tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14270643878642991922024-02-22T12:16:42.853+00:00Problem-solvingPractical problem-solving in Higher Education and outreach for computing and engineering subjectsScott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-39538997341000555152020-04-30T23:44:00.002+01:002020-04-30T23:44:27.325+01:0010 most view post on the problem-solving blog - April 2020<br />
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/building-artificial-neuron-in-scratch.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=w280 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=w560 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=w840 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=w1120 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEi8rYqgfp8mbTlDlKWsLZXuXuArGuyf_Y7gwU_i1NM3R5e-k6EhiDW4IXIf41ZdAGX6aqc_UZOZrg_HLibDkmZHLEbm79bHb90vQcpY6sKnbeTN2Ue_Pzd3Qo5KY1ulwoUcbdGxuVFE7ZAJO3VHTcyM=w1400 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/building-artificial-neuron-in-scratch.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Building an artificial neuron in Scratch</a></h3>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/build-yourself-crumble-eggbot-from-jink.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH" srcset="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH=w280 280w, https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH=w560 560w, https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH=w840 840w, https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH=w1120 1120w, https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH=w1400 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/build-yourself-crumble-eggbot-from-jink.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Build yourself a Crumble Eggbot from junk</a></h3>
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Full details at<a href="http://bit.ly/2yZ3dZT" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">http://bit.ly/2yZ3dZT</a><br /><br /><br />There was three inspirations for this project ·Eggbot -<a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Egg-Bot/?utm_content=buffer9b065&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Egg-Bot/?utm_content=buffer9b065&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer</a> ·Femi Owolade supported by Nic Hughes ran a session at Mozilla Festival 2016 using the Crumble’s to make a wheeled robot. ·The junkbot project<a href="https://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/</a> Kit ·Kinder Egg (without the Chocolate and toy) ·<a href="https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/products/crumble-microcontroller-for-stem-learning-using-croc-clips-and-visual-software" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Crumble </a> also available at <a href="https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/</a> ·<a href="http://amzn.to/2A0slgU" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">4x Crocodile clips and leads</a> ·<a href="http://amzn.to/2zhVA1w" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Battery pack</a> and 3xAA ·<a href="http://amzn.to/2xzRI7G" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Vibrating motor</a> ·Tape (lots of)</div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/free-computing-resource-junkbots-and.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/s400/scratch_junkbot1.PNG" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/w280/scratch_junkbot1.PNG 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/w560/scratch_junkbot1.PNG 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/w840/scratch_junkbot1.PNG 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/w1120/scratch_junkbot1.PNG 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/w1400/scratch_junkbot1.PNG 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/free-computing-resource-junkbots-and.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Free Computing Resource: Junkbots and Scratch 1</a></h3>
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The Junkbots project has been running for a number of years as an initiative to bring sustainability, computing and engineering together by building bots out of junk details of the project can be found at. <a href="https://junkbots.blogspot.com/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://junkbots.blogspot.com/</a>. Junkbot is an extension of the Research into teaching problem-solving going on at the University of Northampton </div>
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visit <a href="https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html</a> for more details.<br /><br /><br />One of the criticism of the robot programming part of the <a href="http://junkbots.blogspot.com/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">Junkbots project</a> is not everyone necessarily gets a go at the programming. To address this a new feature has been added to the project, using Scratch to play with the ideas. This is the first of a set exercises to play with these ideas. The cleaning robot shown is loosely based on the LEGO Mindstorms RCX.<br /><br />The commands all in the My Blocks section<br /><br /><br /><br />Exercise 1: Moving the Robot Cleaner around.:<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Now go to <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384342734" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384342734</a> and rewrite t…</div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/activity-writing-translation-program-in.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Activity: Writing a translation program in Scratch</a></h3>
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Scratch 3 the gift that keeps on giving; including the new extensions are Text to Speech and Translate; Text to speech - does as the name suggests, turns typed in phrases into speech via Amazon Web Services. Translate using Google (and I assume Google Translate?) to translate text between different languages.<br /><br /><br /><br />As an experiment, I wanted to play with clapping my hands, have Scratch the Cat ask me to enter a phrase and then convert that into French, German and Spanish with different voices. The resulting code is shown below.<br /><br /><br />It is all started by a loud noise like a hand clap. The two extensions have been added to the blocks and are ready to go. The voice is initially set to Alto and the text-speech block has had the phrase "Please enter a phrase" typed in and says this. The ask block has the same question permanently set and the answer produced gets feed into the translations.<br /><br />The remaining blocks do essentially the same thing<br />- change the voice;<br />- take the phrase typed in (via ans…</div>
<a class="snippet-fade r-snippet-fade" href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/activity-writing-translation-program-in.html" style="background: linear-gradient(to left, rgb(247, 247, 247) 0px, rgb(247, 247, 247) 20%, rgba(247, 247, 247, 0) 100%); bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #535353; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; top: calc(72px); width: 96px;"></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/unplugged-computing-resource-thomas.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/s400/Tangles01.PNG" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/w280/Tangles01.PNG 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/w560/Tangles01.PNG 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/w840/Tangles01.PNG 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/w1120/Tangles01.PNG 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/w1400/Tangles01.PNG 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/unplugged-computing-resource-thomas.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Activity: unplugged and plugged computing resource- Thomas' Tangles</a></h3>
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In the <a href="https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">9th Edition of the Hello World</a>, Thomas' Tangles has been published (pg 74-75 just follow the link to download the whole magazine for free <a href="https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9</a>), as part of an issue focussing on Computing and the Arts in schools. Hello World is a magazine for educators with an interest in computing and digital making, published by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.</div>
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<br /><br />This activity is aimed at showing that using an algorithm, we can start producing drawings without a computer but with dice, squared paper and pens. Originally, it was developed as an unplugged (without a computer) activity within a chapter (co-written with Katherine Childs) on Computing and Arts in the edited book<br /><a href="https://amzn.to/2xbZvKq" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Teaching Computing Unplugged in Primary Schools</a>. The name Thomas' Tangles came from my son who developed the activity with me.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />An interesting thing to do (well I enjoy it) is to turn the idea in a Scratch version, for example as in <a href="http://helloworld.cc/tangles" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">helloworld.cc/</a>tangles.<br /><br />You might need to play with t…</div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/problem-solving-or-computational.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/s320/Picture+125.jpg" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/w280/Picture+125.jpg 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/w560/Picture+125.jpg 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/w840/Picture+125.jpg 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/w1120/Picture+125.jpg 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSV4160wGIYenq8bVmgr2X3FeAVgv86G-ZQ0x0NIAEHEZ2seNB1m6_oMCZHNaurtf3fd0me2EDuRuNlWDXh9P4kcC8SfhglKQAuwf5zsOAHtoXobSvRqOhMIF6nYGZXYTlbX7xKtqqzTI/w1400/Picture+125.jpg 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/problem-solving-or-computational.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Problem-solving or computational Thinking</a></h3>
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Confession time, this has been a research interest for me, along with a number of colleagues, since around 2005. It started with undergraduate students - investigating teaching and developing problem solving skills as a first step in developing programming skills through the use of LEGO-based robots and graphics based programming for undergraduate students. The main vehicle then for developing the problem-solving skills was the LEGO RCX Mindstorms robotics kits and series of gradually more challenging robot-based tasks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Lawhead et al (2003) stated that robots “…provide entry level programming students with a physical model to visually demonstrate concepts” and “the most important benefit of using robots in teaching introductory courses is the focus provided on learning language independent, persistent truths about programming and programming techniques. Robots readily illustrate the idea of computation as interaction”. Synergies can be made with our work and those one on pre-object pro…</div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/pygame-apollo-lander.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/s320/Pygame.PNG" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/w280/Pygame.PNG 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/w560/Pygame.PNG 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/w840/Pygame.PNG 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/w1120/Pygame.PNG 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/w1400/Pygame.PNG 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/pygame-apollo-lander.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Pygame : Apollo Lander</a></h3>
