Teaching the teachers

[jonathan]

Can Leeds Uni put on some courses for Leeds' Teachers to improve their
programming skills as many, and i include myself in this, were
initially trained to teach other subjects and only have self-taught
programming skills. Royce, did you manage to drum up any interest on
monday during the recent sequencing course?
jonathan

[Nick Efford]

Jonathan,

Which programming language(s) are you thinking about here?
Or were you thinking in more general terms?

Nick

--
Dr Nick Efford, School of | E: n...@comp.leeds.ac.uk
Computing, University of | T: +44 113 343 6809
Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK | W: http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/nde/
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[royce]

> > Can Leeds Uni put on some courses for Leeds' Teachers to improve their
> > programming skills as many, and i include myself in this, were
> > initially trained to teach other subjects and only have self-taught
> > programming skills. Royce, did you manage to drum up any interest on
> > monday during the recent sequencing course?
>
> Jonathan,
>
> Which programming language(s) are you thinking about here?
> Or were you thinking in more general terms?
>
> Nick

In previous years we have run an event for teachers and provided
workshops and lectures which normally happened in July. While this has
not happening this year, there is no reason for us to consider having
a teachers workshop as an event for teachers.

Monday went well and I hope that some of the ICT teachers there will
consider joining. The workshop was on sequencing and I got a chance to
have a look at other applications used at primary school level before
they are introduced to scratch.

I can see how creating a programming workshop would develop skills not
only for programming but also other parts of the curriculum.

Royce

[Degerdon, AE]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: leeds-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:leeds-
> asc...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Nick Efford
> Sent: 24 June 2008 09:37
> To: leeds-...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [leeds-aschool] Re: Teaching the teachers
>
>
> jonathan wrote:
> > Can Leeds Uni put on some courses for Leeds' Teachers to improve
> their
> > programming skills as many, and i include myself in this, were
> > initially trained to teach other subjects and only have self-taught
> > programming skills. Royce, did you manage to drum up any interest on
> > monday during the recent sequencing course?
> >
>
> Jonathan,
>
> Which programming language(s) are you thinking about here?
> Or were you thinking in more general terms?

I think general terms would be good as I suspect that the different
centres will use different languages. If we are talking Computing then
I suspect it may depend on which board centres are doing. I notice that
the AQA spec has things like state-transition diagrams and Big-O
notation on it. I have no idea what either of these things are! They
also specify that students should know some simple graph traversal
algorithms. I think I have probably done this at some point but I will
have invented a solution rather than doing by the book so I would
probably end up teaching rubbish ;-)

Alternative strategy might be to switch exam boards. Which one are you
doing Jonathan?

Deg.

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[jonathan]

Hi all,
i was thinking of perhaps java or javascript (better for instant
results?), something to facilitate formal learning of the concepts of
programming. i don't suppose the language is that important though.
tony (or deg?),
we do AQA computing here and the emphasis for the controlled task
seems to be on programming in a native language as opposed to 'VBA'
solutions developed to run in access or excel.
Royce,

Did you mean to say...'While this has
not happening this year, there is no reason for us to NOT consider
having
a teachers workshop as an event for teachers.'

It doesn't have to anything high-brow or expensive

Thanks, jonathan

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[Nick Efford]

jonathan wrote:
> Hi all,
> i was thinking of perhaps java or javascript (better for instant
> results?), something to facilitate formal learning of the concepts of
> programming. i don't suppose the language is that important though.
> tony (or deg?),

Java has its merits, but is a horrible language for introducing
programming, to be perfectly honest!

I've heard of some approaches that use JavaScript, and you're
right that this would offer greater immediacy - but JavaScript
quickly becomes rather ugly and complex as soon as you try
to do anything interesting...

