identifiedroutine manual and cognitive tasks. in the study are sensing, manipulation, creative intelligence, and social helloworld.cc 19

FEATUREAPPROACHES TOASSESSMENT Assessment is a thorny topic for many teachers. Here, an international panel of experts discusses innovative approaches and technologies for assessing programming skills apability in programming, as in other C areas of academic study, requires knowledge and the skill to apply that knowledge. Assessing both requirements at the same time is asking a lot from teachers, but questions, problems and projects might all play a part here. In our cover feature, Cynthia Selby, Mark Guzdial, Barbara Ericson and Michael Ball discuss multiple choice questions, Parsons Problems and autograding Snap! code; Rob Leeman, David Malan, Doug Lloyd, Jesús Moreno-León and Gregorio Robles explore different approaches to assessing projects for GCSE Computer Science, for Harvard’s CS50, and in Scratch; and Doug Belshaw and Pete O’Shea consider Open Badges, and how they’re used by various organisations.20 helloworld.cc

NEA FOR GCSE Rob Leeman Rob is a productWhat are exam boards looking for in the non-exam assessment manager for ICT and(NEA)? Rob Leeman lifts the lid on the practical element of Computer ScienceComputer Science GCSE, and how it is assessed at CIE, and managed the redevelopment of Computer Science at A level and GCSE for OCR. W e can’t explore how programming This of course can be supported by using USEFUL LINKS is assessed without first looking at cheat sheets and the Resource Bank (seethe assessment objectives (AOs). The AOs box). The project should be approached in Ofqual AO document: helloworld.cc/2uC7wWUfor GCSE Computer Science were designed an iterative development cycle, and OCRto allow both practical and theoretical suggests the use of their Process for Success. Resource Bank blog: helloworld.cc/2vIM6r7assessment of the subject, and all exam This is a simple system development life cyclequestions and NEA tasks are mapped process, best applied to each component and design portion is where a candidate’sagainst these objectives. You can find the within the task as a whole. Not all candidates ability to demonstrate their knowledge andofficial Ofqual AOs on their website (see are expected to complete all component understanding of the decomposition andbox). AO3 is concerned with candidates parts, so this is essentially differentiation abstraction is assessed. A good project willdemonstrating their ability to analyse by outcome, as stronger candidates will be well designed and will also considerproblems in computational terms, and (most complete most or all of the component tasks. robustness, functional design, data types,importantly for the NEA) to design, program, This allows all candidates to access the full input sanitisation, and testing, and shouldevaluate and refine solutions. range of marks. include graceful degradation.What makes a good project? One thing to impress upon candidates Even with the best plan in the world, a good is the need for thorough planning. Many project falls over if the implementation is notPreparation is key. Candidates should be candidates rush the analysis and design adequately evidenced. Candidates should beable confidently to apply the techniques phase, and dive straight into development, drilled in how to evidence their developmentin the specification to solve computational but there are lots of marks available in the work and regularly capture evidence of theirproblems in their chosen language. The analysis and design section. These should code, fully explaining what is occurring andtasks are mapped against the techniques, so not be ignored, as a good design makes the how it links to the designs. This element doesknowledge of their application is essential. implementation much easier. This analysis not need to be verbose, but must demonstrate the candidates’ understanding. n OCR’s Process for Success NEA or no NEA? While the NEA seems to cause much anxiety among Computer Science teachers, it remains an important tool in assessing a candidate’s ability to apply their knowledge in a practical fashion to a problem that could not be approached in a formal exam setting. This method of assessment, while fraught with regulatory problems and issues of malpractice, is still the closest we can get to how computer science is applied in the real world. It is a fantastic experience for candidates as well as preparing them for A level and further study. The NEA may be daunting, but the alternative is equally problematic. Hopefully after the first series we will see the true value of it, and appreciate it as part of GCSE assessment. helloworld.cc 21

FEATURECOMPREHENSIVE David J. MalanPROGRAMMING David is Gordon McKayASSESSMENT Professor of the Practice of ComputerDetermining whether a program works needn’t Science at the Harvardbe the only goal of assessment John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is the instructor for CS50. Doug Lloyd Doug is Senior Preceptor in Computer Science at the Harvard University Division of Continuing Education. He is the course manager for CS50. D etermining whether a student’s At CS50, we grade the answers to all code, and to put them into a mindset of code is correct is an important those questions on the axes of scope, style, continuous improvement. We rarely giveconsideration. Indeed, whether one uses and design, respectively; in addition to out a ‘perfect’ score in design at any pointan autograder, or benchmarks student correctness. It is design, however, that we’ll through the school year, as there is almostcode through a series of manual unit tests, discuss further here. always some area where improvementit’s fairly easy to determine whether a can be made. We ourselves are in astudent has considered the solutions to What to look for mindset of continuous improvement, andyour test cases in their solution. While we feel that if we can find opportunitiescorrectness is important, there remain If correctness asks the question ‘Does it to better design our own staff solutionsother questions to consider. work?’ then design asks the question ‘How to our problem sets (and year after year,For example: does it work?’ Our goal in assessing design we almost always do), then our students is to get students thinking critically about should be able to as well. n D id the student at least attempt to the decisions they are making in their solve the program at hand, even if they struggled along the way with n CS50 staff grading student work at a grading party syntax, such that their code might not compile? Particularly among those less comfortable, rewarding effort reminds students that it’s normal and OK to struggle. n Is it actually possible to read the student’s code? Poor indentation (unless programming in Python!) and no commenting might not matter to the processor, but to an instructor it can cause quite the headache! n H ow efficient is the student’s code? If the program is correct, but takes 15 minutes to run, is it all that useful?22 helloworld.cc

Image credit: CS50, cs50.harvard.edu.n Students get help from CS50 staff members during office hours Trade-offs A MULTI-AXIS GRADING PHILOSOPHY Some questions we consider when Unlike the other three axes – correctness,looking at design: which can be assessed with autograders; Assessing programming through different style, which can be assessed with linters; axes allows us to test several skills via a n H ow frequently do the same lines and scope, which can be assessed by a single assignment. of code repeat? quick glance (see box, right) – grading design can take significant time and effort, n S cope rewards student effort in solving n D oes a student’s code have an for experienced and inexperienced teachers problems, reiterating the importance of a over-reliance on loops or ‘magic alike. Students in CS50 submit their code to ‘culture of error’, and normalising the idea numbers’? course staff via GitHub, and teaching fellows that failure to completely solve a problem is can offer feedback via comments on GitHub’s not a total failure, but rather still a learning n D id the student choose the most web interface. The ability to use ‘saved replies’ opportunity. (Did you try?) efficient algorithm? for issues that might recur across multiple students can save some time over writing the n C orrectness judges the performance of a n W as the code broken into same comment out again, and grading design student’s code, either using a test harness functions or subroutines only becomes quicker and easier once one has or via manual execution of the code. where appropriate? seen multiple different solutions to the same (Does it work?) problem, and is familiar with common errors. n H ow many lines of code did the n D esign considers the efficiency, student write? The length of a That said, the qualitative feedback received elegance, and clarity of a student’s student’s submission is often, via the design axis is, in our opinion, the most code from an organisational standpoint. though not always, a good proxy valuable. Indeed, comments on design are (How does it work?) for how well-designed that code is: intended to get students thinking about what if fewer lines of code are needed, makes one solution better (or worse) than n S tyle is the most human-focused axis, the student is probably taking another, even if both have the same output. which considers how readable and well- advantage of an efficiency. This reinforces the notion that there is no commented the code is for others who ‘one right answer’ in solutions to problems, might need to read it. (How does it look?) and hopefully encourages students to be more cognisant of their programming decision-making. helloworld.cc 23