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In July 2019, I produced, using Pygame Zero and Python, a (very) simple Apollo moonlander game - details on it can be found at <a href="https://bit.ly/moonlander_pygamezero" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://bit.ly/moonlander_pygamezero</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I wanted to test that I could do the same thing in PyGame (and Python) - literally can I do it.<br /><br />The lander<br /><br />has to touch a red rectangle on the surface; the mouse is used to move it in the correct direction. When the lander touches the red rectangle:a sound is playedthe lander resets for another run;the target moves to a new location.<br /><br />Two images were used<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br /><br />The lander image came from <a href="https://www.kissclipart.com/apollo-program-apollo-lunar-module-lander-moon-landing-wgwzny/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.kissclipart.com/apollo-program-apollo-lunar-module-lander-moon-landing-wgwzny/</a> shared by Xfanmy. This needed to be shrunk by about x10 to fit.Surface came from Vector Designed By from <a href="https://pngtree.com/freepng/lunar-surface_3068748.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">Pngtree.com</a><br />I am trying it out in Trinket (see below); so that there isn't a need to install Python or Pygame first.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />You can run it here if you just want to play.<br /><br /><br /><br />Have a go yourself and please feel free to comment and share what you did to change it. There…</div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/explosions-cats-webcams-and-scratch.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="Image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/s640/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png" srcset="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/w280/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png 280w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/w560/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png 560w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/w840/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png 840w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/w1120/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png 1120w, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6AqWGF6tL2FpBUqi4O01sUb0rFU-zxKC6YjCQD2BYh23Oivdk7wWWgQ6DSWVtTNKm5rxiRcZH3WTTclMWbqZxslkttQceixi9J6LKEa0HvYMQW0iQ0Lkr38gGIw0tld-k_1mEfR57w/w1400/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+12.28.31.png 1400w" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 232px;" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/explosions-cats-webcams-and-scratch.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">Explosions, cats, webcams and Scratch</a></h3>
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Still enjoying playing with Scratch and webcam. in this post, initially improving on the example shown in a previous post <a href="http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/11/webcam-and-scratch.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Webcam and Scratch</a>; enhancing the movement of Scratch the Cat by adding the interim step and facing in the direction of the 'moving finger' (see the code below).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #757575;" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> Please go to the code at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/263334488/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/263334488/</a> to try it yourself.<br /><br /><br />Going to add one more feature to experiment with getting objects to react to the motion. In this case to explode a button or change a button to a small ball by moving the finger onto the button. The motion on the sprite is used to do this.<br /><br /><br />Please try the code yourself at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/266837380/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/266837380/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon</div>
<a class="snippet-fade r-snippet-fade" href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2020/04/explosions-cats-webcams-and-scratch.html" style="background: linear-gradient(to left, rgb(247, 247, 247) 0px, rgb(247, 247, 247) 20%, rgba(247, 247, 247, 0) 100%); bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #535353; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; top: calc(72px); width: 96px;"></a></div>
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</article><article class="post" role="article" style="margin: 30px 0px; padding-top: 1em; position: relative;"><h3 class="post-title" style="font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 500; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">
<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2013/07/world-of-codecraft-3-d-game-teaches.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">World of Codecraft: 3-D Game Teaches Kids 'Big Ideas' of Programming | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com</a></h3>
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<a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/07/programming-game-engagement/" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">World of Codecraft: 3-D Game Teaches Kids 'Big Ideas' of Programming | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com</a>:<br />BY KLINT FINLEY 07.19.136:30 AM<br /><br /><br />ENGAGE, a 3-D game that teaches programming concepts to kids.<br />Videogames are a waste of time. Well, not always. Sometimes they can teach you stuff, like honest-to-goodness computer programming skills.<br /><br />The trick is to make these educational games as interesting and enjoyable as the shoot-em-up variety, and that’s not always easy. But researchers at North Carolina State University want to help. Dr. Kristy Boyer and Fernando Rodríguez are studying the way youngsters respond to a 3-D game that teaches programming, hoping to discover the secrets of building games that are not only educational but enjoyable"<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">'via Blog this'</a></div>
<a class="snippet-fade r-snippet-fade" href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2013/07/world-of-codecraft-3-d-game-teaches.html" style="background: linear-gradient(to left, rgb(247, 247, 247) 0px, rgb(247, 247, 247) 20%, rgba(247, 247, 247, 0) 100%); bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #535353; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; top: calc(72px); width: 96px;"></a></div>
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</article><article class="post" role="article" style="margin: 30px 0px; padding-top: 1em; position: relative;"><h3 class="post-title" style="font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 500; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px;">
<a href="http://problemsolvingpractical.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-science-of-problem-solving.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 24px; text-decoration-line: none;">The Science of Problem Solving</a></h3>
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<a href="http://rs.io/2014/02/21/problem-solving.html" style="background: transparent; color: #729c0b; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">The Science of Problem Solving</a>:<br /><br /></div>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-78755359455914740172020-04-18T11:56:00.000+01:002020-04-18T12:56:13.458+01:00Problem-solving or computational Thinking<div style="margin: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Confession time, this has been a research interest for me, along with a number of colleagues, since around 2005. It started with undergraduate students - investigating teaching and developing problem solving skills as a first step in developing programming skills through the use of LEGO-based robots and graphics based programming for undergraduate students. The main vehicle then for developing the problem-solving skills was the LEGO RCX Mindstorms robotics kits and series of gradually more challenging robot-based tasks.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8N-CodjeRU4mvBb4Q0p6609dIJ51UMlxiHZUrwI81pqc2TMbjZnPKhxWUV7o-MpG_4qO-MDwAkIZ6fp4NmcRaOJ1nPHNRwBAWZVLnlr1rqpYAd_w6NKp0sOUfuRfgn2pKch02I2FTnI/s1600/IMG_0346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8N-CodjeRU4mvBb4Q0p6609dIJ51UMlxiHZUrwI81pqc2TMbjZnPKhxWUV7o-MpG_4qO-MDwAkIZ6fp4NmcRaOJ1nPHNRwBAWZVLnlr1rqpYAd_w6NKp0sOUfuRfgn2pKch02I2FTnI/s320/IMG_0346.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Lawhead et al (2003) stated that robots “…provide entry level programming students with a physical model to visually demonstrate concepts” and “the most important benefit of using robots in teaching introductory courses is the focus provided on learning language independent, persistent truths about programming and programming techniques. Robots readily illustrate the idea of computation as interaction”. Synergies can be made with our work and those one on pre-object programming and simulation of robots for teaching programming as a visual approach to the teaching of the widely used programming language Java.<br /><br />The main benefits that the students stated of this approach was they believe robots provide a method to visually and physically see the outcome of a problem. The approach taken the module has been visually-orientated. The appropriateness of this seems to be borne out by the student comments. Student satisfaction for a module based around this approach is over 92%. One of the comments made was that the linking of the problem-solving robot task and the programming assignment was liked. This feedback is similar to that reported by other authors when teaching programming using robots (Williams et al, 2003). There is enough scope in this approach to have different levels of complexity/functionality within an assignment task offering a basic ‘pass’ level for a particular task, but also the scope for those students that desire more of a challenge.