Make-a-face Prof Paul Curzon Queen Mary, University of London With support from Google, D of E and the Mayor of London Created by Paul Curzon and Steve Mesure, Quintin Cutts and Steve Brindley of the University of Glasgow

Aims Give you deeper understanding of core topics –Getting started programming –If-then-else and flow of control –Onject based programming –Artificial Intelligence: affective computing Give you practical ways to teach computing in a fun, thought provoking way –away from computers, focus on concepts Linked activity sheets and booklets can be downloaded from our website:

Running programs physically A really good way to build a deep understanding of programming constructs is to act out the program Compile the program on to people! They follow the instructions Makes abstract ideas visible and tangible

Let’s program an emotional robot Watch the video at: Let’s not bother with Lego…

Building a robot We can build a robot out of people. One person controls each eyebrow One person controls each eye One person controls each side of the mouth But it needs a program if it is to do anything!

Programming a robot We can program each part of the face separately Each eye, eyebrow and side of the mouth has its own program They are treated as separate objects with their own programmed behaviour That is the essence of object based programming

Example: Programming an eyebrow If NICE SOUND then DOWN If NASTY SOUND then DOWN If SUDDEN SOUND then UP

Executing a robot’s program The program tells each object how to behave when different sounds are played. –HAPPY SOUND (sing Happy Birthday) –NASTY SOUND (make gruesome sounds) –SUDDEN SOUND (shout BOO!) The rest of the class can make the sounds. The robot’s eyes etc then just do what their program says to do.

Summary Students can act out the code and write new code Then act it out Programming can be introduced in fun ways away from a computer

More support On our website to support this session: Activity sheets Story sheets Slides Details of more worskshops/courses free unplugged sessions subsidised courses (e.g. GCSE programming)

Thank you! Together we are Teaching London Computing