FEATUREMULTIPLE CHOICE Cynthia Selby Cynthia is Senior Lecturer andCan you really use multiple-choice questions PGCE Computer Science Tutor,to assess programming and computational thinking? University of Southampton, and Member of the CAS Project Quantum Content Group. D o teachers ask questions just for assessment in the context of medicine for n This question demonstrates assessment of tracing and predicting fun? Or do they ask questions to many years. However, teachers tend to usefind out what their students know and them more formatively: to identify what needs n This question shows how ordering can be used to assessdo not know? Multiple-choice questions to be taught or reviewed, and to help students the skill of sequencing(MCQs) offer the advantage of being improve. The box on the left lists some topquick to mark, and have the potential for tips for MCQ writing. instructions to meet a requirement. Slightlygamification. How can MCQs can be used simpler would be asking a question thatto assess programming concepts and Distractors and challenges just required the identification of a singlecomputational thinking? instruction to fill a gap. The importance of good distractors shouldQuestion design not be underestimated. Trying to predict what Getting started a student does not know can be challenging.All MCQs should be based on sensible design When choosing the alternative incorrect Writing questions with a colleague is ancriteria. You can find lots of advice, based responses to an MCQ, consider the types of excellent way to get started with writingon very good research, about designing misconceptions you have identified among MCQs. Receiving feedback on questions isMCQs. They have been used for summative your students. For example, if a student uses the best way to improve them. As time goes a box analogy for a variable, they may believe on, remember to go back and review yourTOP TIPS it can hold two values at the same time. A questions. If one distractor is never beingFOR MCQ DESIGN distractor that expresses that understanding selected, you’re missing an opportunity to would help identify students who need test a true misconception. n Assess one, and only one, objective additional help before moving on. You should also consider common errors in processes. A One of the easiest and simplest ways to n Provide four response options student with a misconception about indexing get started with MCQs is to join a group and may always be out by one, so a response share your work. Project Quantum is a joint n P rovide one, and only one, incorporating this misunderstanding would project to crowdsource MCQ computing clearly correct response also make a good distractor. questions. You can find more information by visiting helloworld.cc/2eN44Vr. n D o not use ‘none of the above’ It’s not difficult to write an MCQ that or ‘all of the above’ assesses the students’ ability to recall a fact. It’s much more challenging, but not n U se distractors based on misconceptions impossible, to write MCQs that assess and common errors application, analysis, or creation. With application, a question could be confined n M ake all distractors plausible to a single step in a multi-step processes. Analysis can be assessed by asking ‘what if’ n G ive necessary and clear context first, type questions where students predict what if required; then, separately, will happen next. An even more challenging ask the question assessment of analytical skills is to define a requirement, such as an output, and ask the n U se images as appropriate to support student to select which program solution context, or as alternative responses meets that requirement. Certainly, MCQs don’t lend themselves to the creation of n S hort sentences are easier to understand program solutions. However, they can be used in ordering exercises, where students n M ake all response options must choose the correct sequence of grammatically parallel n M ake all response options of a similar length24 helloworld.cc

PARSONS PROBLEMS Mark GuzdialFOR ASSESSMENT Mark is a professor inAND LEARNING the School of Interactive Computing at GeorgiaParsons Problems are programming puzzles that improve Institute of Technology, USA.student learning and provide an effective assessment technique Barbara Ericson Barbara is the Director of CS Outreach for the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. M ost of us teach programming by sometimes have to provide the correct RESOURCES asking students to write lots of indentation as well.programs from scratch. It makes sense as Try Parsons Problems ata kind of ‘learning by doing’. The problem Advantages helloworld.cc/2vJfttg (our freeis that programming is hard. A mistake, interactive e-book for students) orlike forgetting to add a colon, can lead to Completing Parsons Problems is easier helloworld.cc/2uZcFKH (a companion e-booka student spending hours tracking down for students than writing the same code for teachers). Both books teach introductorythe error. from scratch. They never get a syntax programming concepts using Python. Parsons Problems (invented by Dale error if they only have to order the correctParsons at Otago Polytechnic, New blocks. Our research evidence suggests Author your own Parsons ProblemsZealand) give students a programming that Parsons Problems are still challenging or create your own interactiveproblem, and give them all the lines for students; students still learn from e-book using Runestone Interactive:of program code to correctly solve completing them; and most students enjoy helloworld.cc/2uZO3Sdthe problem, but the lines of code are them. We have some evidence that theybroken into code blocks and mixed might be learning as much from solving You can also create your own Parsonsup. Imagine your code presented as Parsons problems as if they had written Problems with paper, make magnets outrefrigerator magnets: the students must the code from scratch. of each block, and ask students to orderplace the blocks in the right order, and that code. A big advantage of Parsons Problemsn A Parson’s Problem with the correct code broken into code blocks is that they take less time. Students can students Parsons Problems, it is likely solve several Parsons Problems in the time that they will both finish some of the and mixed up (top). A solved Parson’s Problem (bottom). it might take them to write one piece of problems. We find that Parsons Problems code from scratch. That means that we are a more sensitive assessment of may be able to give students more of these programming knowledge than traditional puzzle-like activities, and get through code-writing problems. more learning in less time, than with one code-writing activity. Barbara’s research is exploring variations of Parsons Problems. In some of her Assessment problems, she makes the problem slightly harder by adding blocks which should not In our research group, we have also be part of the solution. These are called explored the use of Parsons Problems as distractors. She is exploring versions of the an assessment technique. Imagine that problems where an undesirable block (the you have two students, one of whom distractor) is visually paired with a block has learned more than the other. If you that should be included, which draws the give both students a programming task students’ attention to exactly the issues on an assessment, you might find that that the teacher most wants them to learn. neither student finishes the task. Or one For example, the distractor block could might finish, and the other might not contain a common syntax error. make much progress at all. If we give the helloworld.cc 25

FEATUREAUTOGRADING Michael BallFOR SNAP! Michael is a Software Engineer at Gradescope, an onlineMark your students’ projects with Lambda, an autograder grading platform, as well asfor Snap! Michael Ball explains how it works a researcher and developer working at UC Berkeley with The Beauty and Joy of Computing. Recently, he earned an MSc in Computer Science Education from UC Berkeley, where he developed the autograder for Snap!T eaching computer science has long to an expected value. More complex tests USING AUTOGRADERS relied on autograders, programs can input the properties of a sprite, such as Q: Should autograders replace manual review?that can execute students’ programs and its pen colour or position, or the structure of A: Probably not, especially with newprovide feedback and scores, all with the script itself. For example, when working programmers. You can often use them together to get fast (but generic) feedback,minimal work from the instructor. However, on a ‘draw square’ program, we can assert along with more personalised feedback that might take a little longer to returnblock-based languages such as Snap! that a student uses a ‘repeat’ block with to students.and Scratch have been largely left out an input of ‘4’, to guide them towards Q: A re there any projects where the autograder doesn’t work well?from the development of these programs a specific solution. A: The more free-form the assignment, the– something we discovered when, two As with all traditional autograders, it is more challenging developing an autograder will be. In particular, assessing creativityyears ago, we endeavoured to bring our worth mentioning that our approach is not is incredibly challenging. Sometimes it’s better to leave out the autograder, becausecourse, The Beauty and Joy of Computing, perfect. It is impossible to account for all fast but inaccurate feedback can be confusing to students.to the online world via edx.org. To scale for solution types that students may create, Writing autogradersthousands of students, we experimented and we must be careful not to stifle each Today, Lambda represents a beta version ofwith Lambda, an autograder for Snap! student’s own progress. We have tried to autograding, but teachers who are interested can get started at lambda.cs10.org, whereLambda consists of two components: an develop our autograders to check whether you can play with example exercises. However, if you are interested in connectingaugmented Snap! environment that runs students have attempted a solution, rather autograders to your own course or writing your own test cases, please get in touch bythe autograding programs, and a web than whether they have a perfectly correct writing to [email protected] with a database of questions. solution. For exercises such as sorting a list Finally, through this autograding work, we have been developing someHow an autograder works or generating Fibonacci numbers, it is clear Snap! projects that will allow anyone to when a solution is correct, and this is where experiment with writing tests for Snap! blocks directly within Snap! This projectThe autograder augments Snap! with the autograder is most useful. can be a starting point for writing more complicated autograders or practising test-scripts (written in JavaScript) that allow The second component of Lambda is driven development. Anyone is free to use the project at bjc.link/testing-in-snap.authors to execute students’ code in the a website that contains exercises thatbackground and run a series of tests to teachers can assign to students. The websitegenerate feedback. The most common are allows students to access and retrieve their‘input/output’ tests that call a reporter block submission history for a particular exercise,with some inputs and compare the results enabling students to experiment freely. We plan to use the collective submission history to improve the feedback given in future exercises. Teachers can choose to integrate the autograders into their own courses, so that students can automatically receive grades in their school’sn The test results for a simple noughts and crosses game: this shows one passing and one incorrect test normal grade book.26 helloworld.cc

