Problem-solving

BBC News - Why Minecraft is more than just another video game : Minecraft's creators revealed this week that the blocky freeform building game has 33 million users. It can easily become an obsession. 'via Blog this'

▶ Robot Challenge 2013: championship for self-made, autonomous, and mobile robots - YouTube : 'via Blog this'

How Making Robots Captivates Kids' Imaginations | Edutopia : 'via Blog this'

A site with collection of problem-solving news stories has been set up at : http://www.scoop.it/t/problem-solving-in-he

World of Codecraft: 3-D Game Teaches Kids 'Big Ideas' of Programming | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com : BY KLINT FINLEY 07.19.136:30 AM ENGAGE, a 3-D game that teaches programming concepts to kids. Videogames are a waste of time. Well, not always. Sometimes they can teach you stuff, like honest-to-goodness computer programming skills. 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" 'via Blog this'

Taken from  Computing in Northamptonshire: Gary Hill: solving problems : "Referencing within Code in Software Engineering Education! Computer Education 05/2012; 10(166):1. 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! 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." Is it Visual? The importance of a Problem Solving Module within a Computing course Computer Education 05/2012; 10(166):5...

 Turning trash into seriously entertaining, well-designed toys that kids can build themselves -- while learning basic principles of science and design.

Wing Surveys Her New Opportunity - Microsoft Research : Wing Surveys Her New Opportunity By Rob Knies February 28, 2013 1:15 PM PT 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 wid...

LEGO NXT Balancing Road TwoWheels Robot - YouTube : "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/ NXT Ballbot applies the same technology on two axis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eau8y... NXT Ballbot Simulation with MsExcel: http://ballbotexcel.blogspot.com/ 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." 'via Blog this'

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

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

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

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