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 »
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 »
Learning to code is a popular topic in educational circles these days and rightly so I think. When young people code their own apps, games, stories, or websites they have a chance to think critically, troubleshoot, problem solve, and collaborate. It’s a way to create something real that can be seen and used
Tynkering With Code Read More »
Learning to code can be quite intimidating, especially for children, but visual tools can keep them engaged and learning. It’s for this reason that MIT Media Lab created and released Scratch back in 2006. It doesn’t require any lines of code to be written, and can be used by children as young as 8.
A recent Edutopia article, Program or Be Programmed, got me thinking about the place of computer programming in schools. In this article Mary Beth Hertz, a computer teacher, from Philadelphia bemoans the fact that many schools are dropping computer science. Yet the article identifies some interesting tools that teachers, parents and young people might find
Computer Programming in Schools – How should we teach it? Read More »
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the BETT show in London. This has now become an annual pilgrimage to view what is new in the world of technology and education. At first glance this year’s show didn’t appear very different from other years but when you went under the surface there were some
BETT 2012 & Free Programming Tools Read More »
This week saw the publication of the Irish Times 50 Most Influential People in Education List. It got me thinking as to those individuals who may not necessarily have an immediate level of influence but whose work could impact significantly on the way in which our children learn in the future. Someone who would definitely
Kinect2Scratch – Teaching Programming using the Kinect & Scratch Read More »
I’ve just started a project with some 5th and 6th class pupils using Scratch. For the uninitiated, Scratch is a visual programming language that is similar to building virtual Lego. I’ll try and explain a little better. When you open Scratch, you are faced with a cartoon cat and the user’s job is to get
Scratching the Surface Read More »
Bee-Bot is a robot shaped like a bee. It’s a very simple but brilliant device that allows the user to move the Bee-Bot either forwards or backwards and either turn left or right. It’s best used with a Bee-Bot grid – either a template or a see-through blank. You can see a video of it
Bee Bot – essential kit? Read More »