ASSESSING SCRATCH Jesús Moreno-León Jesús is a formerAnalysing your students’ Scratch projects can be difficult secondary school teacher. He leadsand time-consuming. Why not automate the evaluation Programamos, a Spanish non-profit organisation,of computational thinking skills? while working on his doctoral thesis at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. J ust as professional software n Figure 1 The Dr. Scratch feedback report offers an assessment Gregorio Robles developers use automated tools to of computational thinking skills, and provides ideas to improve Gregorio is an Associate help them with their daily tasks, students the analysed Scratch project Professor at Universidad and teachers who use programming for Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. the development of computational thinking For instance, let’s imagine a project in He is active in the field should be able to take advantage of such which every time a decision must be made of technology-enhanced solutions in the classroom. While this is based on the value of a sensor or variable, learning, and the study and evaluation of an area that still requires research, there the programmer has exclusively used If computational thinking. are already some tools that educators can blocks. If this project is compared with easily incorporate into their lessons to another project where the programmer has problem decomposition, logical thinking, support their evaluation tasks. also used If else blocks when required, synchronisation, parallelism, algorithmic we would all agree that the second project notions of control flow, user interactivity, Evidence of computational thinking shows higher levels of logical thinking. In and data representation. These dimensions the same way, a project making use of lists are statically evaluated by inspecting the The blocks used in a Scratch project, as well would demonstrate a better understanding source code of the analysed project, and as the way these blocks are combined, not of data representation than a project using given a score from 0 to 3, resulting in a total only establish the behaviour of the sprites only variables; and a project that includes mastery score that ranges from 0 to 21 in the project, but can also be used to the use of clones would show higher levels when all seven dimensions are aggregated. provide evidence of computational thinking, of abstraction than a project in which the With this information, the tool generates a such as logical reasoning, abstraction, programmer has created multiple copies of feedback report, as shown in Figure 1. or data representation. a sprite using identical scripts. How can teachers use Dr. Scratch in theDR. SCRATCH However, manually inspecting each classroom? The tool could be used to detectASSESSMENT SAMPLE of our students’ Scratch projects can be students who never use certain instructions difficult and time-consuming. Wouldn’t it be in their projects, such as logic operations Dr. Scratch computational thinking score: two nice if we could use tools to automate part (And, Or, Not) or flow control structures points for flow control, because it includes a of the process? (different types of loops). Specific tasks Forever loop; two points for user interactivity, could be prepared for those students to as players interact with the sprite by using Automating assessment help them to learn these concepts. the mouse; one point for logical thinking, because of the If statement; and one point for Dr. Scratch is a free web tool that Limitations and opportunities data representation, since the orientation and analyses Scratch projects to assess the position properties of the sprite are modified. development of computational thinking Several fundamental aspects of The other dimensions received no points. skills. The assessment is based on the programming, such as debugging or degree of development of seven dimensions design skills, are not assessed by the tool. of this competence: abstraction and Other crucial aspects of the projects, such as originality or creativity, are not taken into account either. Consequently, Dr. Scratch should not be understood as a replacement for evaluators or mentors, but as a supporting tool that automates tedious work, and lets the human instructors focus on the added-value parts. helloworld.cc 27

FEATURE ONLINE CREDENTIALING FOR DIGITAL MAKING Dr Doug BelshawLearning new programming techniques and approaches can be Doug is a former teachertough. Open Badges provide a way to scaffold learners’ attention, and school senior leaderand provide a tangible record of success who has worked in universities and with the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. He is now a consultant working with a range of organisations around the world. W hat do Naace, the BBC, and criteria by which they were issued, and can do a poor job of preparing people CoderDojo have in common? links to evidence justifying the award. for the diversity and complexity of theOther than being supporters of young Organisations as large as City & Guilds, modern world. We need ways of capturingpeople getting to grips with coding, they Microsoft, and Salesforce are getting on students’ skills and behaviours, as well asare also issuing new digital credentials board with Open Badges, while they’re scaffolding the valuable knowledge thatcalled Open Badges. These badges can be also being issued by volunteers running grounds true learning.issued by anyone for anything - in these after-school clubs. Millions of badgesexamples, they’re issued for teacher CPD, have been issued in the last few years ‘Chunky’ credentials such as GCSEs, Alearning how to program the micro:bit, to hundreds of thousands of individuals levels, and degrees make it difficult to peerand levelling up via increasingly-complex around the world. inside and figure out what an individualprojects, respectively. knows and can do in practice. In addition, Open Badges aren’t mere stickers, Why are badges so useful? Well, these credentials are often analoguethough. They’re digital images full of employers and educators are finding it artefacts in an increasingly digital world.metadata: information such as the increasingly frustrating that credentials We need a solution that works as fast as gained via high-stakes examinations our digital world changes. n Thanks to Code Kingdoms (helloworld.cc/2uhp4sO) and CoderDojo (helloworld.cc/2tNlanT) for permission to print their digital badge images28 helloworld.cc

Image courtesy of Bryan Mathers. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence.n O pen Badges allow us to paint a much more holistic picture of learners’ knowledge, skills, and behavioursBadge benefits and the recipient deem valuable. For more OPEN BADGES introverted students, it’s a great way toOne of the biggest benefits of badges help them tell their stories of success. The Open Badges specification wasis that they can be evidence-based. Not developed by Mozilla in 2011 with supportonly can individuals display a credential Among the many positives for students from the MacArthur Foundation. Sinceclaiming mastery of a particular area, using badges is the idea that they can be then, millions of badges have been issuedbut they can prove it by making the linked together to form a ‘currency’ that to hundreds of thousands of peoplebadge point to relevant evidence. This lasts from their very earliest years, right the around the world, in both formal andcan be anything that works on the way through to adulthood. Although you informal contexts. The specification isweb: a screencast, a CodePen demo, may choose to call them digital credentials, now stewarded by IMS Global Learningor a working app. medallions, stars, or whatever seems Consortium. To find out more visit appropriate at the time, the Open Badges openbadges.org. Another advantage is that Open Badges specification underpins all these schemes,can be issued for anything. You can award ensuring that they are interoperable anda badge for participation, for exceptional standards-based for the years to come.effort, for joining a club – whatever you helloworld.cc 29

FEATURE Badge Anatomy by Class Hack. Creative a license CC BY-SA.“ TAKE A LINEAR, SEQUENTIAL APPROACH, LINKS OR MIX THINGS UP TO MAKE LEARNING MORE FUN AND ECLECTIC! Open Badge Academy: helloworld.cc/2vqztklHow do I get started? systems you may use, including WordPress, C ode Kingdoms: helloworld.cc/2uhp4sO Moodle, and Drupal. Meanwhile, there is aThere are three main ways: list of off-the-shelf issuing platforms on the CoderDojo: helloworld.cc/2tNlanT openbadges.org website.n Build your own solution Digital badge FAQ: computingfaqs.net Teachers of secondary computing mayn Install a plug-in for a popular be interested to know that Computing Moodle: helloworld.cc/2vr9zx0 open-source platform At School’s Progression Pathways have associated badges based on learning and eclectic! The important thing is thatn Use an established badge provider statements that are compatible with ‘life the metadata contained in each badge after levels’. It’s up to you whether you want evidences the progress made towards each Most people choose the second or third to take a linear, sequential approach, or learning statement.options. There are plug-ins for all the major mix things up to make learning more fun There are plenty of ways that teachers, parents, and other interested parties can get involved in capturing learning wherever it happens. Why not get started and issue your first badge today?30 helloworld.cc

CASE STUDYCODERDOJO C oderDojos are informal after-school Part of a community club environments centred aroundencouraging and inspiring self-directed Statistics from our 2016 Annual Survey havelearning and peer-to-peer learning in shown that 47 percent of Dojos globally areyoung people, by giving them the tools and using a method of reward and recognition.supports they need to learn and collaborate. Dojos are currently using methods such asRewarding and acknowledging young end of term certificates, presenting colouredpeople for their participation and learning at USB belts for certain levels of achievement, orCoderDojo is a core part of our ethos. the use of either digital or physical badges to assist with recognising the achievements ofDigital recognition young people, while keeping them motivated and engaged.We noticed that young people were learninga whole host of new skills at their Dojos, Awarding ninjas (youth attendees) badgesand in many cases these skills were not for their achievements in a Dojo allows thembeing recognised or rewarded. To address to build a digital portfolio, showcasing not only their abilities, but the new skills that“ STUDENTS WHO PERCEIVE THEMSELVES AS BEING IN CONTROL OF THEIR LEARNING OFTEN DEVELOP GREATER CONFIDENCEthis we developed our own Open Badges to they have learnt at their local Dojo. The endacknowledge and reward young people for goal is for these portfolios to assist them inthe new skills (both digital and soft) that they the future: to gain work experience, in jobare learning at Dojos around the world. applications, and for college and university applications. In addition, badging gives Open Badges are like Scout badges, community members a sense of connectionexcept digital! Young people participate and and membership with other members oflearn at their local Dojo. They are awarded their Dojo, and in the wider CoderDojoa specific Open Badge once they have movement, through cultivating a cultureachieved a set list of tasks that accurately of reward and recognition.represents a specific skill. Pete O’Shea Students who perceive themselves Pete is in charge ofas being in control of their learning often Community EMEA anddevelop greater confidence and increased events for the CoderDojoself-esteem. Open Badges can be a useful Foundation. He explainsmotivational tool to support this process, the benefits of digitalby encouraging young people towards self- badges for the CoderDojo communitydirected learning, starting new projects andlearning new languages in order to earnmore badges. helloworld.cc 31

