Scratch 3.0 is due for release on the 2nd of January 2019. There are many teachers who are looking forward to this significant update to a great Coding resource that is very popular in Irish Primary schools. Scratch 3.0 will certainly become even more popular as this release addresses a serious problem with Scratch 2.0 […]
Using Scratch in the Primary Classroom Read More »
The Hour of Code is back for 2018, December 3rd – 9th… Now entering its 6th year, the Hour of Code movement continues to grow and so far has reached over 100 million students in more than 180 countries across 48 languages and code.org, who organise the global event claim that over 600 million hours
What Will You Create? #HourOfCode Read More »
This year’s Scratch Competition launched last month, to coincide with EU Code Week. Run by the ICS Foundation and supported by Lero – the Irish Software Research Centre, Amazon Web Services and Science Fountation Ireland, the Scratch Competition promotes computing and software development at both primary and secondary school levels. Scratch is a visual programming
ICS’s Scratch Competition 2018 – 2019 Read More »
The Bebras Computing Challenge is back again this year and will take place between November 5th and 16th. Bebras is an international online motivational challenge designed to get students all over the world excited about computing and computational thinking and is run in over 40 countries. Taking place in Ireland since 2012, the Bebras Challenge introduces
Are you ready for the Bebras Challenge? Read More »
The LEGO brand is well known around the world and many schools in Ireland already use a number of LEGO Education products such as LEGO Mindstorms and LEGO WeDo. I previously wrote a piece about LEGO WeDo back in 2016 and with the growing emphasis on STEM activities at Primary School level it’s great to
Not an Ordinary Brick Read More »
CoderDojo Global Conference – Kilkenny Oct 19-21 DojoCon, the annual global conference for the CoderDojo community is fast approaching, October 19th – 21st in the Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny. DojoCon is the must-attend networking event for anyone interested in coding, where ideas from CoderDojo volunteers and industry leaders are shared through keynote talks, workshops and more,
CoderDojo’s DojoCon 2018 Read More »
Minecraft, A game designed to allow players to build worlds and play collaboratively has gained great traction in previous years for its advantages as an educational resource. So much so that Microsoft have released an educational addition of the game which comes stock piled with lessons, resources and worlds for students and teachers to use
Minecraft in the Classroom. But Why? Read More »
A last call out to potential participants on our two new blended courses (Face-to-face & online), ‘Making Sense of Minecraft for Education and ‘Enhancing 21st Skills using Microsoft Tools’ in DreamSpace, Microsoft’s new immersive teaching and learning experience. We have a limited number of places still available but book now to avoid disappointment… Spend 3 days
Last Call for DreamSpace CPD Read More »
On Friday the 8th of June the 2018 Digital Strategy Action Plan was published. The plan sets out a road map for the next twelve months. There are over 80 actions outlined in this action plan and one of these relates to Coding in the wider Primary Curriculum. Action Number 1.2 states that four sub-actions
Coding resources are Evolving Read More »
To date we have used Scratch in our school to develop children’s coding skills. However, while this is a fantastic application, it is more suited to the older primary school pupil. We recently looked at a range of free, web based applications that can help to develop coding and programming skills throughout the primary school
Coding Applications for Younger Pupils Read More »
