and a few links on this page.
Friday, 28 June 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
THE F1 IN SCHOOLS CHALLENGE
F1 in Schools Ltd is a not-for-profit company established with committed partners to provide an exciting yet challenging educational experience through the magnetic appeal of Formula One.
F1 in Schools is rapidly realising its potential of becoming the only truly global educational programme that raises awareness of Formula One among students and school children in every region, in every country, on every continent. Spanning age ranges of 9 to19 its main objective is to help change perceptions of engineering, science and technology by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in engineering, Formula One, science, marketing and technology.
F1 in Schools is rapidly realising its potential of becoming the only truly global educational programme that raises awareness of Formula One among students and school children in every region, in every country, on every continent. Spanning age ranges of 9 to19 its main objective is to help change perceptions of engineering, science and technology by creating a fun and exciting learning environment for young people to develop an informed view about careers in engineering, Formula One, science, marketing and technology.34 countries.... 12 million students.... 1 experience of a lifetime !
Where could F1 in Schools take you?
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
New VLE
Javi and Richard have made some 'How 2' movies to support with using the new VLE. New features like creating an image gallery (called the lightbox) and general tips on how to upload with folders etc... to keep your subject areas looking good and easy to use feature on the films.
Please find the link to the movies on the new VLE below
https://moodle2.wildern.hants.
The new VLE welcome page is:
https://moodle2.wildern.hants.
Please find the link to the movies on the new VLE below
https://moodle2.wildern.hants.
The new VLE welcome page is:
https://moodle2.wildern.hants.
Friday, 21 June 2013
Cabinet Office sets up cyber security challenge
The Cabinet Office has set up a cyber security schools programme that will be delivered by Cyber Security Challenge UK and invites secondary school pupils to compete in a national code breaking challenge
The Cabinet Office has set up a cyber security schools programme that will be delivered by Cyber Security Challenge UK and invites secondary school pupils to compete in a national code breaking challenge to demonstrate their potential for a career defending the UK from hackers and computer viruses. The competition will start in September and is designed for key stage 4 students who will break coded messages designed by industry experts and develop their own for other schools to crack.
This is the first schools programme run by Challenge. It will be delivered in association with employers to ensure it tests practical and usable skills that are in demand from industry and is supported by new Cabinet Office funding. The winning team will earn a £1,000 cash prize for their school.
To help teachers spark students’ interest and start to hone their skills, schools who register for the competition will receive a pack of ciphers and code breaking exercises. These will be accompanied by learning support materials and lesson plans that not only teach classes how to crack the codes, but also get them working in teams to develop their own ciphers.
The students’ ciphers will be submitted to the Challenge and points attributed to each by a panel of industry experts, who will judge them on ingenuity and difficulty. The ciphers will then be shared with other schools for them to crack in order to gain further points in the initial virtual tournament. At the end of the virtual tournament the top scoring teams will be invited to a face-to-face final battle at the start of next year to find the first ever Cyber Security Challenge Schools Champion.
The competitions and teacher packs will be made available to over 2,500 schools in the south west through a partnership between the Challenge and South West Grid for Learning. Schools in other regions can take part by signing up on the Challenge website at www.cybersecuritychallenge.org/education
This is the first schools programme run by Challenge. It will be delivered in association with employers to ensure it tests practical and usable skills that are in demand from industry and is supported by new Cabinet Office funding. The winning team will earn a £1,000 cash prize for their school.
To help teachers spark students’ interest and start to hone their skills, schools who register for the competition will receive a pack of ciphers and code breaking exercises. These will be accompanied by learning support materials and lesson plans that not only teach classes how to crack the codes, but also get them working in teams to develop their own ciphers.
The students’ ciphers will be submitted to the Challenge and points attributed to each by a panel of industry experts, who will judge them on ingenuity and difficulty. The ciphers will then be shared with other schools for them to crack in order to gain further points in the initial virtual tournament. At the end of the virtual tournament the top scoring teams will be invited to a face-to-face final battle at the start of next year to find the first ever Cyber Security Challenge Schools Champion.
The competitions and teacher packs will be made available to over 2,500 schools in the south west through a partnership between the Challenge and South West Grid for Learning. Schools in other regions can take part by signing up on the Challenge website at www.cybersecuritychallenge.org/education
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Monday, 17 June 2013
Bring computer programming to your school
Since February we've heard from 12,000 schools asking our help to teach computer programming. We've avoided responding until we had a worthwhile announcement. This is NOT a monthly newsletter, you'll only hear from us rarely. Many have asked us for a brief update.
We're working on a broad program to bring computer science curriculum to all schools. We hope to unveil our program this fall. In the meantime, we want to tell you about some 3rd-party options that are worth pursuing.
If you have feedback for how Code.org can help schools and educators, please give us your ideas at our UserVoice forum.
To teach Computer Science in High School
Options for high schools, ranging from full courses to clubs:
Berkeley's 6-week workshop to teach Computer Science. Spend a summer learning the course, teach it next year. Generous stipends included. Starts June 17 or June 24
Amplify's online course in AP CS. A MOOC designed for the classroom, offer Advanced Placement CS using a remote/online teacher, local mentor.
Codecademy after-school clubs - a complete program for starting an after school code-club with an online-based curriculum
CodeHS - online curriculum designed to teach JavaScript in high school classrooms. ($ required)
Add computer programming to math class with Bootstrap - a curriculum that teaches computer programming using algebra and geometry
Teach coding to make games with Globaloria - Globaloria can help schools offer a full class or an after school club, with a curriculum designed around making games ($ required)
For Elementary or Middle School
Options for elementary and middle schools:
6-week workshop on teaching computing with Scratch - an online workshop offered by members of the Scratch team at Harvard University. Scratch is an enormously platform for teaching introductory programming
Tynker - a full coding platform for elementary and middle school - visual programming designed for students, complete with curriculum and walk-throughs
CS Unplugged - curriculum ideas for teaching basic computer programming concepts in classrooms without computers.