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FEATURE PROGRAMMING AND PLAY How embracing play made me a better educator I nspiration for becoming a better STORY BY Linda Liukas wrote a whimsical note in an early artificial technology educator can be intelligence paper on how we shouldfound in unlikely places. What if Roald For me, computing was magical, ‘teach’ computers like children, teachingDahl had been a programmer? And what charming and imaginative - but the them to learn to learn. I realised creativitydoes a tiny Italian town have to do with materials teaching it were often dull was something that was built intoprogramming pedagogy?  and uninspiring. computing education, but that somehow When I first started writing storybooks we had lost it. about programming, I knew almost nothing Programming as make-believeabout pedagogy. I enjoyed programming, Whenever I asked educators about playbut I mixed Piaget with Papert and didn’t Most of my childhood was spent in a very and programming, they would direct me todifferentiate between computational thinking immersive world of make-believe. My apps that gamified learning. Programmingand constructivism. I just had a strong sense siblings and I built small villages in the education was experienced throughof the kind of world I’d like to create. woods for Moomins, and created galactic challenges, collecting points, or winning maps around Star Wars heroes. On the competitions. But the type of programmingCREATIVITY IN asphalt in our front yard we sailed in a I really enjoyed was full of other typesPROGRAMMING self-made raft and imagined a mysterious of play: finding and giving support, sea around us. exploration, and the joy of finding a new n D ecomposition and logical thinking way of solving a problem. To rediscover As Ruby says, “Even the biggest problems This is the way I relate to programming, playfulness in programming I needed to in the world are just tiny problems stuck even today. Being able to build ever visit a small town in Italy.  together”. Every programmer starts by more complicated worlds and structures breaking down the problem at hand. without the need for physical components “THE COMPUTER IS LIKE A FOREIGNER, AND like LEGO bricks is fascinating, especially IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO IT, YOU HAVE TO n C reativity and collaboration for a child. Most children at least once in SPEAK ITS LANGUAGE.” Even though the instructions a programmer their lives feel very powerless. Someone gives to a computer need to be exact, in else comes up with the rules – but “YES, BUT THE COMPUTER HAS TO the right sequence, and carefully named, not in programming. UNDERSTAND HOW WE TALK, TOO, AND IT programming is also highly creative. Try HAS TO DO WHAT WE WANT IT TO DO.” with a friend to instruct each other on How is programming related to play?  how to brush your teeth, and see how THE HUNDRED LANGUAGES OF CHILDREN: many different ways there are to give When I decided to learn programming THE REGGIO EMILIA EXPERIENCE the commands! back in 2009, using narrative as a learning IN TRANSFORMATION tool was a natural fit. I was learning a n Debugging and persistence programming language called Ruby, and Learning to program is all about learning every time I ran into a word or concept to overcome mistakes. Even the best I didn’t understand (like ‘what is object- programmers forget a semicolon from oriented programming’ or ‘garbage time to time, and need to go back and find collection’) I would try to explain the the mistake. concept as a six-year-old girl called Ruby would explain it. This project eventually turned into a series of books explaining and celebrating computing from the tiniest Booleans to immense algorithms.    Luckily, on my journey to writing about computing in early childhood, I quickly stumbled upon the work of Seymour Papert and Alan Kay. Even Alan Turing34 helloworld.cc

n Building a computer out of paper and getting to know the components inside it. Download this free exercise at helloruby.com/playThe hundred languages of children a dolphin doctor need?”, “What is the Computational thinking concepts are more world’s most dangerous animal?”, or “What fascinating when we notice their presence allIn an Italian town called Reggio Emilia I if my paper computer could print candy?” around us. Inspired by Reggio, I’ve practicedfinally found the framework of thinking I Throughout the process of exploring and making computer science concrete, specific,needed to create Ruby’s world. Reggio experimenting they learn about abstraction, and understandable to the child. A computerEmilia is an educational approach for collaboration, and media literacy, and can take a thousand forms. preschool and primary education, named they develop a plethora of powerful ideasafter the town where it began. From I wish to see programming become one tool in a big box of self-expression – along“ I WISH TO SEE PROGRAMMING BECOME ONE with crayons, blocks of wood, prisms, TOOL IN A BIG BOX OF SELF-EXPRESSION and pipettes. This can help us to present a more colourful, exciting computingthe outside it has very little to do with I would never have anticipated. That’s culture. Why does Reggio keep inspiringcomputing: the approach highlights respect, why most of the exercises I create for kids me after 70 years of existence? I think theresponsibility and community through include discussion points, and very few of answer lies in wonder. These pedagogicalartistic exploration and discovery.  them have right or wrong answers. I think movements have helped me to rediscover it is important to give kids permission to my own wonder around technology. It is The first thing I learned to love from trust themselves and allow for many right this wonder that allows me to invent newReggio was the idea of a hundred languages. answers to a question. teaching practices that offer unusual andThe core idea of Reggio is that a child has beautiful pathways to computing.hundreds of ways of expressing themselves: The third thing that really resonated withwith clay, gestures, paint, and rubber stamps. me is the idea of observing children at work, FURTHER READINGHowever, in schools we often limit children and responding to their unique needs. I’veto writing and reading. Reggio educators learned to simplify my writing, creating n H ello Ruby:treat the computer as just one more material exercises and materials that have only a www.helloruby.comto learn alongside paper, ruler, pens and single concept to teach. Reggio also suggestsmovement. One of the hundred languages.  that we shouldn’t use words as shortcuts to n T he Hundred Languages of Children: knowledge. Computer science is riddled with helloworld.cc/2tiQVXk The second thing I fell in love with in abstract words like functions, Booleans andReggio Emilia was the open-ended nature of decomposition. But what does a loop feel like? n U nderstanding the Reggio Approach:projects that can take all sorts of twists and And can we find conditionals in the everyday Early Years Education in Practice:turns. Many of my own favourite exercises surroundings of kids, such as the way they helloworld.cc/2syy79ustart with kids posing questions that interest choose clothes for a rainy or sunny day?them like “What kind of a computer would helloworld.cc 35

FEATURE BAREFOOT CLASSROOMS Five ways Barefoot is helping educators L ast issue we reported that the services. “So far, Barefoot’s resources have could work with it and feel that they were Barefoot Computing Project had been really well received throughout all our beginning to deliver something.”reached one million primary school children schools. It’s an easy resource to implementin the UK. We asked four leading education – we haven’t had any difficulty at all You don’t need any technology to use itfigures what’s driving this success. in our schools.” Barefoot provides resources that makeIt’s easy for teachers to follow Joy Christie, acting Deputy Head it easy for teachers to get started on a Teacher at Inverbrothock Primary School journey to teach computational thinking.“Barefoot is very intuitive and attractive,” in Arbroath, Scotland, agrees that Barefoot The resources have been designedoffers Katy Potts, Islington Council’s is easy to use. “The instructions and all specifically to be accessible to teachers whocomputing and e-safety lead for children’s the lesson plans go step by step. Anybody are otherwise unfamiliar with computing and technology.n B arefoot offers free training and resources Irene Bell is Head of STEM at Stranmillis to primary school teachers in the UK University College in Northern Ireland. The fact that she has a huge amount of experience in computing might suggest that she would lean towards some of Barefoot’s more complex resources, but she advocates the project’s hugely accessible unplugged activities, which don’t require the use of any technology. “If you’re not confident in any of the coding languages, then this is an activity that will be directly relevant to what you’re teaching in the classroom.” Irene, who trains new teachers, adds: “You won’t have to step out of your comfort zone.”36 helloworld.cc

