Barbara Tate – Site Systems Manager Olney Middle School: @babatate

Design and write programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts Use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output; generate appropriate inputs and predicted outputs to test programs Use logical reasoning to explain how a simple algorithm works and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs

Program Algorithm (AOP) – “Recipe”, LOGO Object (OOP) – Scratch, Kodu, GameMaker Interface – Physical interaction Input – Switch, sensor, time etc Output - Lamp, motor, buzzer etc Simulation – what it says Procedure – “song with Chorus”

Budget - some simulations to teach control are free. Even those we subscribe to at OMS are cheaper than buying lots of equipment. Space and practicality – if you are short of space or are moving to mobile computing, on-screen simulations may be the best bet for every day teaching.

You are not alone and there are lots of FREE examples of all kinds of programming environments to help, you don’t need to spend a fortune to achieve the new requirements. Logo – various online and dowloadable, Windows or Mac implementationsvarious online and dowloadable, Windows or Mac implementations Scratch – thank you MIT thank you MIT Lightbot 2.0 – teaches procedures, recursion, encourages economy and elegance teaches procedures, recursion, encourages economy and elegance Alice – Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University Kodu – Microsoft games transfer to the X-Box Microsoft games transfer to the X-Box Blockly – Google gets in on the act (but for how long)? Google gets in on the act (but for how long)? Use what you already have – OMS bought Junior Control Insight several years ago and we have been using it where other schools have been using Flowol. Both do essentially the same job.Junior Control Insight

Words and icons – less complex language, free, slow on older computers.

Transfer the skills learnt in the simulations into real life scenarios through a control box and connected inputs and outputs - demonstration

Discovery learning – equipped with the basic skills children extend their learning Peer group learning – How did you do that?

Recursion – function calls itself Economy and elegance – encourages problem-solving in the smallest number of steps EAL and lower ability literacy – minimal number of words!

Lots of FREE online and downloadable examples and apps for PC, Mac, iOS and Android – eg MSWLogo, this one: There’s even a Logo implementation in Purple Mash There’s even a Logo implementation in Purple Mash ids/LogoKidsTestPage.html Paid alternatives eg Sherston’s Crystal ICT - which gives you almost everything you need to introduce the basics of the new KS2 Computing curriculum eg Sherston’s Crystal ICT -

Needs little introduction – now online: Great tool for teaching lots of different aspects of programming. Not the only tool! Engage different groups of learners across the wider curriculum

Crystal Rainforest (Logo), Mission: Control (does what it says on the tin) and Gomez Returns (Control and Data Logging) are online, real-world control simulations:

Turtle Graphics Problem Solving – different solutions to the same problem! demo.appspot.com/static/apps/ maze/en.html

3D objects, fewer icons, more words, more possibilities for extension and progression