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Now</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One of the problems is resources, as class sizes grew (having more students is great) the robots became a more scarce resource. Having 120-200 students have sufficient access to robots for their assignment became difficult. The movement has been to more graphical approaches around Greenfoot to replicate some of the features of the robots (Hill and Turner, 2014). Where the robots though are coming into there own is in school outreach. As an example, the problem-solving activities lead to the development of the Junkbots (<a href="https://junkbots.blogspot.com/">https://junkbots.blogspot.com/</a>) project using sustainability, engineering and computing to turn 'junk' into bots.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">A bit of an aside but recently, there has been growing interest in what parts of the brain are involved in programming. In a 2014 paper, Siegmund et al (2014) found five regions (including language) involved in the comprehension of a program. Alongside this, Prat et, (2020) using EEG, found evidence to suggest language aptitude may account for a significant proportion of variances in people's ability to learn to program. Will these insights lead to a change in how programming is taught.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">Reference</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lawhead PB, Bland CG, Barnes DJ, Duncan ME, Goldweber M, Hollingsworth RG,<br />Schep M (2003), A Road Map for Teaching Introductory Programming Using<br />LEGO Mindstorms Robots <i>SIGCSE Bulletin</i>, 35(2): 191-201.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Prat, C.S., Madhyastha, T.M., Mottarella, M.J. </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">et al.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> Relating Natural Language Aptitude to Individual Differences in Learning Programming Languages. </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Sci Rep</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-weight: bolder;">10, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">3817 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60661-8</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Siegmund, J., Kästner, C., ... Brechmann, A., 2014. Understanding understanding source code with functional magnetic resonance imaging, in: Proceedings - International Conference on Software Engineering. IEEE Computer Society, pp. 378–389. doi:10.1145/2568225.2568252</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="auto-style26" style="font-stretch: normal;">Turner, S. J. (2014) Problems First, Second and Third. International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education (IJQAETE). 3(3), pp. 88-109. ISSN: 2155-496 </span><span class="style3" style="font-stretch: normal;"><a class="auto-style1" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijqaete.2014070104" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">DOI: 10.4018/ijqaete.2014070104</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Williams AB (2003) <i>The Qualitative Impact of Using LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot</i><br /><i>to Teach Computer Engineering </i>IEEE Trans. Educ<i>. </i>Vol. 46 pp 206.</span><span class="auto-style26" style="font-stretch: normal;">Hill, G. and </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />Publications</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="auto-style26" style="font-stretch: normal;">Hill, G. and Turner, S. J. (2014) Problems First, Second and Third. International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education (IJQAETE). 3(3), pp. 88-109. ISSN: 2155-496 </span><span class="style3" style="font-stretch: normal;"><a class="auto-style1" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijqaete.2014070104" style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;">DOI: 10.4018/ijqaete.2014070104</a></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Turner S (2014) "Greenfoot in Problem solving and Artificial Intelligence" CEISEE 2014 University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu China 24-25 April 2014. 2013</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><div class="auto-style26" style="font-stretch: normal;">
Turner S (2011) Neural Nets Robotics Workshop. Bot Shop! University of Derby, 28th October 2011.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hill G, Turner S (2011) Chapter 7 Problems First Software Industry-Oriented Education Practices and Curriculum Development: Experiences and Lessons edited by Drs. Matthew Hussey, Xiaofei Xu and Bing Wu. ISBN: 978-1609607975 IGI Global June 2011 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-797-5.ch007</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Turner S and Hill G (2010) "Innovative use of Robots and Graphical Programming in Software Education" Computer Education Ser. 117 No. 9 pp 54-57 ISSN: 1672-5913</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Turner S, Hill G, Adams J (2009) "Robots in problem solving in programming" 9th 1-day Teaching of Programming Workshop, University of Bath, 6th April 2009. </span></li>
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<li>Turner S and Hill G(2008) "Robots within the Teaching of Problem-Solving" ITALICS vol. 7 No. 1 June 2008 pp 108-119 ISSN 1473-7507 </li>
<li>Turner S and Adams J (2008) "Robots and Problem Solving" 9th Higher Education Academy-ICS Annual Conference, Liverpool Hope University, 26th August - 28th August 2008. pp. 14 ISBN 978-0-9559676-0-3. </li>
<li>Adams, J. and Turner, S., (2008) Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Computing and Engineering students: the use of robots as a development tool Creating Contemporary Student Learning Environments 2008, Northampton, UK. </li>
<li>Adams, J. and Turner, S., (2008) Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Engineers: process or product? International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education 2008, Loughborough, UK. </li>
<li>Adams, J., Turner, S., Kaczmarczyk, S., Picton, P. and Demian, P.,(2008). Problem Solving and Creativity for Undergraduate Engineers: findings of an action research project involving robots International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2008, Budapest, Hungary. </li>
<li>Turner S and Hill G(2007) Robots in Problem-Solving and Programming 8th Annual Conference of the Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, 28th - 30th August 2007, pp 82-85 ISBN 0-978-0-9552005-7-1 </li>
<li>Turner S (2007) Developing problem-solving teaching material based upon Microsoft Robotics Studio. 8th Annual Conference of the Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, 28th - 30th August 2007 pp 151 ISBN 0-978-0-9552005-7-1 </li>
<li>Turner S (2007) Developing problem-solving teaching materials based upon Microsoft Robotics Studio. Innovative Teaching Development Fund Dissemination Day 1st March 2007 Microsoft:London </li>
<li>Turner S and Hill G (2006) The Inclusion Of Robots Within The Teaching Of Problemsolving: Preliminary Results Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference of the ICS HE Academy Trinity College, Dublin, 29th - 31st August 2006 Proceedings pg 241-242 ISBN 0-9552005-3-9 </li>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-86671873144152035572020-04-10T15:52:00.003+01:002020-04-10T21:12:27.475+01:00Free Computing Resource: Junkbots and Scratch 1<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Junkbots project has been running for a number of years as an initiative to bring sustainability, computing and engineering together by building bots out of junk details of the project can be found at. <a href="https://junkbots.blogspot.com/">https://junkbots.blogspot.com/</a>. Junkbot is an extension of the Research into teaching problem-solving going on at the University of Northampton please feel to visit <a href="https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html">https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html</a> for more details.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the criticism of the robot programming part of the <a href="http://junkbots.blogspot.com/">Junkbots project</a> is not everyone necessarily gets a go at the programming. To address this a new feature has been added to the project, using Scratch to play with the ideas. This is the first of a set exercises to play with these ideas. The cleaning robot shown is loosely based on the LEGO Mindstorms RCX.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">The commands all in the My Blocks section</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/s1600/scratch_junkbot1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="139" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfSGkxiQ6zeKKATqqAF5tJtj7mVkACt5ZIUIzRsvjLWNLz_1oG9FNqPeKr0Sx8GxMoixX2AcoaroYbGWpPpMt-4TJNGqUgn-1rc_x8zT_7PApthoYXSMOWOHJpAXzcegSbCnwEJJXTg/s400/scratch_junkbot1.PNG" width="202" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Exercise 1: Moving the Robot Cleaner around.:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" scrolling="no" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384342734/embed" width="485"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now go to <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384342734">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384342734</a> and rewrite the code so the robot moves in a square.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Exercise 2 </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Now go to <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384347284">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384347284</a> run the code (or try it below) and see what it does. Now alter the code in the RCX sprite to get the robot to push the purple drinks can across the line.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" scrolling="no" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/384347284/embed" width="485"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Please share and post comments on either the comments blog or on the scratch projects. It would be great to see how you do with this.</span>
