mracolley.bsky.social
11-18 Computer Science teacher |
Director of Technology faculty | CAS master teacher | NPQLT | Lead practitioner - T&L | LearningDust podcast host | Parkrunner, bass player, cyclist #TeamCompSci #CASchat #EduSky
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We do. Here's the starter pack link.
go.bsky.app/F7s6AyK
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Are we also guilty of thinking that all code written up to this point was done to a gold standard? I've read stories about key parts of the www code that have comments like 'this is a temporary bodge, I'll get it fixed soon' and are dated 1995 etc...
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That's my entire approach. That way, if the AI shortcut spews out garbage then they can understand and fix it.
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And how will superpositions affect Microsoft's already capricious numbering system?
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I'd suggest that the most useful evidence gathering is through great use of mini whiteboards and questioning as part of the handover phase. Then careful planning of independent practice tasks and the teacher circulating to review and give verbal feedback in lesson.
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Lots of factors to balance here. Contact time, number of pupils per teacher per week, time to review evidence vs workload, and feasibility of doing something useful with the info.
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Start with the why. What do you want to gather and who is it for? If it won't give teachers more information that helps improve lessons then don't bother.
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BGE?
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Add up. Use a loop to get a running total of character codes and then output. Then we can explore why lower case scores higher than caps, and can we spot a pattern? (32 higher per alphabet character).
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Got it first time.
Then second guessed because I thought 'flexing' was an anagram indicator.
Then tried my original thought a few mins of letter wrangling later.
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Makes no difference whatsoever mate. You got up, got out there and did it. 👏👏👏
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Struggled with a couple this week but got that one after about a minute. Strange how that happens sometimes.
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When doing maths on MWBs. Working out on one side, answer nice and large on the other. Hide it. Show me your answer... and now flip and show me your working out. Good to see kids process but also catches those who've just tried to copy the answer.
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Starting the semantic wave with a concrete example wherever possible. Had some brilliant discussions/arguments with our science dept about this and watched some fantastic lessons exemplifying it.
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Summarising the main points of responses on the board after students have done paired discussion. Pupils who need to can then refer back during practice rather than just hoping they remember.
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Yep. Got that one first time. Took a couple of swipes to get yesterday's, then kicked myself when it clicked.
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Done
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I started learning how to program with Java (because that's the language my HOD used). So everything was called a method, and I didn't learn why until much later.
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So a completely different definition to the one we use. Even more than that, it contradicts ours! 🤦♂️
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But if your spec says 'procedures' then has examples with return values then that's inaccurate use of language and can build in misunderstandings.
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I suppose we could just call them all sub programs/subroutines - some return a value, some don't.
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Most UK GCSE specifications specify the differences to be taught. Even if they didn't, we should be accurate with our language to avoid building in misconceptions for later on.
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But to get to that level of efficiency requires significant mastery of several concepts and techniques. Hence 'one thing per line' at first.
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I like them to see how the concept of decomposition is implemented.
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Not used that one, but do use the a/an article depending on first letter of word. Nice little challenge around string slicing and selection with a good 'if word[0].lower() in [a,e,i,o,u]' shortcut
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I introduce the idea using Blocks in Scratch - the procedure looks like a separate thing, but it creates an extra tile that you can use in your program, so students see that creating a procedure/function in a text-based language is like creating a new keyword that they can use.
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This is one of the best features of scratch IMHO. I'm looking at how we can do the same with turtle in edublocks.
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That's kind of what I was addressing in 5a. I try to sell it that I'm making them better programmers for when they do A level or need it in their science degree, job etc...
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11/n Shortcuts
Now you can start to 'reveal' the magic hacks/shortcuts. Call one sub from within another. Use a returned value as an argument for a different sub. Calling from a print or as part of a calculation. Let them create from solid foundations
Fin
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10/n Functions with parameters
Data going in and out of the sub program. Now we can make our calculator useful. I teach to get user input in the main then send the arguments to the subs, which do the calc and return the answer into a variable in the main.
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9/n - Functions with no parameters
Next, return values. Hard coded calculations that return the value back to the main program. I teach to ALWAYS assign the return value to a variable (one thing per line) for use in the main program. No parameters yet.
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8/n - Procedures with parameters and arguments
Now introduce data going IN to the sub program. Still super simple examples here (adding two numbers etc).
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7/n - Procedures first (NO parameters yet)
Just procedures first. Let students practice defining, calling and the new flow of a modular program without the extra load of parameters and return values.
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6/n - One thing per line
Just like with all my teaching, I go the long way round. Make your examples do one 'thing' per line as much as poss - no function calls print statements etc. Reducing the syntactic density of each line really helps new learners.
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5b/n
... they ARE right (for the moment). Explain that you've simplified the subs because you want them to just practice defining and calling. This does seem overly complex, but makes the a MUCH better CS thinker & programmer with bigger tasks later.
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5a/n - It will seem pointless at first, and that's fine
If you've followed step 4 then some students will probably ask you why they just can't write a sequential program - that's a much simpler way of achieving the same result right?
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