My review of “Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing”

As part of the BBC's educational output during lockdown, Dr Hannah Fry's 2015 documentary "Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing" was repeated on BBC2 this week. The programme is part biography, part history , plus a dash of mathematics, and the narrative structure follows Ada, Countess of Lovelace's life, from her childhood to her death …

CS Ed Research Book Club – drinks, discussion and discovery!

CS Ed Research Book Club is a monthly get together of teachers, educators and academics who are interested in research about computer science education. The Book Club is an hour to discuss and unpack one or more papers in depth with colleagues, and then think about how the insights and findings might be applied, whether …

What I learned from taking part in CS Ed Reading Group

Late on Tuesday night, I happened to be browsing Twitter and came across an invite to a US-based Computer Science Education discussion group called CS Ed Reading group. I did a quick time zone calculation, worked out that it started at 1am BST and decided it was probably a crazy idea to stay up for …

Five things I’ve learned about pair programming

Pair programming is a specific teaching technique where pupils work in pairs to write computer programs. One pupil takes the role of the driver, has control of the computer and writes or manipulates the code. The other pupil takes the role of the navigator, who has the project instructions, reads them out and looks out …

Recruiting educational research participants via social media

I recently distributed a survey for some research I did via social media. I used Twitter and online forums to ask people to complete the survey, and learned some very valuable lessons along the way. Approach the gatekeeper first. Online forums and Twitter chats have a moderator or organiser who coordinates and oversees that particular …

I got by with a little help from my friends: how I completed my masters degree

Since 2015, I'd been studying for an MSc in Computing in Education at Nottingham Trent University. Teaching in the classroom, being part of the Computing at School network, running a Code Club and then working at the Raspberry Pi Foundation had all ignited a desire in me to spend more time investigating questions about how …

The top 10 physical computing devices used in Key Stage 2 teaching

I'm really interested in how computing is being taught in primary schools. The new programme of study has been in place for just over four years. Schools have had the chance to think about training for teachers, new schemes of work, how to repurpose existing equipment and whether new equipment is needed. (Some may have …

Pi-spy at Derby Mini Maker Faire!

I'm very excited to be heading off to Derby Mini Maker Faire tomorrow. It's my 4th year having a stand and the event just seems to get bigger and better every year. I'm looking forward to this year especially because there are so many people from the Pi community attending or exhibiting. If you're a …

4 things to do when IT’s not working

Earlier this year I was a panel member of a really interesting discussion about teaching Computing in the primary curriculum. One of the questions came from a teacher who asked "I've got a class set of laptops, but out of them only about fourteen are working. How can I teach Computing?" It's a frequent scenario …

Computational thinking via tinkering

Computational thinking is an approach to solving problems by developing solutions that can be understood by a computer. Now part of the National Curriculum, it is defined as a set of concepts and approaches which can be used not only in Computing lessons, but across the primary curriculum. Tinkering is an approach which can be …