This Barefoot Computing activity for upper primary goes deeper into the concept of algorithms, using logical reasoning and debugging to find errors and to improve accuracy and efficiency. By following instructions, children create diagrams constructed from simple shapes. They are asked to identify errors in the...

In this activity, part of a group of Python inspired resources,  students will learn how to write a Python program telling people all about you.

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This edition of the Computing at School (CAS) newsletter covers a range of topics including:

*Unplugged computing magic tricks

*Programming using Alice, Scratch and GameMaker

*Making games with Kodu

*Object oriented programming in Java with Greenfoot

This short activity for primary school computing uses art to introduce the concept of abstraction. During a ‘guess what’ game the children are asked to represent a word on a card using drawing or modelling – in doing so they unconsciously concentrate on just the most important aspects of the idea they are...

Machine learning is a system where rather than a computer programmer deciding the best way to sort, organise, classify or use information, the computer program develops its own set of instructions (algorithm) based on information that users feed it.  Scientists at the...

This resource has been developed by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and the BCS Academy of Computing. It will seek to consolidate learners’ understanding of modern information systems concepts, through study of web technologies, including HTML.

Whilst this resource has been designed to be used as a...

This resource consists of a ten page student workbook and some associated resources. The workbook is designed to be used with Key Stage 3 students over a number of lessons, to introduce them to the concept of algorithms, to make them used to following instructions given as an algorithm and to start producing their...

This cross-curricular computing / ICT activity helps children to understand decomposition. They choose a poem and create an animation using Scratch; this encourages them to think deeply about the poem, and to explore the tools available. Children break the poem into pieces (decomposition), then plan the animation...

The BBC micro:bit is a credit sized computer based on a highly popular and high performance ARM processor. The device is designed by a group of 29 partners for use in...

Computers are often required to find information in large collections of data. They need to develop quick and efficient ways of doing this. This activity demonstrates three different search methods: linear searching, binary searching and hashing. This resource begins with the introductory activity of battleships....

Even though computers are fast, there is a limit to how quickly they can solve problems. One way to speed things up is to use several computers to solve different parts of a problem. In this activity sorting networks are used to do several sorting comparisons at the same time. This resource begins with a discussion...

This activity for younger children introduces algorithms and algorithmic thinking. After first planning how to draw numbers using the simple commands available, children then program a BeeBot to create the shapes (BeeBots are a type of simple programmable rover). By watching and feeding back on each other's efforts...

This introduction to using the small programmable robot, the BeeBot, introduces children to creating simple programs. They learn the importance of sequences of accurate instructions, and test their sequences out using a 'fakebot' or paper-robot. Children are encouraged to debug and develop their sequences before...