To demonstrate her thinking, Irene picksout Barefoot’s Tut, Clap or Jive activity, whichencourages pupils to simply use their bodiesto begin their computational thinking journeys.Barefoot is easy to understandThe theme of accessibility continued withanother interviewee. “One of the mostpopular resources is Crazy Characters,”offers Dr Jonathan Chippindall, a primaryteacher in north Manchester. “It demystifiessome computing terminology, such as theword ‘algorithm’, in a way that’s really easyto engage with,” he adds.Barefoot’s resources and workshops are n O ne of the most popular Barefoot resources is the Crazy Characters activityall completely free of charge, which helps toexplain why large numbers of primary schoolsare getting behind them. But none of those are going to rely more heavily on Great cross-curricular benefitswe spoke with – teachers and education understanding computer science,” adds “Barefoot stands out as being veryacademics – even mentioned the fact that Jonathan Chippindall. “You only have to accessible to teachers,” adds Joy Christie. “The instructions are really easy to“ THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE REALLY EASY TO understand, no matter how little you know UNDERSTAND, NO MATTER HOW LITTLE about computer science. It also gives a YOU KNOW ABOUT COMPUTER SCIENCE range of lesson plans that don’t just cover computer science. For example, in social subjects, you can use the World Map Logic activity. There’s so much that teachers can see that they can apply to different areas ofschools were not dipping into their sparse look at things like driverless cars, delivery the curriculum.”budgets to access Barefoot’s resources. drones, and jobs such as working inBarefoot addresses a global challenge supermarkets on checkouts. These roles Accessibility and flexibility are being replaced by computers, and the One overarching theme has emerged:“The changes to the national curriculum, skills of tomorrow are going to be coding. Barefoot’s accessibility. Without fail,from ICT to computing, are incredibly The Barefoot resources enable teachers to everyone we talked to indicated that itimportant, because the jobs of tomorrow deliver that part of the curriculum to pupils.” is Barefoot’s ease of use that makes all the difference. Barefoot’s training and resources may well be free and, of course, convenient. Undoubtedly this acts as an incentive for cash- and time-strapped schools. However, the evidence suggests that it is overwhelmingly the resources’ accessibility and flexibility that has really appealed to the 40,000 primary school teachers now confident in teaching computational thinking at a primary level.n B arefoot resources introduce computational FURTHER INFORMATION thinking skills to primary school pupils To register for free resources and book a free teacher workshop, visit barefootcas.org.uk helloworld.cc 37

FEATURE CS UNPLUGGEDThe CS Unplugged project is releasing completely revamped resources aimed at teachers. Tim Bell introduces the new format STORY BY Tim Bell T he CS Unplugged project classroom use. The new material is now unplugged activities. The ‘Plugging it (csunplugged.org) has become being released, and the changes include: in’ challenges for students range fromwidely used in schools for teaching very simple programs to advancedcomputer science concepts without having n P resenting material as lesson plans challenges, so teachers can choose ato use a computer. We have found that it is for teachers level to suit their students. All challengespopular because it uses familiar materials, include a working solution, currentlyand removes the barrier of having to n E xplicitly linking the activities to primarily in Scratch, but with Python andlearn programming before students can computational thinking concepts other languages to be added. The additionengage with deep concepts – ranging of a programming follow-up is based onfrom binary representation of data to n P roviding ‘Plugging it in’ follow-up research that shows the value of integratingparallel algorithms. programming challenges to enable unplugged and computer-based learning. The material was originally developed students to connect the ideas to25 years ago to support outreach to digital devices The material is all available underschools, but now that computer science a Creative Commons Attribution-has become a mainstream subject in many n A more flexible way to print customised ShareAlike licence, which means thatcountries, there has been a demand to worksheets (for example, choosing the teachers are free to copy and edit it. Theprovide it in a format more suitable for level of difficulty, such as the range of source for the new version is available on numbers used) GitHub. It is built on new software thatn One of the integrated activities asks students to create a bead supports presenting the material online and necklace, bracelet, or bag-tag that represents the student’s name in n C urriculum integration suggestions, with in print, and enables others to contribute. binary. Image from csunplugged.org learning outcomes and follow-up projects touching on areas as diverse as art, The project is supported by funding music, literacy, and biology from Microsoft Philanthropies and Google Inc, and some of the content has been Plugging it in supported by a grant from the New Zealand Ministry of Education. The lessons have been adjusted based on feedback from classroom teachers, CS Unplugged can be found and feature new activities based on recent at csunplugged.org. You’ll find links to both curriculum changes, as well as classic the new material (which is being gradually added over the next few months) and the ‘classic’ version of the site.38 helloworld.cc

OPINION NICHOLAS PROVENZANO TEACHER GETTING PHYSICAL The Nerdy Teacher, Nicholas Provenzano, explains how getting physical with computing can inject excitement into the classroomM y introduction to the world of digital making Physical reaction involved working on Python, Scratch, and Minecraft on a Raspberry Pi. These were I helped to facilitate a Picademy event in Ann Arbor, USA. After a day of exploring digital computing and somealso the tools I used with students when I introduced aspects of physical computing, the educators were given three hours to make a project using their new skills. Therethem to the Raspberry Pi. After a while, my students were many great projects: using a camera to take pictures and then tweet them; using a light sensor to activate a redwere starting to get restless working on screen-based LED to let people know that a bathroom was occupied; and a mood-ring-esque device that played music based on theprojects. The digital side of computing was not enough temperature of the person who held the sensor.for them, and it was not enough for me. I needed to find The excitement infecting these educators, as they took their digital computing skills and transferred them to makingways to expand what everyone was doing. It was time physical projects, was fun to watch. The projects were so varied, and they took risks to see how far they could stretchto dive into physical computing. their knowledge to make their projects work. By doing so, they expanded their skills in a way that was meaningful toPhysical learning them. This is what students need in the classroom.The exciting thing about Raspberry Pis, Arduinos, and Physical challengemicro:bits is that they allow users to explore digitalcomputing alongside physical computing. I noticed Combining the digital and physical sides of computing takesthat introducing physical computing into the classroom learning in an exciting new direction for students and their teachers. It is important to keep challenging and encouraging Combining the digital and physical students to explore the unknown. Taking their digital making sides of computing takes learning skills and offering them the chance to build and iterate is a in an exciting new direction great way to allow students take ownership of their learning and direct it where they want to explore – exactly whatallowed students to explore different aspects of both every teacher hopes to impart to their students.worlds in ways that were meaningful to them. Theywere fully engaged because they had a project they had Nicholas Provenzano is a high school English teacher, author,chosen, and they wanted to make it work for everyone speaker, and consultant. He has been featured on CNN.com,to see. Since the students already had the basic digital Education Week, The New York Times, and other media outlets.computing skills, they welcomed the opportunity to jumpinto more complex physical computing and bring theirdigital skills to life. This can be true for all learners newto digital and physical computing. helloworld.cc 39

FEATURE SCHOOL LEADERS MATTERSupport from the school leadership team is crucial for successful computer science teaching. How do you get them on board? STORY BY Niel McLean S chools have made significant strides Slow progress high achievers as there are not enough in developing computer science as confident teachers; the senior leadershipa subject. The number of students taking Curriculum development works in different think they were right not to prioritise itGCSE computer science has grown, and ways in primary and secondary schools. in the first place; and Computer Scienceprimary teachers are reporting significant In primary, step-by-step development is remains a minority option.increases in their confidence to teach possible. Teachers can try a few things,computing. However, introducing a new building up the subject as their confidence Perhaps this is a caricature of thesubject is challenging. We have some grows. Secondary schools are different. reality in secondary schools, but there isway to go before computer science is The need for schools to timetable teachers, enough feedback from teachers to raiseestablished as a subject in the way that, students and rooms within a highly concerns, and we know that support fromfor example, history or geography are. structured school curriculum makes a the school’s senior leadership is essential The feedback from computer science gradual development impossible – the if a subject is to flourish. So how do weteachers getting to grips with the curriculum school either offers GCSE Computer convince school leaders that computingis that a supportive school leadership team Science, or it doesn’t. is important, and worth the necessarycan make a significant difference. Where investment of time and scarce resources?school leaders provide support, the subject I was talking about computing withflourishes; where they do not, computing an old colleague, who is now the head What school leaders thinkteachers face an uphill struggle. It was for teacher of a large London secondarythis reason that CAS, with support from a school. “Putting it bluntly,” he said, “with While researching the CAS LeadershipMicrosoft YouthSpark grant, developed a all the accountability there is now, why Toolkit, I spoke to a number of secondarytoolkit for school leaders. should I take the risk of running a new school leaders and their representatives GCSE with staff who aren’t confident they about the challenges they face and how can get good results?” Feedback from they have addressed them. What struck CAS Regional Centres also suggests that me most was that the head teachers a ‘vicious circle’ is developing in some who were most supportive were those secondary schools – the senior leadership who ‘got it’ – they understood the value decides not to prioritise computing; of computing for the life chances of the computing teachers are not released young people in their schools. They for training; GCSE is offered only to stressed the importance of a clear vision n The Leadership Toolkit contains a series of leaflets designed to help teachers and school leaders to provide excellent computer science education40 helloworld.cc