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<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon</span>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-52467673429298356072020-04-08T22:24:00.001+01:002020-04-13T13:07:15.367+01:00Pygame : Apollo Lander<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In July 2019, I produced, using Pygame Zero and Python, a </span>(very) simple Apollo moonlander game - details on it can be found at <a href="https://bit.ly/moonlander_pygamezero">https://bit.ly/moonlander_pygamezero</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/s1600/Pygame.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="491" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6Q4D0tVXAy3LV6qKFF-fSENj3SHXHVedIA9NUy20iyFA-e3_No6UTMuATovpYbMPmDyzfJeiw3xEn9MrmRhdvHLe7t-Ud60rKooQnO6Rw3imBCF5skuK7ZdjYeljA7312p8et8hKPr0/s320/Pygame.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I wanted to test that I could do the same thing in PyGame (and Python) - literally can I do it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The lander</span></span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">has to touch a red rectangle on the surface; </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the mouse is used to move it in the correct direction. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When the lander touches the red rectangle:</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">a sound is played</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the lander resets for another run;</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the target moves to a new location.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Two images were used</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span></span><br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The lander image came from <a href="https://www.kissclipart.com/apollo-program-apollo-lunar-module-lander-moon-landing-wgwzny/" style="color: #7c93a1; text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.kissclipart.com/apollo-program-apollo-lunar-module-lander-moon-landing-wgwzny/</a> shared by <span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #666666; text-align: right;">Xfanmy. </span><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; text-align: right;">This n</span>eeded to be shrunk by about x10 to fit.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Surface came from Vector Designed By from <a href="https://pngtree.com/freepng/lunar-surface_3068748.html" style="color: #7c93a1; text-decoration-line: none;">Pngtree.com</a></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I am trying it out in Trinket (see below); so that there isn't a need to install Python or Pygame first.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="600" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://trinket.io/embed/pygame/eefd380322" width="100%"></iframe><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can run it here if you just want to play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="600" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="https://trinket.io/embed/pygame/eefd380322?outputOnly=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Have a go yourself and please feel free to comment and share what you did to change it. There are lots of improvements that could be made; please share them. Some ideas to extend it</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">What do you do if it misses the target?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Could a booster be added that changes the image to include a flame?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1484245326&asins=1484245326&linkId=503cab4e71c8812a6be61d0d7fd8dd83&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1484217896&asins=1484217896&linkId=f8017e7142d5ae85e55f6cb0dfaaf36f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon
Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-57212664245258717102020-04-08T17:49:00.002+01:002020-04-08T17:49:35.311+01:00Activity: Writing a translation program in Scratch<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Scratch 3 the gift that keeps on giving; including the new extensions are Text to Speech and Translate; Text to speech - does as the name suggests, turns typed in phrases into speech via Amazon Web Services. Translate using Google (and I assume Google Translate?) to translate text between different languages.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMepVI58b4M77k_kkutFdB2F2P-1mmW1q45pq4yU42zs5JLUyJz6m_k0OH3eJVKc_bJ1a-jAj69efGHd319pSAbZX8LFlrRWbV988Qi4Lsaa8vJb70rRCaJqTQC8rIX9I8pAvDFkQ2384/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-25+at+19.49.45.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1600" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMepVI58b4M77k_kkutFdB2F2P-1mmW1q45pq4yU42zs5JLUyJz6m_k0OH3eJVKc_bJ1a-jAj69efGHd319pSAbZX8LFlrRWbV988Qi4Lsaa8vJb70rRCaJqTQC8rIX9I8pAvDFkQ2384/s400/Screenshot+2019-01-25+at+19.49.45.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As an experiment, I wanted to play with clapping my hands, have Scratch the Cat ask me to enter a phrase and then convert that into French, German and Spanish with different voices. The resulting code is shown below.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuOlBDIt35bfcdO-dyS9w0kfr9ouHSlRGtz0bJqGIp_ulOWPl5XX-mstG8zdEgtIPuKryem3cMonthyVrPgi20Rfh3e1QhiolxBXZUMDq52TtKCX5MCV6jJ5iKPgo8P-LDOWcLvOad8o/s1600/Screenshot+2019-01-25+at+20.01.49.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="298" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuOlBDIt35bfcdO-dyS9w0kfr9ouHSlRGtz0bJqGIp_ulOWPl5XX-mstG8zdEgtIPuKryem3cMonthyVrPgi20Rfh3e1QhiolxBXZUMDq52TtKCX5MCV6jJ5iKPgo8P-LDOWcLvOad8o/s640/Screenshot+2019-01-25+at+20.01.49.png" width="476" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is all started by a loud noise like a hand clap. The two extensions have been added to the blocks and are ready to go. The voice is initially set to Alto and the text-speech block has had the phrase "Please enter a phrase" typed in and says this. The ask block has the same question permanently set and the answer produced gets feed into the translations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The remaining blocks do essentially the same thing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- change the voice;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- take the phrase typed in (via answer) and convert to the language of choice;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">- wait a second.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is great fun, I am not sure all the languages work but what is there is cool to play with. In an ideal world instead of typing the phrase it would be great to just say the phrase...maybe in the future. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The code is available at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/282312832/">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/282312832/</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Please feel free to add comments below and share how you have used it.</span><br />
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All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruonScott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-42463260371065486352020-04-08T14:43:00.000+01:002020-04-09T12:09:58.027+01:00Activity: unplugged and plugged computing resource- Thomas' Tangles<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the <a href="https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9" target="_blank">9th Edition of the Hello World</a>, Thomas' Tangles has been published (pg 74-75 just follow the link to download the whole magazine for free </span><a href="https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9">https://helloworld.raspberrypi.org/issues/9</a><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">), as part of an issue focussing on Computing and the Arts in schools. Hello World is a magazine for educators with an interest in computing and digital making, published by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This activity is aimed at showing that using an algorithm, we can start producing drawings without a computer but with dice, squared paper and pens. Originally, it was developed as an unplugged (without a computer) activity within a chapter (co-written with Katherine Childs) on Computing and Arts</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> in the edited book</span><br />
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<span class="a-size-large" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3 !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://amzn.to/2xbZvKq" target="_blank">Teaching Computing Unplugged in Primary Schools</a>. The name Thomas' Tangles came from my son who developed the activity with me.</span></span></h1>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/s1600/Tangles01.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpenQvXrShChFD6UGZ3OfUbPmQn4K3yt7Gqq-QKP68TKeDgdVBh1rVNK4__GhaGsYJCQr17y99pvae0QKPu0RCih1nYgIO7y82o0Ih1YqVtLrI2pDhUXFoTAUH3bnQb-lJDveab9IFpqk/s400/Tangles01.PNG" width="327" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">An interesting thing to do </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(well I enjoy it)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> is to turn the idea in a Scratch version, for example as in </span><a href="http://helloworld.cc/tangles" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">helloworld.cc/</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">tangles. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You might need to play with the algorithm a bit such as allowing blocks to draw over blocks and size of the moves might change. I tried this idea with a group of Code Clubbers; they started off unsure if they could do it but all produced something and interestingly each with their own take on it. Below is my attempt it, press the green flag to see it go.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" scrolling="no" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/135816631/embed" width="485"></iframe> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The whole magazine <a href="https://magazines-static.raspberrypi.org/issues/full_pdfs/000/000/084/original/HW__9_Digitaledition.pdf?1560282700" target="_blank">https://magazines-static.raspberrypi.org/issues/full_pdfs/000/000/084/original/HW__9_Digitaledition.pdf?1560282700 </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Please feel to share and add comments on how you use this.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The work is an extension of the Research into teaching problem-solving ing going on at the University of Northampton please feel to visit <a href="https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html">https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.com/2019/01/problem-solving-research-outputs-and.html</a> for more details.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=147396170X&asins=147396170X&linkId=354687bf3a03e74da8812362489188e2&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B00G2C7A62&asins=B00G2C7A62&linkId=65910a6eea95e13432b6e9d41e196fe6&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B07FMDHYCK&asins=B07FMDHYCK&linkId=3289a318850528c755909a7fbbbce057&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><br />