That's all for now. We hope you have a great summer! And if you have feedback for howCode.org can help schools and educators, please give us your ideas at our UserVoice forum.
Hadi Partovi
Founder, Code.org
Thursday, 13 June 2013
What is skeuomorphism?
Steve Jobs believed computers should be so simple to use that a complete novice could master them based on instinct alone.
He championed a style of design in which digital elements resembled real world objects that anyone could recognise.
Behind the glass screen lay a "desktop" on which users could arrange "documents", or drop them into the "trash" - an icon in the shape of a bin.
The idea is known as "skeuomorphism". It predates Jobs and persists to this day.
The envelope is the de-facto symbol for email and SMS messages. It offers a nice distinction between read and unread - they become opened and unopened envelopes.
Continue reading the main story
Skeuomorph (n)
Skewer-what??
- An object or feature copying the design of a similar artefact in another material (OED)
- a functional item redesigned as something decorative (Collins)
- an ornament or design representing a utensil or implement (Merriam-Webster)
If you're using certain Android Samsung phones your
email icon is even more atavistic - an envelope with a red wax seal. But it's
got an @ pressed into it - a weird mish-mash of old and new.
On Windows 7, the Sticky Notes program resembles electronic Post-it notes. Write on them and you get a slightly handwriting-esque font called Segoe. Unlike the real thing, they don't lose their stickiness and fall off your desktop.
You cut and paste on Microsoft programs like Word and Outlook using scissors and a clipboard.
The "show desktop" icon on Windows XP looks like a leather-bound desk blotter. Not just an old-world item, but something that hasn't been on the typical desk for a long, long time.
Apple's notepad looks like yellow jotting paper, contacts are stored in a binder, and its golden compass sits on a wooden base.
It's not just the appearance of icons or just the look of an app, some programs like calendars and contacts books actually behave a little bit like their old-world equivalents.
Windows 8 largely avoids skeuomorphs but retains a
postal symbol for email
Now, however, all that is set to change. Skeuomorphism has fallen out of favour in recent years, and is almost regarded as a dirty word by many in the design community.
Apple this week announced a radical revision to the approach at its annual developer conference in California and its new mobile operating system will ditch real world visual metaphors in favour of a stripped-back minimalist approach.
"No virtual cows were harmed in the making of this one," quipped Craig Federighi, head of the new project, in deference to the critics of its leather-trimmed calendar app.
The podcast app recently lost its reel-to-reel tape deck look, a reference which would have been lost on many younger smartphone users.
Not everyone will be pleased with the decision though, and some regret the decline of the skeuomorph.
Continue reading the main story
More on design features from the web
- Clive Thompson, for Wired, says we must wean ourselves off these "defunct models" or miss out on digital tools harnessing what IT does best
- Aisha Harris, for Slate, argues that skeuomorphs are "one of the more pleasant little tricks we use to help make make sense of something new"
- Author of tech-culture site The Machine Starts, Chris Baraniuk, says the term "skeuomorph" is misused, when people mean "visual metaphor"
Responsibility day - Thursday 13th June
RESPONSIBILITY!
Lesson 1 - Who is responsible for ensuring all children have an education?
Read to the class:
“I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school. I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity,” she said in a statement.
Malala Yousufza, the Pakistani girl who stood up to the Taliban for the right to have an education as female in her home town to campaign for the UN rights to an education, was shot in the head for standing up for what she believes in.
She is only 15, she should be allowed to concentrate of her education and being a teenager.
Whose responsibility is it to campaign for the rights to have an education?
Lesson 2 - Being responsible for our school
Should it be the responsibility of the students dropping the litter?
Would you want to see something like this in our school? See link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1295835/School-hires-birdsprey-tackle-lunch-stealing-seagulls.html
Do we all have a responsibility as community within our peer groups to keep our school site clean? For example making sure our friends use the bin and not the floor.
Discuss…Then watch this movie made by students on Wildern TV
https://www.wildern.hants.sch.uk/index.php?view=video&task=video&option=com_arc_tv&Itemid
Lesson 3 - What makes a responsible parent?
Watch clip from the film 'Big daddy'
With fathers day coming up this weekend - write down or discuss your top ten tips of being a responsible father or parent?
extra info at www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Father
Lesson 4 - What are you eating?
With the current issues with horse meat being found in our food who do you think should be responsible for the food we eat?
Should we be concerned when many countries within Europe eat horsemeat as part of their regular diet?
Should we be concerned when many countries within Europe eat horsemeat as part of their regular diet?
Is it just the food industry or do we the consumer have a responsibility to make sure we know what we’re eating.
Discuss…
Fathers for Justice – Are they being responsible fathers in the way they protest? Do they get their voice heard? Who’s responsible for the fathers not getting their equal rights?
http://www.fathers-4-justice.org
Watch video clip and then discuss
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Infographic: How Technology in Schools Has Changed Over Time
Education & Careers InfographicsTech & Gadgets InfographicsTrending Infographics
Can you imagine attending a school where whiteboards weren’t used,there were no handheld calculators, and headphones weren’t available? Travel back in time about 50-60 years, and that’s exactly what you’d get. This infographic takes a look at the changes of technology in school settings from the early 1900′s to present day.
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