We've had great success teaching Python in recent years, both
to our own students and to sixth-formers visiting on subject
extension days. There are a number of books on Python
programming now appearing that are aimed at, or would also
suit, a pre-university audience - e.g.

http://www.manning.com/sande
http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfprog/

Once you get beyond toy environments like Scratch or Alice
and into the realms of 'serious' programming languages, there's
really nothing better around at the moment than Python for
introducing programming, in my opinion. Not only that, it
continues to be a highly useful and practical language long
after you've learned the basics. A growing number of large and
complex real-world software systems are implemented in Python,
YouTube being a prime example.

[jonathan]

Hi Nick,
yes, Python does sound good. I'll try and have a little play.
jonathan

[royce]

>
> Did you mean to say...'While this has
> not happening this year, there is no reason for us to NOT consider
> having
> a teachers workshop as an event for teachers.'
>
> It doesn't have to anything high-brow or expensive
>
> Thanks, jonathan

You are correct with the 'NOT'. If there is enough interest from ICT
and Computing teachers, I will discuss with our director of teaching
and learning regarding having an 'Event for Teachers' or a Workshop,
for example 'Understanding Programming Concepts ... through
<language>'.

I think what is needed is to have a poll and for those who are members
of this group to use your connections and see how many people will be
interested. If we get, say, 10 or more then I can start the ball
rolling and look at organising an event.

R.

[royce]

After further discussions within the school, I have been informed we
can run a programming workshop. For this event to take place we need
to understand exactly what is required and also ensure the following:
1. The programming language
2. A convenient date and time for teachers to attend (we are willing
to run it on a Saturday if necessary)
3. Length of the workshop
4. The workshop has approx 15-20 people attending
5. Content you would like to see included

If the teachers in this group could email me with some information
a) A list of dates and times that are best for running a workshop
convenient for you
b) How long you would like the workshop to be i.e. full day, half
day ...
c) A list of programming languages you would like us to consider
(please order your preferences)
d) A list of teachers you can contact or provide contact details
interesting in attending a programming workshop.
e) Possible content you would like to see included and where it fits
in the curriculum e.g. sequencing etc.

Please feel free to continue discussion regarding the programming
language and the content. The original workshop will probably be an
introduction to programming and we can see how different parts fit
into the curriculum,

All feedback is welcome.

R.

[Aylward, J]

java, python (better)?
full day, any time- october?
will get back to you on the teachers list bit.
content; defining variables, handling data, loops, what is a method/class? anything really!
jonathan

________________________________

From: leeds-...@googlegroups.com on behalf of royce
Sent: Wed 16/07/2008 09:55
To: Leeds ASchool
Subject: [leeds-aschool] Re: Teaching the teachers

[Benjamin Blundell]

Sounds like a good plan. with regards to programming languages, Im
thinking we should probably do:

C, Java and Python

I think an appreciation of the 3 major languages is probably a good
thing.

Ben

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[royce]

I think whatever is selected, we need to ensure what is part of the
workshop can be mapped back into the curriculum. For example: A very
basic python program which will look familiar to what is required for
teaching sequencing.

import turtle
turtle.demo()
turtle.reset()

turtle.forward(100)
turtle.left(90)
turtle.forward(100)
turtle.left(90)
turtle.forward(100)
turtle.left(90)
turtle.forward(100)

Of course now we are writing a program rather than using an interface,
therefore we can build up to do more complicated code depending on the
level of the pupils (and our own abilities).

Would be good to know what software applications and programming
libraries (if any) teachers are currently using to teach the
curriculum and what they are trying to achieve. This way we could
start looking at mapping what is done in the workshop to the
curriculum.

Royce

[jonathan]

software apps used to teach the curriculum include:
1. powerpoint 2007 (believe it or not the advanced timeline for the
animation allows students to achieve some neat looking log flume rides
with sequencing the main focus -theme park project)
2. Scratch to build animations and games
3. Flash action scripting (limited number of more able kids here)
4. vb express at A level
5. VBA at A level within access/excel
6. limited amout of logo in year 7 and for gcse theory

On a separate note i read an acticle in pc pro about changing the way
we teach ict and it turns out that simon is (one of the authors!). did
it come from this group?

kind regards
jonathan

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