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All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruonScott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-76444177472861826612020-04-08T14:33:00.002+01:002020-04-10T13:07:01.009+01:00Build yourself a Crumble Eggbot from junk<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Full details at</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://bit.ly/2yZ3dZT" style="text-decoration-line: none;">http://bit.ly/2yZ3dZT</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 16pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There was three inspirations for this project</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eggbot -</span><a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Egg-Bot/?utm_content=buffer9b065&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.instructables.com/id/Plastic-Egg-Bot/?utm_content=buffer9b065&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Femi Owolade supported by Nic Hughes ran a session at Mozilla Festival 2016 using the Crumble’s to make a wheeled robot.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The junkbot project</span><a href="https://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kit</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kinder Egg (without the Chocolate and toy)</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><a href="https://shop.4tronix.co.uk/products/crumble-microcontroller-for-stem-learning-using-croc-clips-and-visual-software" target="_blank"><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Crumble </span></a> also available at <a href="https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/" style="text-indent: -18pt;">https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble/</a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2A0slgU" target="_blank">4x Crocodile clips and leads</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2zhVA1w" target="_blank">Battery pack</a> and 3xAA</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2xzRI7G" target="_blank">Vibrating motor</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tape (lots of)</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Sticky-tack of some form.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pens</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paper</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Scissors</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Glue and Gluegun (optional)</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 1: Fix the vibrating motor into the Egg.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stick (sticky-tack is a good temporary method) the vibrating motor into the Egg with the motor electrical connections sticking out the bottom larger half of the egg. Make sure the unbalanced load is free to move – this is bit that causes the vibrations needed to move the egg.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0578.JPG" height="494" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BCoKmuC9PKwsBAzpNcLLLootVmfkHE-BaHXAKLDeN6RvKj7G4yZh2-5x9CpXZ68OaIeJg3RnHAdI14DsZTeIFGGhhYxx0LpEvwKCJ4MHOv64U7zPYzhDel9T1Fz8-XfJi3aIjBH" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="371" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 2: Sticking the pens on.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the trickiest bit. Tape the pens on the egg. One suggestion that someone who tried it out suggested, was to use little bits of sticky-tack to position the pens on the egg before tapping the pens onto the egg.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0579.JPG" height="448" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/QN4zjJ_AKZLY85weYDeuTYeodi1pPyUzZ31QXWZPQZWJYioVjjzVhWLd3Tm8l80huZF9ggZy7VdDMYNYnwRdrPwnxWE8tYw-n8kpsXDwsTtn-aSvi8GNxMga506Ah3XVRgEAvAn4" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="336" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are using three pens, the third pen should be placed so that all three form a triangle with equal sides, that means the egg can stand-up on a piece of paper on the pen nibs, without anything supporting it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you are using four pens, the other two pens should be placed so that all four form a square with equal sides, that means the egg can stand-up on a piece of paper on the pen nibs, without anything supporting it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 3: Add the battery pack and go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Using two wires connecting the battery, to the motors. Remove the nibs and set the bot off. It is hopefully vibrating and shaking and scribbling lines on the paper.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0580.JPG" height="303" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/5hQHUTyczKZmwZT8p9dqh3bSDQB16EJ5Tq4m6_nzh7t-EECVjjhqV0gtmWf7fhQEdpAcEtMEwhyLbg2b79LzxJQwV2nv4Ci3Rgt0_Sk7uuRB4tek6bpwcUKyA_SoXjVwyMBZuZPr" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="227" /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0582.JPG" height="302" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/xInmLdC75U6gUodNNKAVf_xcyQern0kxKEN5cJaxpqyFwULfWpEsdGhx3Tgvp5FTCfOUyweMG8YixZ6LkFHfLqrqdsLR2icCW3d4-QmFGsRcWEJplYwlkyTKkfW7BGC6nXp0e-Ee" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="226" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To see one in action go to: </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRlntdmdQRo" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRlntdmdQRo</span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 4: Crumble Controlling</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disconnect the battery connection (the connections on the motor can stay as they are) from the junkbot. Connect the USB cable to the Crumble. To the right of the USB connect there are two connections marked + and -. Connect one wire to the + connection and the other end to the red wire of the battery pack. Connect a one wire to the – connection and the other end to the black wire of the battery pack.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0583.JPG" height="322" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lCtCJZR-eRJhoz_KjIkwgbf7GmJoLYa09SeQKtKk8Trq7HKxM_Ims2FJ6-VTpxl4663EAjdlNpy2Wy5OejklW2ZKpAtib8PaAsNudnTnETVhKaadn6j3hzzuMueKHQgqkBMkHoDG" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="242" /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0584.JPG" height="509" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/olE5JDasDB7mUJJr-HOPqIuuGyW6IAJnW3tkFgDbB7tzwgLvd1nX2OmzIKjIM6hSnEHaJHFBr02JS6HW6kBVxnVFRiVUZ8x-pvptCAKJB-MyHNyHo5UOmWBDADdpRXmSecIvzSir" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="381" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 5: Connect the Egg!</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the Crumble, on the right-side there are two motor connections connect the Motor to these connections. Don’t worry about which of the motors wires is need you swap them around later.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="IMG_0585.JPG" height="447" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/xW3xS4I66zOo5HsIxDC7J_Dzi8pMO54JLTcfE105a3Ts2u1PQHF0VGs2yXt6MpBmIZGG9lfJlp7H_9xc7iVV69e-aXSB1ALvEag60j3nrTyhHO8KpUV8GbtGEamjLlNXPC_133Gx" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="334" /></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ycUW57oIVRjm8GdwTFv4t0vf_riCC9S0kvMU5Y1NOdYAC8VI_4XqJ5LLf5DHX5hmLZULXRpnG08HNZ2rDuCBqYeoVHtfIPRVqddyRYW7-AmXR_RK3m_7C_wmGv-Iql7W319xR5BV" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2017-10-23 at 16.23.51.png" border="0" height="224" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ycUW57oIVRjm8GdwTFv4t0vf_riCC9S0kvMU5Y1NOdYAC8VI_4XqJ5LLf5DHX5hmLZULXRpnG08HNZ2rDuCBqYeoVHtfIPRVqddyRYW7-AmXR_RK3m_7C_wmGv-Iql7W319xR5BV" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="278" /></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 6: Programming it – Making the bot moves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The software can be found at</span><a href="https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-software/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://redfernelectronics.co.uk/crumble-software/</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> it includes how to set it up on your own machine.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Start the Crumble software. Drag from the left the Program start, motor, and wait blocks. Now join the up start block at the top and the motor block next and the wait block last.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your code should look like this.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2017-10-23 at 16.23.43.png" height="191" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/I8-Xughkwcz2rEEaPRUlxNUAPIgG4Ok7B9ZFIv86r6A3LOWgTDbsft-KG9uB7jp5wrrP9HDy1w4T2sBMS7M0TpoPIq550DWMaWM4di-_IgwKaB9JDJLJQ4d7XHl4p9blqhYfOhmf" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="364" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click on the </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stop</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> within the motor block. It should change to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">forward</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Now you are ready to make it move. Press the green arrow and with the battery pack on, it should (hopefully) keep moving.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2017-10-23 at 16.24.12.png" height="264" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xy866Kxy0aEfkOJR5hyiq7-CREIa5zmYe5MZ2LQ06syuP3kgm1518RC2-pwlFuv00LLV0dAf-0ANZrojIslCKwM9NavpNIEFhJrhLEA4wcLkXmJ0vPgvrWZ4SVPiLHSxok7aLpRP" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="503" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you put a second motor block after the wait block with the stop in the block. It such then stop after 1 second of moving.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stage 7: Making it do more.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drag a do-until block in (found in the control menu).</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to variable menu and add a new variable, I have used t, select the block marked let=, and drag a </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">t</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> into the blank space.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Drag an increase block onto the screen and drag a t into the blank space.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2017-10-23 at 16.27.45.png" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/b1i0k_PeCZntAbzwbPJzHQp0a0b_OEG3l6lda_JPf7Kmb-DJHZqXCzcjnrkK6MpDc9blGo2aiwaDnPai-uUyZT0pTDXH98aJftWLLXONZtIXP4gqizJmdghqk6VJnMm1-UJgwljw" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="602" /></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Go to the operator menu and drag onto the screen an = block, go back to variables menu and drag a t into the first space on the = block and click on the second space on the block and type in 5.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img alt="Screen Shot 2017-10-23 at 16.29.02.png" height="465" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/4-HCfMDMq3moYpXTi4EHfmx9BXBGM0sqB5UUMJZ59QKpav0b6rjatheg7v4q9kR85ImbfDrtBtn6JPW-ClynfQsfi8ZsH-ZXhoCoKait7EICY-n2jMYMBsQ1e3cZDAVto0qwjihr" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="602" /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now for the challenge put all these together to copy what is shown below. Now, but the egg-bot on the paper, with the pen lids off, press the green triangle and the motors should be spun in different directions.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a junkbot so it may just cause the bot to move a slightly different directions but hopefully it should just draw some squiggly lines.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">© Scott Turner</span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; font-family: "source sans pro"; font-size: 14.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Attribution-ShareAlike </span></div>