for computing and how it fits into the creative people. They thrive on solvingschool’s wider aspirations for all its problems, and will find creative solutionsstudents. Derek Peaple, Headteacher to the challenges.”at Park House School, was clear that“placing and protecting computing at While setting a vision and providingthe heart of the curriculum is essential visible support are clearly important,to developing the next generation the introduction of computing representsof creative, innovative, and digitally a significant change with implicationsconfident young people.” for staffing, CPD and resourcing. These implications need to be managed, and This suggests that, notwithstanding are linked to the school leader’s strategicthe pressures, most school leaders are role. As Dr Richard Marshall, Principal ofdriven by a desire to do what’s best for Royal Greenwich UTC, has said: “In theirthe students in their schools. They are strategic role, school leadership teamsproud to go beyond the merely regulatory need to ensure that the change is properlyrequirements. We shouldn’t be surprised implemented, monitored and evaluated.”at this: no head teacher wants an epitaphthat reads ‘She did everything that the Using the Leadership ToolkitDfE and Ofsted required’. Articulatinga compelling vision and purpose for The Leadership Toolkit is deliberatelycomputing is a necessary first step for short – all the school leaders we spoke togathering senior leadership support, and stressed how busy they were. It has beenhere we have one serious disadvantage sent to all secondary schools in hard copy.– computing is new. While virtually all We’ve designed the toolkit as a set ofsecondary heads could explain why well- leaflets – again, this is deliberate. We know that there’s always the risk that busy school“ MOST SCHOOL LEADERS ARE DRIVEN BY A DESIRE TO DO WHAT’S BEST FOR THE STUDENTS IN THEIR SCHOOLSestablished subjects such as geography leaders will simply pass it on to an alreadyare on the curriculum, in specific terms hard-pressed head of computer science.such as ‘understanding how places shape It includes a short booklet aimed directlypeople and people in turn shape places’, at the school leadership team.few could do the same for computing. If the leadership team has passed the We also have one serious advantage – whole toolkit to you, why not take the shortit’s generally recognised that computing booklet (it’s called Excellent Computingmatters to the future of the UK. Dr Saima in Every School) to the senior leader withRana, Principal of Westminster Academy, curriculum responsibility. When they haveagreed with this, bringing in the wider read it (it takes only a few minutes to read),economic context. As a computer talk to them about how they could use thescientist herself she is “aware of the other leaflets to help introduce computingshortage of computer science and IT in your school. Suggest that a small team isskills in the economy”, and recognises set up that reports directly to the leadershipthe opportunities this creates. team; offer to raise the awareness of school governors; and stress that this is about Where school leaders see the improving your students’ life chances.importance of computing for theirstudents, they have taken practical Of course, a few slim leaflets can’tsteps to support their teachers, often change everything, but hopefully they canadopting innovative approaches. As Sion help support a conversation between youHumphreys, a professional adviser to the and your school’s leadership team thatNational Association of Head Teachers, helps computing to flourish in your school.has said: “Effective school leaders are Good luck. helloworld.cc 41

FEATURE ONLINE TRAINING: THE STORY SO FAR Six months ago, The Raspberry Pi Foundation launched its online training courses. Lauren Hyams looks at what they’ve learnt from the experience STORY BY Lauren HyamsCOMING SOON T he Raspberry Pi Foundation our Picademy attendees getting excited has been running Picademy, on Twitter, we often get questions like Following the success of the first two courses, a successful face-to-face training “Why haven’t you run a Picademy near me the Raspberry Pi Foundation is delighted to programme for educators, since 2014. So yet? When are you coming to train us?”. announce the launch of two new courses in the far, more than 1500 educators around the It has been frustrating, having to tell eager autumn term. world have taken part in the programme. educators that we are not able to deliver This free face-to-face training has proved Picademy everywhere. We decided to find PREPARE TO RUN A CODE CLUB hugely popular. On average, we receive a way to reach educators around the world, This course will give you the confidence and three eligible applications for each available so now you can access our free courses skills to launch and run a Code Club. You’ll place. However, this model of delivery is online – wherever you are, and whenever get practical advice and tips from volunteers, not without its limitations. After seeing you want. teachers, and Raspberry Pi Foundation staff, and explore the resources that Code Club provides.OBJECT-ORIENTEDPROGRAMMING IN PYTHON:CREATE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE GAMELearn object-oriented programming principlesby creating your own text-based adventure gamein Python. The course is aimed at educators whohave a bit of programming experience, but havenever programmed in the object-oriented style.The course is hands-on, giving you a chanceto apply your new knowledge by completing arange of programming tasks.42 helloworld.cc

EDUCATOR IN FOCUSImage: Melissa Huch / Digital Harbor Foundation n More than 1500 educators around the world MARTIN CADDY have taken part in the Picademy programme Headteacher, Stokeinteignhead Primary School Learning together online failure. This is an idea we have been talking As the Headteacher of a small village primary about a lot in our team, and it was amazing to school, I cover the time when the class In February 2017, we were delighted to expand the conversation to include hundreds teachers have planning sessions away from the launch two free online CPD training courses of educators all over the globe. Hearing classroom. Since the introduction of the 2014 on the FutureLearn platform, available educators’ thoughts on how it felt to make curriculum, I have taken the opportunity to anywhere in the world. Since the launch, something and what they learnt from it has teach computer science and coding, particularly more than 11000 educators have joined been amazing – from beekeeping and building at KS2. our Teaching Programming in Primary flat-pack furniture, to various triumphs and Schools course, and more than 18000 have disasters in the kitchen! I have participated in the physical computing joined Teaching Physical Computing with and primary programming online training courses. The physical computing course was “ THE TWO COURSES ARE SCAFFOLDED great for improving my subject knowledge, and TO BUILD SKILLS EACH WEEK also for consolidating the learning I had recently enjoyed at Picademy. It was really useful to gain Raspberry Pi and Python. Thousands of One educator, Jordan Renault, made a this subject knowledge, which will be invaluable educators have been building their skills, thought-provoking observation. He pointed as I develop my use of physical computing completing tasks such as writing a program out that when we were infants learning to in the classroom. in Python to make an LED blink, or building walk, our attempts were celebrated, and the a voting app in Scratch. falls were seen as a necessary product of The primary programming course contained learning. We should try to not lose this outlook a lot of subject knowledge I already had. This The two courses are scaffolded to build as we grow older. course was really great for developing my skills each week. Learners are supported pedagogy, as it introduced and encouraged by videos, screencasts and articles, and Learners on the courses have been concepts such as ‘tinkering’ and testing, as they have the chance to apply what very positive about the experience. They well as developing planning and evaluation they have learned in as many different have appreciated the way the content processes with learners. Many of the ideas practical projects as possible. Visit is structured, building the difficulty each from this course are quickly transferable helloworld.cc/2uye60k to join us. week as skills and confidence grow. It has to the classroom. been wonderful to see learners using the Classrooms all over the world courses with their students in class. One I found that both courses were full of learner commented, “The opportunity to practical, hands-on activities, which really The highlight of the courses for me has been learn from and discuss ideas and thoughts suits my style of learning. My favourite part watching the rich discussions between with my peers was invaluable – I have so of the courses was making the practical light- learners from more than 120 countries. many ideas to implement Scratch in my flashing activities on the physical computing More than 800 learners on the Physical classroom next academic year, thanks to course. Being fairly new to Python and physical Computing course had a great discussion the ideas submitted”. computing it was great to have some success! around the concept of learning through The videos and screencasts were really useful, especially to take things step by step. Participating in the courses has had a positive impact on me, in terms of subject knowledge, introducing more structure to my teaching, and taking ideas and transferring them readily into the classroom. Your ideas There are lots of other courses in development. Look out for courses on creating a makerspace in your school, and moving from block- to text-based programming. We are always open to ideas about what to develop next for our online courses. If there’s something you’d really like to learn about with us, email us at [email protected]. helloworld.cc 43

