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What is Binary? Binary is a base 2 numbering system. It uses 2 numbers 0 and 1 to count and is used by computers to transmit information. 1 digit is a bit. 8 digits is a byte. More information about Binary How does binary work? This video shows how Binary works. Need another explanation? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD6lcIIOeic Curriculum links There is a requirement for all Australian schools to teach Binary from year 5-8. States not using the Australian Curriculum will have modified versions of what is required but binary is mentioned in both year 5-6 and year 7-8. If you are using a document that is based on the Australian Curriculum try searching your document for the AC codes below. In primary years primary often makes sense when taught following a base 10 lesson. Discuss the structure of the base 10 system and then introduce the binary system. Below there are resources both online and offline that can be used to teach this concept. Year...

CSER with the University of Adelaide With the support of a Australian Federal Government Grant the CSER (Computer Science Education Research) Team offer four free online courses world wide with personalised workshops for teachers in Australia with project officers in each state. Australian schools that register their staff for an online course are eligible for access to a free lending library . If you would like a project officer to visit your school you can apply through the website. The online courses provide a range of content. F-6: Foundations is the introductory course and assumes no knowledge and is a great way for teachers to introduce coding and the use of computational thinking and digital systems into their classroom and schools.  The courses are mapped to the Australian Curriculum but the content suits all Australian states and their particular version of curriculum. It also covers skills and content required in other countries that require the teaching of...

When creating projects using pencilcode.net one of my classes had some problems when the program would stop and get an error.  So they created a list of rules to help find the errors. We called it "debugging their program".  Things to look for with errors Highlighted row (2) Message on the right side in a grey box. Red writing in the bottom right with a description of the error. To create the rules students got into small groups (2-3 people) and opened a program that worked. Then they changed things in the program to see what would happen.  Please comment if you have some more rules that could be added. Rules for Pencilcode.net These rules are specific to pencilcode.net but they could be used as a guide for other programs. Check your spelling. Check your indenting & spacing. Use spaces between your words. Check punctuation eg: “ ”, (), [ ], { }, @, >, < Check the size of your jumps. Check the things you type. Check that you don’t p...

Coding the latest buzz word There is an international movement to teach coding in schools, everyone is talking about coding, the media , schools , not-for-profits , summer camps , women's magazines . The difficulty is the responsibility for integrating coding into the curriculum falls on the teachers who are not all equipped with the skills to teach coding.  Why? Teaching coding skills is not about teaching everyone to be a programmer. It is about digital literacy and ensuring all students understand how technology works. It also teaches a thinking style referred to as "Computational Thinking". Computational Thinking  (CT) is the thought processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer—human or machine—can effectively carry out.  (Jeanette Wing 2-14) ( Source ) It was first referred by Seymour Papert in 1980 and then in 1996 and it is an important thinking style for solving complex problems.   ( Sourc...

In 2015 SCAS launched student courses that use a blended format. A combination of face to face and online delivery. Year 8 have been offered the elective Computational Thinking. The course is being facilitated online over a semester and currently has five students enrolled. Students are timetabled to attend classes and all content is delivered via a Google Classroom and a Google Site. This class is still in it’s early days however the participating students are very enthusiastic about the course, it’s content and it’s delivery. This article will define computational thinking, outline the purpose of the course and offer reasons for the online format. The course being offered is cross curricular and offers the opportunity for students to develop skills in computational thinking, writing and reflection, covering outcomes from the English and Computer Syllabi. What is computational thinking? Computational Thinking is the process of finding a solution to open ended problems. Computation...

This year I am facilitating our schools first online elective. It is a semester long course for year 8 in Computational Thinking. The duration of the course is 1 semester - approximately 20 weeks, about 30 hours. Currently this a small class of 5 boys. Having a small class is a great opportunity to test this new format. I am hoping to increase these numbers in Semester 2 and attract some girls to this subject also. The purpose of the course is to teach computational thinking. The online format will allow students the opportunity to pursue personal interest projects in the area of computational thinking. The students have been allocated a room. I am in a nearby area with another class. Students have access to me during their class if required. We have one 30min face to face session a fortnight to discuss student needs and for updates. Source Methods of Communication Email Google Classroom Blogs Instant chat My tools to deliver content and assessment tasks Go...

Educational value of coding There has been discussion on the value of coding. Does teaching coding to Primary aged students steal valuable teaching time from literacy and maths. What does coding teach? Ultimately reading, writing and spelling skills are among the most important skills students take from education. Communication empowers people to learn and do more with their life. Skills taught in coding Coding teaches Logic - work through an order of steps Perseverance -  must solve the problem Problem solving Reading if following online tutorials Group work Coding can be used to teach Procedure writing Recounts Descriptions Information Reports Expositions Maths - 2 D shapes and angles Some of my most enthusiastic coders are average spellers and readers. One student was receiving ed support and I didn't know. Coding is a motivation to read. I have other students who are poor spellers. When typing code in HTML,  codeacademy ,  pencilcode.net ...

This is the 3rd post in a series on coding with girls. See  Part 1  and  Part 2  if you would like some background. Over the last few weeks I have had consistent numbers with about 15 students showing up each time. I have launched a website for the students so my resources are in the same place and easily accessed. kodeklubbers.weebly.com . I have now added and will continue to build the teaching resources and some information on our makerspace  facilitated by Matt Richards , teaching resources and apps . These are all works in progress so check back regularly for new resources. Observations The main programs the girls like are scratch and kodu . Both visual programming tools. Some of the girls are enjoying working through the learn.code.org tutorials and blockly , both scratch style programs. I had some boys ask to attend the club last week and not wanting to discourage them I allowed them to get a computer and sit in a separate area. It was inter...