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<span style="color: #464646; font-family: "source sans pro"; font-size: 14.5pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CC BY-SA</span></div>
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All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruonScott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-11848480887375771562020-04-08T14:30:00.000+01:002020-04-08T14:30:07.635+01:00Explosions, cats, webcams and Scratch<span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Still enjoying playing with Scratch and webcam. in this post,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> initially improving on the example shown in a previous post </span><a href="http://robotsandphysicalcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/11/webcam-and-scratch.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Webcam and Scratch</a>;<span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> enhancing the movement of Scratch the Cat by adding the interim step and facing in the direction of the 'moving finger' (see the code below).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXuKBdDaqWEulcv-2VQWTTFdfzYLGR1Khcj1ashbZAV79_w0QnH0SHNaG513nAYcsLYMFpfKjd83uBXoxe0Ekvdzm3TRqyyxZzBihqvF8G4rY9hE27IBNAlY6kxIDCsgHYdR7lZ8tv64/s1600/Screenshot+2018-11-19+at+18.17.46.png" imageanchor="1" style="background: transparent; color: #2196f3; display: inline-block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="432" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXuKBdDaqWEulcv-2VQWTTFdfzYLGR1Khcj1ashbZAV79_w0QnH0SHNaG513nAYcsLYMFpfKjd83uBXoxe0Ekvdzm3TRqyyxZzBihqvF8G4rY9hE27IBNAlY6kxIDCsgHYdR7lZ8tv64/s400/Screenshot+2018-11-19+at+18.17.46.png" style="border: 0px; height: inherit; max-width: 100%;" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> Please go to the code at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/263334488/">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/263334488/</a> to try it yourself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Going to add one more feature to experiment with getting objects to react to the motion. In this case to explode a button or change a button to a small ball by moving the finger onto the button. The motion on the sprite is used to do this.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiI7jMPGQrAbV46UHM4_E5UcdGsqC77M9X4bB_w7SVdRSLOkyVjNTxTnP5o1l4_wTVLY9mypRQNjoHNURZdl83WL7APnWw_OoIV4SOtq5EOUmo-sZXXcYwxUo1zIzc2jhdpue8wx0U_co/s1600/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+13.43.02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="202" data-original-width="269" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiI7jMPGQrAbV46UHM4_E5UcdGsqC77M9X4bB_w7SVdRSLOkyVjNTxTnP5o1l4_wTVLY9mypRQNjoHNURZdl83WL7APnWw_OoIV4SOtq5EOUmo-sZXXcYwxUo1zIzc2jhdpue8wx0U_co/s400/Screenshot+2018-12-01+at+13.43.02.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Please try the code yourself at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/266837380/">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/266837380/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IEUBKFy-39s" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1593276710&asins=1593276710&linkId=0ce5921e71da361dff8296fd5341848e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=junkbots-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1465444823&asins=1465444823&linkId=94c2f374d78c9df35ec34e667872c4ef&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon</span>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-37678254630548982942020-04-08T14:27:00.003+01:002020-04-08T14:27:31.269+01:00Building an artificial neuron in Scratch<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>1. Single Neurone</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/embed/131892234/?autostart=false" width="485"></iframe></span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="" style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Instructions:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Set the inputs by pressing the buttons marked input 1 and input 2 (Red is off(False or 0) and Green is on(True or 1))</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Change the weights by changing weights 1 to 3, wx goes with input x and weight 3 is the bias.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To activate the neuron you need to click on the the yellow ball ('the neuron').</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The video below show it in action and explains the code.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u8nYuW0dhEk" width="640"></iframe></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To see the code go to <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/131892234/">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/131892234/</a> .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A slight modification click on the bell to change the weights<br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/embed/171190294/?autostart=false" width="485"></iframe><br />The code is available at <a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/171190294/">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/171190294/</a></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2. Training a Neurone</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this part, the training of a neuron all written in Scratch is tackled. The video shows it action and you can have a go at using the software yourself at the end of the post. The Scratch code can be found at </span><a href="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/132915502/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/132915502/</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZYBWVlPe2yU" width="640"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="402" src="https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/embed/132915502/?autostart=false" width="485"></iframe></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with. Twitter @scottturneruon</span>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-86882118597585895792015-08-10T20:53:00.001+01:002015-08-10T20:53:56.785+01:00The Cynefin Framework - Problem-Solving Skills From MindTools.com<a href="http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/cynefin-framework.htm?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mtpage">The Cynefin Framework - Problem-Solving Skills From MindTools.com</a>: <br /><br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a><br />
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All opinions in this blog are the Author's and should not in any way be seen as reflecting the views of any organisation the Author has any association with.Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-66285779017840383072014-08-21T22:18:00.000+01:002014-08-21T22:18:27.399+01:00C Programming material<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Another new Open Education Resource (OER) has been made available by the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton.</span><br />
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C Programming</h1>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Click here for the resource: <a href="http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192">http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Author: <span itemprop="author">Dr Scott Turner</span><br />Created: <span data-role="created-date">11 August 2014, </span>by <span data-role="contributor" itemprop="publisher">School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In this material you will be introduced to some of the principles of programming, and specifically learn to write fairly simple programs using a programming language called C. An idea central to this material is that programming is about problem solving; you write a program to solve a particular problem. It is hoped that at the end of the material you should see that there is nothing magical or mysterious about programming. One of the features some people like about programming is you are making the computer do what you want. During the programming exercises, do not worry about making mistakes. In this material you will be expected to try out programs and eventually write your own. The target audience is anyone who wants to learn a programming language or is looking for some assessment questions around programming. The material was originally aimed at second year engineering students at the University of Northampton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Published: <span data-role="published-date">11 August 2014, by <span data-role="contributor"><span itemprop="author">School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keywords: <span class="first-tags"><span itemprop="about">C Programming; Programming; Problem solving; Computer science; Computing</span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Licence: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license" style="color: #0088cc; text-decoration: none;">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: normal;">Click here for the resource: </span><a href="http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: normal;">http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192</a></div>
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views are the authors, and may not reflect the views of any organisation the author is connected with in any way.Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-27185361961632175372014-06-21T08:26:00.001+01:002014-06-21T08:28:06.037+01:00The Science of Problem Solving<a href="http://rs.io/2014/02/21/problem-solving.html">The Science of Problem Solving</a>: <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Summary: A review of the state of our knowledge regarding problem solving. How does it work? What is insight? How can we boost our creativity and improve problem solving performance? - </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">See more at: </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://rs.io/2014/02/21/problem-solving.html">http://rs.io/2014/02/21/problem-solving.html</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-76652242095530063702014-06-20T18:01:00.002+01:002014-06-20T18:01:31.653+01:00Problem Solving Open educational Resource<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Another new Open Education Resource (OER) has been made available by the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Problem-Solving</span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Author: Dr Scott Turner</span></div>