FEATURE TEACHING PROGRAMMING TO EAL STUDENTSHow can we support computer science students who don’t speak English as their first language? STORY BY Cat LaminSPOTLIGHT ON W e often think of the learning process While it was created by a DutchFRANCISCO GOUVEIA for text-based programming programmer, Guido Van Rossum, Python languages as being similar to learning a is a programming language written in Job description: foreign language, but how much harder is English. The commands are all English, Computer Club Coordinator that process if your students are already and it is common practice in the global and Teacher on the island learning English as an additional language? Python community to write code almost of Principe Most popular programming languages, exclusively in English, including the naming First language: including Python, contain syntax which is conventions for variables, functions etc. Portuguese fundamentally English. This adds a whole – even if the programmer does not speak Other languages spoken: extra layer of learning for EAL students, English as a first language, or even fluently. Many! and we must be aware of this if we are There can be problems with Python Language spoken by pupils: Portuguese to effectively teach computer science interpreting non-ASCII characters, and Programming languages taught to pupils: Scratch to these pupils. further problems can arise when libraries I recently met Francisco Coutinho are written in both British English and Problems encountered: While it’s easy to switch Gouveia, who teaches Portuguese- American English. languages in Scratch, so that pupils can learn speaking students on the island of Principe. about block-based coding in their own language, He mentioned the difficulties he’s been Programmers around the world seem to the libraries of images are still in English and facing with teaching students to code when agree that learning English is a core element this already causes problems for my pupils. English isn’t their first language. It got me of becoming a developer, as it establishes a They can find it difficult to find a specific image thinking about the same problem in UK common ground for discussion. Indeed, one because you’re effectively spelling out letter schools for EAL pupils. commenter on stackoverflow.com explains sounds instead of just saying the words. I’ve One thing we know about CS and that he learnt English because of his desire made a start with translating the libraries for coding is that it’s incredibly empowering for to learn to code, but it was only after he my pupils, but it’s hard work for them and for students across a range of abilities. Even had learnt the core commands that he me, and as soon as a new version of Scratch is students who find academic subjects difficult understood their literal English translations. released, I have to start again. I’d considered can find success in coding, and I’ve seen This raises the question: do we need to teaching my students Python as a next step, an incredible improvement academically in understand the commands we are typing but for them it’s that much harder because pupils who have attended Code Clubs and in order to understand and recall the core Python is written in English and they only Raspberry Jams. Their passion for computer commands of Python? speak Portuguese. science has improved their computational thinking skills, which in turn have improved A deeper understanding Next Steps: To tell you the truth, using Python their academic performance. wasn’t in my immediate plans, although I was Can we provide the same I would argue that, while it is possible to exploring the idea. But reading through Carrie experience for EAL pupils in an simply learn the commands by rote, it is Anne Philbin’s Adventures in Raspberry Pi, English-speaking classroom? significantly easier to apply them if you and the transition she proposes – of using can appreciate why you are using these the same types of commands but in two Teaching Python words and phrases. For example, it helps to different languages, and in so doing gradually understand that ‘while True’ means that as ‘graduating’ from Scratch to Python - the Let’s take a look at Python, the most popular long as the code is running, the statement is problem kind of popped up... language taught in schools in the UK. Its true and will keep looping forever. Without popularity is due to the balance it strikes understanding English, this phrase is just between ease of use and the ability to solve a random collection of letters. If we attach complex challenges. meaning, and a local translation, to this phrase, there is a greater chance of the44 helloworld.cc

n It is important that we allow children to Image credit: Connor Ballard-Pateman My gut instinct is that the latter method become excited about coding, no matter would be a more effective way to support what their first language happens to be The first method assumes that the user is the learning of Python for a non-native able to abstract relevant information without English speaker. However, it is important tostudent being able to retain and use the the need to understand the individual be aware that some students may be ablephrase effectively in future code. words. It is possible to understand and write to effectively use abstraction to understand programs in Python without completely the code without learning or understanding It’s also useful to remember that libraries, understanding the translation of the words. the language. They might prefer to learnAPIs and supporting documentation However, this is a limited method for the code and then retrospectively learn theare all usually written in English. It is teaching and would only be useful at the English language.therefore valuable for users to gain a basic most basic level.understanding of the English language. Modern Foreign LanguagesThe solution Modern Foreign Language (MFL) teachers would argue that in language learning,Based on my experience, I would propose understanding through context can be a keyone of two strategies for teaching Python aspect of learning. Being able to translateto a non-English speaker. core vocabulary is also an essential aspect of learning any language, whether that is an A ssume the user will accept the spoken language or a computer language. commands at face value with no Indeed, when we teach Python to English explanation of the specific vocabulary. speakers, it is essential to explain the Instead, explain their context within the vocabulary to the learners when it is unclear code e.g. ‘while True’ is a forever loop. It – for example ‘def’ is short for ‘define’, which doesn’t matter if you don’t understand allows us to define a function. the words ‘while’ or ‘true’ in your native language – what is important is your It’s also worth considering the English understanding of what the code is doing. language and its significance as a This would require clear descriptions global language. English is currently the of the purpose of various commands language of the internet, the language throughout the written resources used by the teacher. “ PUPILS ARE TAUGHT TO UNDERSTAND HOW DIFFERENT METHODS WORKn A llow users the opportunity to translate AND WHY THEY ARE EFFECTIVE and understand commands, core words and phrases. Spend time identifying The second method provides a more of trade, and the language of commerce. key words and phrases that are robust understanding of the English However, we need to be aware of the common in Python, and use them to language, and of the logical reasoning behind often quoted ‘arrogance of the English- create a worksheet or paper resource the code. My experience is that learning by speaking world’: the assumption by native which explains these words in the rote is not the most effective way of ensuring English speakers that ‘everyone speaks user’s native language and then tests that pupils retain their knowledge and apply English’. Let’s not offend communities their understanding. their understanding to unfamiliar situations. in the non-English-speaking world by Retaining and applying knowledge is more assuming that they are willing to learn and likely if pupils are taught to understand understand English phrases. We cannot how different methods work and why they assume that they already understand are effective. In classrooms today, pupils words and phrases like ‘true or false’ or are often taught not just to memorise their ‘if’. I would suggest that time is taken to multiplication tables, but to understand ensure that the resources we provide multiplication in various different ways. are not patronising, and do not assume They might use arrays to better understand a dominance of the English language. multiplication as the repetition of groups, It is essential that we are nurturing and which in turn allows a better understanding supportive of learners so that we achieve of division, as pupils recognise those groups our goal of making computer science as part of the inverse operation. accessible to all. helloworld.cc 45

FEATUREOER Global Logo by Jonathas Mello is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Unported 3.0 Licence OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCES Software development has benefited greatly from the free and open-source software movement. Can the world of education benefit as well? STORY BY Marc Scott, Head of Curriculum Development at The Raspberry Pi Foundation I n the 1980s Richard Stallman, At the time, many companies were web servers, supercomputers, and a young hacker at MIT, grew producing closed software that was embedded computers. It powers Google’sfrustrated with the way that software impossible to decode, and was often Chromebook, the Raspberry Pi, and manywas being produced and licensed. licensed so that altering it in any way people’s desktop computers as well. Linux would be illegal. Stallman founded the now contains around 15 million lines ofOPEN EDUCATION Free Software Foundation, and began code, with less than two percent of thatLINKS AND working on his own operating system written by the original creator, LinusRESOURCES and collection of software tools that he Torvalds. That means that around 14.7 called the GNU operating system. His million lines of code have been written by n C reative Commons licences: idea was that the code for GNU software volunteers working on Linux. creativecommons.org would be available for people to read, share and improve. He even created his Why open-source? n O pen University OpenLearn Create: own license, which software developers helloworld.cc/2ucgjNj could use, called the GNU General Public Why do organisations, businesses, and Licence (GPL), and in doing so began the volunteers spend so much time and effort n O ER Commons: open-source software revolution. developing open-source software, if www.oercommons.org they’re not going to sell it on? The truth Today, companies such as Google, is that open-source software is usually n C omputing At School resources site: Microsoft, Apple, and many more are a vast improvement on anything a single helloworld.cc/2tX2wih all creating or contributing to open- individual or company could produce in source software and hardware projects. isolation. Open-source software has the n R aspberry Pi Resources: Additionally, thousands of programmers, advantage that large numbers of people helloworld.cc/2vlJbYC designers, and engineers volunteer can study the code, find bugs or potential their time and talents to develop open- improvements, and then alter the software source projects. The Linux operating themselves. As a result, this software is system, for example, is the predominant often more robust, more powerful, and operating system on mobile devices, easier to use.46 helloworld.cc

