Author Archives: Stacey Armstrong

Scratch BYOB

http://byob.berkeley.edu/

If you have not seen this yet and you already use Scratch, you have to check it out.
If you have never used Scratch, this may be the new version that you needed to get started.
The new version of Scratch allows you to add in methods essentially as you can combine blocks to make your own new blocks.
It is very nice and my students are really enjoying it.

CS News – Paper Electronics

Paper Supercapacitor Powers Paper Electronics

Electronic devices were taking the place of paper and now paper electronic devices may be taking the place of electronics and paper.  That is one crazy logic statement.
Paper Electronics = ! Electronics and ! Paper
That is just wacky, but it looks really cool.
I would love to have an electronic paper book that could make me a sandwich!

CS News – Could Robotics Accidentally Hurt Humans?

Could Robots Accidentally Hurt Humans?

This study examined situations in which robots might accidentally harm humans.  Low and behold, they found that robots might accidentally hurt humans.  Humans accidentally hurt humans all of the time so it really is no surprise that robots might do the same.  When my Lego NXT creations start chasing me around my house looking for a fight, then I will start to worry.

CS News – Is the iPhone Bad for Computer Science?

Is the iPhone Bad for Computer Science?

This article asks some great questions.  Is the closed system of the iPhone bad for Computer Science?  I guess it depends on how you look at it.  My students really enjoy writing phone apps and the iPhone has only increased their interest.  Yeah, it would cool to tinker more with the iPhone system without having to “jail-break” the phone as they say, but writing apps for a few bucks creates quite a bit of interest as well.  I see this iPhone situation as being similar to working on your automobiles before computer controls took over.  Back in the day, you could pop the hood and get a few wrenches and start tearing your engine apart.  This was once no big deal.  Now, you have to have a degree in Computer Science to deal with the high tech computer systems under the hood or you might cause the reactor to melt down.  Today, to beef up your engine, you have to buy a book and figure out how to overclock your car engine so to speak with chips and such.  Sounds an awful lot like a Computer Science problem.  I think the iPhone situation is similar as well.   The more high tech the gadget, the more high tech the tinkers have to become or they will just tinker on something else.

That is just my 10 cents!                                 the 10 is in binary

Floppies No More

Floppy Disks Sentenced to Death

Gasp!  The Horror!
What shall we ever do with no floppy drives and floppy disks?
I really was unaware that companies were still making floppies, but apparently they are still being produced.

I took my Computer Science team to a UIL Regional Computer Science contest and we had to submit our solutions on floppy disks.  I was quite appalled to say the least and I had to search for days to find floppies and drives.  It was like going back in time.  The contest was held at a University which made it even more ironic.  None of my laptops or PCs have floppy drives.

For those hosting high school contests, PC^2 is the only way to go.  Forget the disks and USB drives and use a Computer Science solution to solve a Computer Science problem.   We host a contest here in the Houston area and we use PC^2.  The UIL State Computer Science meet here in Texas will use PC^2 this year and we are all very happy about that.

So – glad to see the floppies are being killed off.  It is a long overdue death!

Starting the Comp Sci Career Track Early

The Drive Starts in 3rd Grade or Earlier

This is a great article.

I had my now 8 year old start working with Scratch when he was 6.  He can now do some amazing things with it.  My 6 year old has now started writing programs in Scratch as well.  It is fun to see the two of them collaborate on blend their ideas.
I have stepped up my work and have gone in and taught my older son’s 2nd and now 3rd grade classes how to program in Scratch.I have been amazed with how quickly the kids have picked it up and what they have been able to do.
I have taught them basic Animation, looping, decision making, variables, and broadcasting.  They are doing some fairly advanced stuff to only be 8 and 9.
I used some of the materials I developed for use at the middle and high school and they had no trouble with it.
I plan to go back in a few weeks and teach a few more lessons as many of the kids are working at home with Scratch and have been writing games and such for fun.
I think I have planted the seed with this group that Computer Science is not hard and that it is really fun and COOL!
I will post some updates later on as things change.