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<a href="http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfv4b2aM8SNc8q5Xxm5FG7Jv6HNUXZZcN_IuCGAiT5XBNSUhR_OjtFUZqC0Ym0pR-LwJ-WkcuA5savAy65ETafbCFUFee3t9uizWfQEQO_n0iQuZEXE_LQ_3LWr2IW73niYJ5In-XbH40/s1600/problem_solving_jorum.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfv4b2aM8SNc8q5Xxm5FG7Jv6HNUXZZcN_IuCGAiT5XBNSUhR_OjtFUZqC0Ym0pR-LwJ-WkcuA5savAy65ETafbCFUFee3t9uizWfQEQO_n0iQuZEXE_LQ_3LWr2IW73niYJ5In-XbH40/s1600/problem_solving_jorum.png" height="274" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These mini lectures are intended for undergraduate computing students, for providing simple steps in problem solving before the students learn a programming language. Problem-Solving and Programming is a common first year undergraduate module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. This material was taken from the problem solving part of the module and provides an introduction to five topics in problem-solving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The resource can be found at: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001" style="background-color: transparent; text-align: center;">http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After one week on JORUM <u><i>93 downloads</i></u> and <i><u>12 views</u></i> of the OER.</span></div>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-73866810869034962312014-06-02T19:06:00.001+01:002014-06-02T19:06:32.796+01:005 Steps to creative problem solving<a href="http://fr.slideshare.net/digitalsurgeons/creativity-ds-present">5 Steps to creative problem solving</a>: " Creativity isn't a discipline for just designers. Ideas and creativity should come from everyone regardless of their role. Creativity can be taught"<br /><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/24882222" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong> <a href="https://fr.slideshare.net/digitalsurgeons/creativity-ds-present" target="_blank" title="5 Steps to creative problem solving">5 Steps to creative problem solving</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/digitalsurgeons" target="_blank">Digital Surgeons </a></strong> </div><br /><br />
<br />Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-91274706478792701672013-09-07T14:03:00.001+01:002013-09-07T14:46:48.274+01:00BBC News - Why Minecraft is more than just another video game<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23572742">BBC News - Why Minecraft is more than just another video game</a>: <br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px;">Minecraft's creators revealed this week that the blocky freeform building game has 33 million users. It can easily become an obsession.</span><br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-9762920851706288832013-09-03T13:04:00.001+01:002013-09-03T15:09:35.777+01:00Robot Challenge 2013: championship for self-made, autonomous, and mobile robots - YouTube<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gnr6PwaSHuM?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnr6PwaSHuM">▶ Robot Challenge 2013: championship for self-made, autonomous, and mobile robots - YouTube</a>: <br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-82003601897338106432013-08-14T16:07:00.001+01:002013-08-14T16:10:45.898+01:00How Making Robots Captivates Kids' Imaginations | Edutopia<a href="http://www.edutopia.org/is-school-enough-robotics-mentoring-video">How Making Robots Captivates Kids' Imaginations | Edutopia</a>: <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bL-SrNJ0ZPg?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-86779183045262344992013-08-02T09:17:00.002+01:002013-08-02T09:17:22.524+01:00scoopit on problem solving<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A site with collection of problem-solving news stories has been set up at :<a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/problem-solving-in-he">http://www.scoop.it/t/problem-solving-in-he</a></span><br />
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<br />Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-10601993188285712232013-07-23T09:34:00.001+01:002013-07-23T15:04:05.268+01:00World of Codecraft: 3-D Game Teaches Kids 'Big Ideas' of Programming | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com<a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/07/programming-game-engagement/">World of Codecraft: 3-D Game Teaches Kids 'Big Ideas' of Programming | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com</a>:<br />
BY KLINT FINLEY 07.19.136:30 AM<br />
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ENGAGE, a 3-D game that teaches programming concepts to kids.<br />
Videogames are a waste of time. Well, not always. Sometimes they can teach you stuff, like honest-to-goodness computer programming skills.<br />
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The trick is to make these educational games as interesting and enjoyable as the shoot-em-up variety, and that’s not always easy. But researchers at North Carolina State University want to help. Dr. Kristy Boyer and Fernando Rodríguez are studying the way youngsters respond to a 3-D game that teaches programming, hoping to discover the secrets of building games that are not only educational but enjoyable"<br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-44027943762529065362013-04-02T15:40:00.001+01:002013-04-02T15:43:05.086+01:00Computing in Northamptonshire: Gary Hill: solving problems<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6NzyKBeTKfJdeibd7t9sV5Npr6nxYqmYe0pnp7Hawzew6GsJnGpMaUxIpCbsCY1bsApawRiiOUlgw4DmSj-HlZu2BOlnAGajqG0xZcivFsOuCtyMl-x-541pldoBaVIbExn88WP46OQ/s1600/course_wordle.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6NzyKBeTKfJdeibd7t9sV5Npr6nxYqmYe0pnp7Hawzew6GsJnGpMaUxIpCbsCY1bsApawRiiOUlgw4DmSj-HlZu2BOlnAGajqG0xZcivFsOuCtyMl-x-541pldoBaVIbExn88WP46OQ/s320/course_wordle.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
Taken from <a href="http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/gary-hill-sample-recent-publications.html">Computing in Northamptonshire: Gary Hill: solving problems</a>:<br />
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"Referencing within Code in Software Engineering Education!<br />
Computer Education 05/2012; 10(166):1.<br />
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 available to computer science tutors and students on a referencing approach!<br />
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This paper aims to stimulate discussion from peers involved in software engineering education. By discussing the apparent lack of ‘referencing within code’ advice to students and proposing suggestions for appropriate solutions. This will be based on the authors’ experience of assessing code and the current advice given to their students."<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Computer Education 05/2012; 10(166):5.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> This paper looks at student’s view of the usefulness of a problem solving and programming module in the first year of a 3-year undergraduate program. The School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK has been investigating, over the last seven years the teaching of problem solving. Including looking at whether a more visual approach has any benefits (the visual programming includes both 2-d and graphical user interfaces). Whilst the authors have discussed the subject problem solving and programming in the past this paper considers the students perspective from research collected/collated by a student researcher under a new initiative within the University.<br />
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All students interviewed either had completed the module within the two years of the survey or were completing the problem-solving module in their first year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ITALICS 06/2008; 7(1):108.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> This paper considers the experiences of teaching on a module where problem-solving is taught first, then programming. The main tools for the problem-solving part, alongside two problem-solving approaches, are tasks using Mindstorm (LEGO, Denmark) robot kits. This is being done as a foundation step before the syntax of a language (Java) is taught to enable a Graphical User Interface (GUI) emulation of a previous robot problem.<br />
Results of student evaluation and feedback will be presented and the use of twosimulators will be considered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See more: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226670964_Robots_within_the_Teaching_of_Problem-Solving/file/9fcfd50af6c1001b55.pdf" style="color: #7d181e; text-decoration: none;">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226670964_Robots_within_the_Teaching_of_Problem-Solving/file/9fcfd50af6c1001b55.pdf </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">16th International Conference on Automation and Computing, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 11 September 2010.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Source: <a href="http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/3271/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #588631; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">OAI</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> Most of the existing laparoscopic simulations which use simple objects are only for the purpose of the training of laparoscopic surgical skills. We have designed and developed an early prototype of a laparoscopic simulation system in which almost all of the soft tissue organs are modeled as deformable models which can be manipulated using a laparoscopic instrument with haptic feedback. Physics-based modeling is applied to realize collision detection, force rendering and elasticity deformation. A new mechanism to analyze and evaluate the injuries to the soft issues is introduced. Preliminary experimental results show that the simulator can meet the requirement of 1 kHz haptic loop update rate under complex virtual scene</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Green computer science courses. No more labs full of computers, we?re going mobile!</span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE PROCEEDINGS OF 7TH CHINA - EUROPE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOFTWARE INDUSTRY- ORIENTED EDUCATION held at the University of Northampton, May 2011</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> Traditionally computer sciences courses have been taught using laboratories full of expensive desktop computers. This approach may have been valid in the 80, 90?s and even the early part of this decade. This paper suggests that buying; maintaining and replacing laboratories full of computers are no longer a requirement. This paper raises the issues associated with such a ?bold? step, but offers potential solutions that, in some cases, may make Computer Science courses at such ?brave? institutions more appealing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Full Text: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226659197_Green_computer_science_courses._No_more_labs_full_of_computers_were_going_mobile!/file/79e41510e60e16971f.pdf" style="color: #7d181e; text-decoration: none;">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226659197_Green_computer_science_courses._No_more_labs_full_of_computers_were_going_mobile!