n Open-sourcing software and educational resources can make them more robust and easier to use Get involved There are many ways to distribute yourThe open education resources which they are shared, meaning that they work to learners and educators. You couldmovement can be republished, edited, and used free simply upload your work to any cloudIf this model works so well in the field of of charge – all without having to ask for the storage provider and share the links onsoftware development, couldn’t it also author’s permission. social media. You could convert your slidework in the field of education? Educators The OER movement started at the turn of show to a video, add a voice over, andthe world over produce lesson plans, slide the millennium, as first MIT, and then other upload it to YouTube. There are also someshows, worksheets, websites, video tutorials, educational institutions around the world, sites that cater specifically for OER. Fordiagrams, and even whole courses to help began to place their courses online, for free. instance, the Open University operatestheir students learn. Too often the fruits As the number of institutions offering free OpenLearn Create, and ISKME operates aof their labour lie dormant in their desk or open courseware increased, UNESCO platform called OER Commons.drawers, or stored away safely on USB flash organised the first Global OER Forum in Then there are more specialiseddrives, waiting for the next academic cycle 2002, where the term ‘OER’ was adopted. sites, such as Computing At School, that allow hosting of“ OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IS USUALLY A VAST OER. The Raspberry Pi Foundation publishesIMPROVEMENT ON ANYTHING A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL all its resources underOR COMPANY COULD PRODUCE IN ISOLATION a Creative Commons Licence, and we love it when people help improve our resources.when they’ll be used with the next cohort The movement has grown rapidly since You can see all our educational contentof thirty students. Wouldn’t it be better if, then, with a huge number of universities, on GitHub, copy the resources if you like,as educators, we shared the resources we colleges, and schools offering their tailor them for your students, and thenproduce, allowed others to correct them and educational material for free. But anyone, submit improvements.improve on them, and let our learners access including individuals, can assist in helping Whether you share and publish yourthem, for free, at any time of the year? the OER movement to achieve its goals. resources or just help improve someoneOpen educational resources (OER) are Any educator can open-source their work. else’s, becoming part of the OER movementteaching and learning materials that are It’s as simple as copying and pasting a will help educators and learners all over thefreely available online for everyone to use: Creative Commons licence to the bottom of world, and together we can try to replicateeducators, students, or independent learners. a worksheet or scheme of work, and then the success of open-source software in theThe key aspect of OER is the licence under publishing it online. world of education. helloworld.cc 47

LESSON PLANAGE RANGE SCRATCH PONG11 years Laura Sach’s creative task assesses how well your new Year 7 students understand basic programming concepts as they join you from junior schoolLESSON TYPE A t the start of the school those who have not used Scratch What happens to the ball?Programming year, students arrive from a chance to familiarise themselves Can you add something to make junior schools far and wide to with the environment and the the ball keep moving (i.e. moveREQUIREMENTS join secondary school computing programming concepts. forever)? (figure 2) classes. Some will have covered• Scratch the primary computing curriculum The following instructions can be Figure 2 extensively whilst others will provided to students, who can use have barely scratched the surface. the coloured text to help them figure What happens when the ball hits Use this project as a basis for out which blocks they need. The the edge? Can you add something to assessing your students’ current additional images could be provided make the ball bounce off when it hits skill levels, and to work out the to those students who are unfamiliar an edge? (figure 3) gaps in their knowledge. with Scratch. Planning ahead 1. Creating the Ball Begin by thinking as a class about Delete the cat sprite and add a sprite which sprites will be needed for the that looks like a ball. You can use game of Pong. To do this, you could one of the existing sprites or you can show a video of the original game paint your own ball. and ask students to identify the different objects they can see. Pull out blocks into the Scripts area to do the following: Students will then implement a basic Pong game in Scratch. This n When the flag is clicked will act as a refresher for those n Move the ball 10 steps (figure 1) students who have covered the concepts previously, but will allowALTERNATIVE ACTIVITY IDEAS Figure 1 Figure 3Revise and create 2. Bouncing ballAdapt this project theme for other age groups: Rather than bouncing from side to side, when our ball hits a wall14-18 years – Programming we want it to bounce off the wall Use the same concept to assess the starting level of your GCSE or A at an angle. level Computer Science students. Set a tutorial task followed by an opportunity for students to be more creative and show off their skills. FURTHER READING Figure 4 The original Pong game: helloworld.cc/2vMTamE Video of the original gameplay: helloworld.cc/2vaQPVH48 helloworld.cc

ASSESSMENT THE CHALLENGEYou can allow students to try out each other’s games, and also incorporate Create a Pong game in Scratch usinga peer assessment task, as long as you are careful to model the kinds of movement, variables, and logicresponses you wish to see. A page full of ‘I loved it’ responses isn’t muchuse to anyone! Apply these concepts to create an original game W hat do you think <name> could improve about their program? W as there anything in <name>’s program you could have used in yours? Peer assessment H ow do you think <name> programmed their <x> sprite to do <y>? Remove the if on edge bounce Figure 5 5. Extra challengeblock. In its place, we need somenew code. You need to figure out bounce if it is touching the paddle? If we now have two players, we needhow many degrees to allow the ball The code for bouncing is exactly to have some way of keeping score.to turn. the same as the code you used to bounce off the wall in step 2 n C an you use the variables inn If (figure 6). Scratch to create a score box forn T he ball is touching the edge each player?n Turn random degrees Figure 6n Move 10 steps (figure 4) n H ow will a player score a point? 4. Two player mode Perhaps each end of the game Experiment with the range of board could have a differentrandom degrees the ball can turn - n Duplicate your paddle sprite. coloured line so we know whensome numbers will produce much n C hange the keys you use to move the ball has reached it.better results than others. the sprite, otherwise one player n W hen one player scores a point, Challenge: Is there a better way of will control both paddles! their score should increase by one.making your ball bounce off the walls? n C hange the starting position of the second paddle so that it starts n If one player’s score becomes3. Creating the paddles on the opposite side of the screen. equal to a certain level, the game n N ow alter the ball script so that it should display a ‘winner’ messageDraw a new sprite to represent bounces off the second paddle. and reset the scores back to 0 forthe paddle. a new game. Drag blocks into the work area Assessment taskto make the paddle work: During the following lesson, set then S et the start position of the assessment task for the students. paddle They must use all their skills to design and build any game of theirn W hen the up key is pressed, choice in Scratch. Students who move up the screen have ‘done Scratch’ before should attempt to show off their skills, andn W hen the down key is pressed, those who are new to programming move down the screen or to the Scratch environment will not be left behind, thanks to the Hint: To get the up and down introductory tutorial.movement, think about which axison a graph represents up/down(figure 5). Start the game and check thatyour paddle moves. You mightnotice that the ball doesn’t bounceoff the paddle. Can you add somemore code to the ball to make it helloworld.cc 49

LESSON PLANAGE RANGE CLOCKWORK CODING Explore repetition and variables by coding your own stopwatch and clock in Scratch7-10 years STORY BY Jon ChippindallLESSON TYPE O ne of the joys of learning tools, which they can go on to use process, consider where repetitionVisual / block- to code is realising that in other subjects such as science plays a role, and write the algorithmbased coding we can become creators of the and maths. to help with their coding. Pupils technology we might normally then code a stopwatch in ScratchREQUIREMENTS reach for in an app – such as a The activity is in three stages. before finally adapting this code stopwatch or clock. In this lesson First, students create a human to drive the hands of a clock face.• C omputer students program their own timing model of a stopwatch, giving them To extend the challenge, pupils running Scratch time to decompose the counting can create further clock faces and 2.0 for enable the display to be toggled each group THE CHALLENGE between them.• M ini C an students write the algorithm for a stopwatch, whiteboards and identify how repetition plays a role? and pens for unplugged elements C an students translate their algorithm into code using repetition commands and variables? C an students adapt their code to drive the hands on a clock face? OPTIONAL n Figure 1: How pupils’ stopwatch code might look – notice the variables needed were seconds, minutes and hours C an pupils switch between different clock faces, including a digital clock?50 helloworld.cc