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Showing posts from February, 2013

Primary School with Computing Problem

A member of the School of Science and Technology helped a local primary school look at ways they could add some programming into some of their ICT lessons. The Greenfoot software ( http://www.greenfoot.org/overview ) and tutorials ( http://www.greenfoot.org/doc ) were used to demonstrate some possible ways this could be done. This type of activity is similar various people are trying around the country to persuade children that programming is fun and not as hard as some people may tell them (see  Coding for kids is as easy as Pi   for another example) This Greenfoot work forms part of the on-going out-reach activities the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton is actively working in partnerships with schools. Other examples include: Junkbots Outreach during Science and Engineering Week 2012 Girls into Engineering  summary BeSwitched On - Taster Day for computing Dancing robots For more details on any of these please contact Dr Scott Turner

Dad's club

Taken from a blog written at Irchester Primary School  http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/dads-robot-lab/  about a robot activity. For more details about Lab_13 go to:  http://lab13network.wordpress.com/ Dad’s Robot Lab! Posted on   November 28, 2012   Hi! This is Morgan and Emily. Our Dads come to Dads Club in Lab_13. Last week, we had some visitors! They demonstrated how all of the robots worked. There were some amazing remote controlled robots and a Lego robot. The name of the person who worked with all of the extraordinary robots was Scott Turner. We were amazed by the robots. Thank you for coming.  The Lego robot could be controlled by the computer. The other robot could do handstands, roly-polys and cartwheels. Some were doing gymnastics, walking, bowing and dancing. The Lego robot just went all over the place! Emily’s stepdad, Robin, said “ It was fantastic – I want a robot for Christmas.” Unfortunately they are £800! And Kris, Kieran’s

teaching and learning in computing journal papers

Kariyawasam K., A., Turner S., Hill G. (2012)  "Is it Visual? The importance of a Problem Solving Module within a Computing course" , Computer Education, Volume 10, Issue 166, May 2012, pp. 5-7, ISSN: 1672-5913. Summary slides shown below Shanghai visual is_it View more PowerPoint from Scott Turner Hill G., Turner S. (2012) "Referencing within Code in Software Engineering Education!", Computer Education, Volume 10, Issue 166, May 2012, pp. 1-4, ISSN: 1672-5913. Abstract:  Traditionally computer sciences courses will assess software code. It is common and accepted good practice (as in written reports) to reference other sources of appropriate material. However there appears to be no explicit method, recommendation or advice to computer science tutors and students on a referencing approach. This paper aims to stimulate discussion from peers involved in software engineering education. By discussing the apparent lack of "referencing within code

What's is the problem with problem solving?

What is the problem with problem solving? on Prezi Recent presentation: Turner, S.  and  Al-Sherbaz, A.  (2012) What's the problem with problem-solving? Seminar Presentation presented to:  Insights into the future of learning and teaching at Northampton, University of Northampton, 3rd December 2012 .