Information Technology Education

Interview with student 'T' about the process of making a game on Scratch: The challenge was I had the whole theme and how I was going to make the game in my head, but the problem was I didn't know how to make "lives."  So I tried a few games on Scratch until I found one I liked and went onto 'remix.'  And then found out how they did lives.  I found out they made lives as a variable and then I had lives, but the only problem was, it kept going after 'death' so I had to look at the game a little bit more that I had gotten lives off and then I found one thing that I was missing. (what was missing?) I forgot to put in one block that when lives went to 'zero' I forgot to put in the block 'stop all.' I also had a thing that when lives reached 'zero' I had it go to a different background and that was the background I labeled 'destroy' because that is when the spaceship is dead.  I went on and it was done.  I went on to its ...

Started Scratching with my 3/4 graders following the creative computing curriculum from MIT media lab and the design-based learning approach.  Students are creating an e-design notebook to document their experience along the way.  First session was viewing the intro video and then discussing what makes Scratch different from other computer experiences - play vs. create etc. Next session was students brainstorming three things they could show about themselves in an "All About Me" Scratch project - photos, videos, sprites, change background Students are also using Scratch for science (zoogle) project and in ELA by using it to show an example of figurative language (idiom, pun, etc) Quotable quotes: H: (when about to show me his Scratch) - I didn't really test this one... A: (in the background) Then it's not going to work if you didn't test it... Mrs. M:  What makes you say it's not going to work if you don't test? A:  Because you have do some, then test or e...

My friend Kevin, a physics student from Australia, likes to ask me random questions over Facebook chat. Kevin: What are the main opportunities and purposes of programming? (besides doing numerical calculations) Me: The way I see it is that the ability to do calculations quickly lets you automate all sorts of processes. That sounds boring, but the possibilities are endless-- You can do all the tasks you did before, but faster and more precisely. This allows you to tackle complex tasks like creating graphics or large number crunching  or predictive programs that can put things into categories based on data they've already seen. Plus, this ability to automate illuminates new possibilities that people didn't think of before. I'm not sure anyone thought it was possible to model individual molecules of a cell membrane + all the surrounding water—— but with fast computers and the ability to harness them through programming, you can! So certainly that is the most straightforward th...

I was very excited when one of the CS professors in my department, who had admitted he wasn't sure about the causes of gender disparity in CS, accepted my offer to share what I knew. Studying this topic has been my hobby since I stepped into my first core major CS classes and wondered where all the women went. I've found that professors and others often want to talk about or implement their idea for a partial solution, like a mentoring program or curriculum changes, right away, without taking time to look over the root causes. It was encouraging that this professor was open to learning about the research in the field before taking action. I based the main arc of my presentation on a book chapter by Whitecraft and Williams that Greg Wilson of Software Carpentry was kind enough to forward to me. It's an evenhanded look at much of the research in this area, including theories that are often out of favor in most places I frequent. It served as a great overview, though I felt i...

I was thinking about perceptions of Computer Science and I remembered a particular event in my junior year. A friend told me he had just heard a great song that reminded him of me, since I was studying Computer Science. He messaged me a link to "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton. Thanks? [via  JoCopedia ] The melody is great, and the lyrics are compelling—I've listened to it on repeat writing this post. But it's also a handy way to remember almost every stereotype of Computer Science work and workers. I thanked my friend, but internally I was a touch offended at the connection being drawn between my field and primate-level glorified keyboard smashing. Even more internally though, I worried that maybe the song held some truth about my future if I pursued a job in software engineering. Are all stereotypes based at least a little bit on reality? Code Monkey get up get coffee Code Monkey go to job Code Monkey have boring meeting With boring manager Rob Rob say Code Monkey...

For several months, I always carried a deck of cards in my backpack. I like playing gin rummy as much as anyone, but that's not the reason why. I carried them because I had discovered Computer Science Outreach Magic . I learned a Computer Science magic trick from cs4fn.org/magic , and I've been hooked ever since. I've performed this trick to much success when manning booths at outreach events and teacher visiting days. It lets you engage people while illustrating a bit of computer science. At the PyLadies ' lunch at PyCon '13 , Esther Nam convinced me to write a blog post about this card trick I was so excited about. "Lots of people want to know how to demonstrate computer science without a computer!" she said. Teaching the card trick to Computer Science student volunteers at the Tucson Festival of Books. Performing the big reveal at a University of Arizona College of Science ceremony.  That's exactly why I love this trick. It's portable, it'...

(...or at least how I did) I wanted to write this blog post because: I'm proud of the brochure I made for my CS department when I was a member of the CS Ambassadors club, one year ago. I realized that my CS department wasn't all that great at describing what it was about—and I imagine it isn't just my university that has this problem. I believe that if a department can't describe Computer Science in an intriguing way at university and outreach events, they're throwing away a valuable method of drawing in new students. Mainly those who already know about Computer Science before college will enroll, which bodes badly for diversity in your department. Here is the original flyer (click to enlarge if you like). To be fair, it's more an "intro to the major" brochure than an outreach brochure, which could explain the wordiness. But that can't explain the picture of a guy looking into what I assume is a chemistry machine? Or the idea that one of the best j...