/file/79e41510e60e16971f.pdf</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Problems first</span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In book: Software Industry-Oriented Education Practices and Curriculum Development: Experiences and Lessons, Publisher: IGI Global, Editors: M. Hussey and B. Wu and X. Xiaofei</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>ABSTRACT</strong> This chapter considers the need to focus initial programming education on problem-solving, in advance of programming syntax and software design methodology. The main vehicle for this approach is simple Lego based robots programmed in Java, followed by the programming of a graphical representation/simulation to develop programming skills. Problem solving is not trivial (Beaumont & Fox, 2003) and is an important skill, central to computing and engineering. An approach will be considered, illustrated with a series of problem-solving tasks that increase in complexity at each stage and give the students practice in attempting problem-solving approaches, as well as assisting them to learn from their mistakes. Some of the problems include ambiguities or are purposely ill-defined, to enable the student to resolve these as part of the process. The benefits to students will be discussed including students? statements that this approach, using robots, provides a method to visually and physically see the outcome of a problem. In addition, students report that the method improves their satisfaction with the course. The importance of linking the problem-solving robot activity and the programming assignment, whilst maintaining the visual nature of the problem, will be discussed, together with the comparison of this work with similar work reported by other authors relating to teaching programming using robots (Williams, 2003)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sample text: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226659396_Problems_first/file/9fcfd4fdf34473fa2f.pdf" style="color: #7d181e; text-decoration: none;">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226659396_Problems_first/file/9fcfd4fdf34473fa2f.pdf</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-59998162463306977202013-03-18T16:55:00.000+00:002013-03-18T16:55:21.295+00:00Turning Trash into Toys for Learning<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/arvind_gupta_turning_trash_into_toys_for_learning.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> Turning trash into seriously entertaining, well-designed toys that kids can build themselves -- while learning basic principles of science and design.</span><br />
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-49352164613531283252013-03-05T17:24:00.001+00:002013-03-17T18:29:07.141+00:00Wing Surveys Her New Opportunity - Microsoft Research<a href="http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/wing-022813.aspx">Wing Surveys Her New Opportunity - Microsoft Research</a>: Wing Surveys Her New Opportunity<br />
By Rob Knies<br />
February 28, 2013 1:15 PM PT<br />
When Jeannette Wing joined Microsoft Research in January 2013 as a Microsoft vice president and head of Microsoft Research International, in charge of Microsoft Research’s non-U.S. labs, she brought with her a sterling set of credentials. She had served long and well as head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University and for three years as assistant director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). A recipient of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wing has a broad range of expertise, ranging from the foundations of trustworthy computing to software specification and verification to concurrent and distributed systems to programming languages and methodology. A month into her new job, she found time for a wide-ranging discussion about her new role and what she sees ahead.<br />
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Q: Why Microsoft Research, and why now?Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-68286627994187411782013-03-04T10:04:00.001+00:002016-02-20T21:58:38.140+00:00LEGO NXT Balancing Road TwoWheels Robot - YouTube<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQcUo3JVUs">LEGO NXT Balancing Road TwoWheels Robot - YouTube</a>: "LEGO NXT Two Wheels self balancing inverted pendulum Gyro stabilized position course and speed. Jumping and climbing functions in Road Mode. http://nxttwowheels.blogspot.com/<br />
NXT Ballbot applies the same technology on two axis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eau8y...<br />
NXT Ballbot Simulation with MsExcel: http://ballbotexcel.blogspot.com/<br />
Lego NXT TwoWheels es un robot de dos ruedas estabilizado con gran movilidad y posibilidades. Está programado en RobotC y gracias a su interfaz Bluethoot puede ser controlado desde un ordenador o smartphone."<br />
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<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'via Blog this'</a>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=junkbots-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=B002SAREX6&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=junkbots-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=B001USHRYI&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=FFFFFF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-35663572083182706342013-02-19T21:14:00.000+00:002013-02-19T21:18:26.233+00:00Primary School with Computing Problem<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKXSkmYM2e8fQE90Lc2YMfEplLhcRNh4aTIpm7bQORSVV5fe5U_Sl9S0GRl_J64OXfI1dgerTx4t_JfpQWRvjVYcXswcOKXVgxw_QjCyZJvX0R9t6JjHshPGXrLroRVLd7MgZnleysys/s1600/greenfoot1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKKXSkmYM2e8fQE90Lc2YMfEplLhcRNh4aTIpm7bQORSVV5fe5U_Sl9S0GRl_J64OXfI1dgerTx4t_JfpQWRvjVYcXswcOKXVgxw_QjCyZJvX0R9t6JjHshPGXrLroRVLd7MgZnleysys/s200/greenfoot1.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZ1T8B1msxMetdvMb0KR0-HUcCC48wXSMShooQLf675NAMjOSUeyq5nfeKnGuUGxEO892fJ93KmG_0_foweBAkiuE3shLvQI-Y6M0ub5aUpYYf4e8FISNydqSg6s3LS0Jylyrd9maUIo/s1600/r1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZ1T8B1msxMetdvMb0KR0-HUcCC48wXSMShooQLf675NAMjOSUeyq5nfeKnGuUGxEO892fJ93KmG_0_foweBAkiuE3shLvQI-Y6M0ub5aUpYYf4e8FISNydqSg6s3LS0Jylyrd9maUIo/s200/r1.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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 (<a href="http://www.greenfoot.org/overview">http://www.greenfoot.org/overview</a>) and tutorials (<a href="http://www.greenfoot.org/doc">http://www.greenfoot.org/doc</a>) 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 <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/10/coding-for-kids">Coding for kids is as easy as Pi</a> for another example)</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrh7S2zzZE0sS67lYYSRerhESYjs8TCiPXR74WXiRZIyfSosDIeE4gdOU18aBD74o4EpGdcEKdEquilYTbKXOcG3OJDaJhf3NxSJ6MkvpIG0qBA58UTXJr1Wi6TLqj5gFM82dwfLMr_Sy/s1600/P1000312.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQrh7S2zzZE0sS67lYYSRerhESYjs8TCiPXR74WXiRZIyfSosDIeE4gdOU18aBD74o4EpGdcEKdEquilYTbKXOcG3OJDaJhf3NxSJ6MkvpIG0qBA58UTXJr1Wi6TLqj5gFM82dwfLMr_Sy/s200/P1000312.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://apslandt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/junkbots-with-session-plans.html">Junkbots</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://apslandt.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/outreach-science-and-engineering-week.html">Outreach during Science and Engineering Week 2012</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://apslandt.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/girls-into-engineering-uninorthants.html">Girls into Engineering</a> summary</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://apslandt.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/beswitched-on-project-evolves.html">BeSwitched On</a> - Taster Day for computing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/dancing-robots-outreach.html">Dancing robots</a></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For more details on any of these please contact <a href="mailto:scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk">Dr Scott Turner</a></span></div>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1427064387864299192.post-90554257167455134762013-02-19T21:10:00.003+00:002013-02-19T21:10:32.613+00:00Dad's club<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taken from a blog written at Irchester Primary School <a href="http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/dads-robot-lab/">http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/dads-robot-lab/</a> about a robot activity. For more details about Lab_13 go to: <a href="http://lab13network.wordpress.com/">http://lab13network.wordpress.com/</a></span><br />
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Dad’s Robot Lab!</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://lab13network.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/dads-robot-lab/" rel="bookmark" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #888888; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="5:21 pm"><span class="entry-date" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">November 28, 2012</span></a> <span class="by-author" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden;"><span class="sep" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span class="author vcard" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://lab13network.wordpress.com/author/lab13network/" rel="author" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #888888; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by lab13network"></a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://lab13network.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dscn74922.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #ff4b33; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1537" height="112" src="http://lab13network.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dscn74922.jpg?w=150&h=112" style="background-color: transparent; border: none; display: inline; float: left; margin: 4px 24px 12px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="DSCN7492" width="150" /></a>Hi! This is Morgan and Emily. Our Dads come to Dads Club in Lab_13.</div>
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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.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCL9v5gqup8FUwlmB3AhCUKBa8MEif8v_PxughdmDggbVOjFp71-Mxe2RBy7H3Z7jqraaUwKAIG0SCG9EbAeeU1TwLzAOcbeaTTWsNbB44irilqUPWJQpv813URhjg5lbkenGYFtNC3Zw/s1600/robot6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCL9v5gqup8FUwlmB3AhCUKBa8MEif8v_PxughdmDggbVOjFp71-Mxe2RBy7H3Z7jqraaUwKAIG0SCG9EbAeeU1TwLzAOcbeaTTWsNbB44irilqUPWJQpv813URhjg5lbkenGYFtNC3Zw/s200/robot6.jpg" width="200" /></a> 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!</div>
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Emily’s stepdad, Robin, said “<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It was fantastic – I want a robot for Christmas.”</em>Unfortunately they are £800! And Kris, Kieran’s dad said <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thanks for organising the robot lab … a nice little event, an amazing robot!” </em></div>
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Scott Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17619817819516757194noreply@blogger.com0