DFI: Computational Thinking

OMG Tech - Led by Kawana 
Link to their Site (lesson plans and ideas!)

Hook - The sorting algorithm, find a number, then go through the steps to order from smallest to largest.

Ethical concerns around programmes like "Big Dog"... funded by Military... This technology can be used against humans if it is in the wrong hands. 

Hanson Robotics' Sophia - Singing Duet on the tonight show. Sophia taught herself to sing through watching youtube videos using deep algorithms. 

Skin Vision - Mole mapping. Able to recognise when you need to be concerned and go to the Dr for moles. 

Zephyr's Cora - Self flying drone planes. 6 passengers with no pilot. 

Tech Ethics & Morals 

The moral machine - what should a self driving car do? 

Something to think about are the values of the people creating the code for the machine. The people currently in the major coding firms are majority white, males over 40. How does that change the values of the machine? 

Understanding computer science - computational thinking. 

Designing outcomes - understanding digital systems and the application behind that. 

Binary 

Based around a wire - On (1) or Off (0) - called a bit 

The more wires the more information. 

Using the worksheet below to find out what the binary for numbers would be... if the box can be filled you can count it. If it is empty you can not count it. Start at the largest you can fill in and work forwards from there (left to right). Must have the correct number of dots for the number. 

Coding 

Hour of Code - good for younger students 

Toxic Code - good for older students. 

Scratch 10 block challenge - good way to start for learners, rather than a blank canvas gives them some confidence with moving blocks around. 
Unplugged resources for computational thinking. 

A self review tool for teachers to understand the Digital Curriculum (that needs to be implemented next year). 

Scratch from Scratch! 

Starting a maze... change the size of the characters first to make sure that they fit inside the stage. 

Then once sprites are in the correct position find > Events when Green Flag AND go to x y (the coordinates will be the starting point for the sprite). 

To slow down change the number of pixels moved. 

Once you have finished this level you can make a multi levelled game. 

Code to make the cheesy puffs disappear! 

Video of the finished game!!! 

You can play it here! 

Extra... 

3D Pen - Aliexpress

Makey Makey - Aliexpress 

Robots for $8! Check out the Stumble Bot here. 

Conductive Paint! 

DFI: Create (Hanga) and Multimodal - Overview notes...

Today was another great session at DFI with teachers collaborating, sharing, learning and creating. The day kicked off with a few words from Dorothy, then a session on Multimodal before moving on to google Sites. Here are my notes on the first two sessions... 

A few words from Dorothy on "Create" 

Create is the hook. It is how to engage students with the curriculum. 
We are educators need to have tricks in our tool kit to engage our learners and create is one of those hooks. It is more than the charisma of the teacher, although teachers who have this are amazing. 

"Our ultimate goal is a world full of playfully creative people." (Lifelong Kindergarten Group) This is something to think about. How are we supporting this daily? Dorothy says, "No young person should feel that create is only for ECE's." It is an opportunity to express and explore new ideas. 

Make sure that "Create" is in our planning. Have we as educators had the experience to be creative in a week? 

Create is a doing word. It involves all of the senses and the whole body! The heart in the image above symbolises the spirit and cultural ways to share. 

The ability to create for most of the learners we work with involves doing something not just thinking about it. 

The digital allows us to take creativity to places that we couldn't before. It allows us to amplify the create that is happening. It allows us to have a larger and more authentic audience base. 

"Let's put the emphasis for students to be creates of content rather than just consumers." (Dorothy Burt) 

Multimodal (Different modes of communicating information) 

Looking at engaging and empowering students with multiple modes of communication. For example: watch a movie, looking at a diagram, reading a text all on the same concept. Students choice in how they would like to access the information for learning. 

Engagement 

- The hook. Giving students a preview of the content in an exciting way like a 'window dressing' for what they will be learning. 

- Using sight, sound and motion to engage (Sisomo - Kevin Roberts) 

-  Immersion assemblies at Point England - a way to hook students into the topic of the term. 

Once you have hooked them teach them. Think of using interesting texts and pushing the learning further. You could also show differing perspectives on an issue. 

This relates to the work Woolf Fisher have done around "Wide & Deep" or "T-Shaped Literacy". 

Concluding 

Overall a really cool day of sharing, collaborating and recapturing the amazing power of Learn, Create, Share for empowered, connected, ubiquitous and visible learning.