January Microlearning Sprint – Free Teacher PD!
Teachers, join the sprint this January! 3-5 minutes each day for 10 days! What is microlearning? Microlearning is small learning units with highly focused learning outcomes. It involves 3-5 minutes of targeted learning experience. Why microlearning? Microlearning is becoming more relevant in an ever-changing…
Design functional computer rooms for better learning environments
I have seen a lot of different types of computer room layouts in my time. Some have been more functional than others. If you are designing your computer room from scratch, here are my tips on how to make it an optimal learning environment for your students.
7 things I learned from Eddie Woo
Eddie Woo spoke at the Teacher Preview Event for World Science Festival Brisbane 2019 at the Queensland Museum. Here are the 7 things I learned from Eddie Woo: 1. Dispositions, not just skills, are a key to teaching STEM. 2. Dispositions lie underneath…
How to sign up to Thunkable
In this quick tutorial, we’ll teach you how to sign up to Thunkable! We use Thunkable to build iOS and Android apps using drag and drop coding blocks. It’s a fun way for students to learn about app design and computational thinking. Students are…
Which programming languages should my child learn?
Scratch, Python, Javascript, Java, C#. Are you starting to feel overwhelmed already? And it doesn’t get any easier when your tech-savvy friend recommends one language, your HR friend recommends another and a recent news article says that a third one is the way of the…
Glossary for New Scratchers
Compared to a lot of other programming languages, Scratch has quite a gentle learning curve. Still, getting started can be a little bit of a doozy if you’ve had zero prior experience with the kind of terminology used in programming. To help you out a bit, we’ve compiled a glossary of terms for new Scratchers!
Create an interactive stadium project in the classroom for the Commonwealth Games
It’s that time of the year again — the Commonwealth Games are nearly here! Why not get into the sporty spirit by making your very own interactive stadium, complete with sound effects, a sprinting event, and an electronic scoreboard? We can show you how! All…
Digital Technologies in Year 3-4 Classrooms — On “Convict Crime and Punishment”
In a previous post, we discussed the integration of the Digital Technologies subject into Queensland schools. Just to refresh your memory on the subject, the Digital Technologies subject has a discrete curriculum, meaning that it is its own subject, complete with its own activities and learning outcomes. Part of the aims of the subject are to cover important concepts, such as algorithms and branching (also known as decision making).
Lists
What are lists?
To give you the short answer, lists are places where you can store information, just like variables. However, there is one key difference between lists and variables; variables can only store one piece of information at a time, whereas lists can store multiple bits of information at a time.
Design thinking: Disrupting teachers
Design thinking is forcing a paradigm shift for Australian teachers, students and the entire education system. I attended a design thinking workshop for teachers at DigiTech by Design, held at Oakleigh State School. We were working in groups to solve a community problem by using the design thinking process. I overheard a teacher say, “I want to see the answer. So I can cheat and see what to work towards.”