Tag Archives: programming

The Problem With Software: Why Smart Engineers Write Bad Code

Posted on January 8, 2019 by

I don’t usually read serious books during the summer holidays but in the case, I made an exception. Some quite useful material from a teaching perspective and also if you have been in IT as long as I have, a … Continue reading →

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Why was six afraid of seven?

Posted on May 25, 2017 by

Because seven is a registered six offender. Used by Year 11 student as a joke… revealed with provision of username and password as part of a programming exercise. The class thought it was pretty funny… and a fairly interesting exercise in … Continue reading →

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Persistence and systematic problem solving required for programmers

Posted on January 28, 2017 by

The code below was expected to generate the above example of using an image as background to a window. It didn’t. And after a couple of hours I only just got it working. The problem was largely the development environment … Continue reading →

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Datacom hosts Level 2 Programming course

Posted on October 21, 2016 by

I spent part of the school holidays at Datacom, Wellington, teaching teachers how to teach Level 2 programming using Python (both technical and pedagogical aspects). As a follow on to the course, participants have access to technical support, advice and moderation (at … Continue reading →

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Lamenting poor Maths skills at all Year levels

Posted on June 25, 2016 by

I asked Year 10 students to complete a simple introductory exercise in Scratch requiring them to draw their initials on a standard (x,y) grid (simple coordinate geometry). Quite a few struggled with this exercise – even when I provided them a … Continue reading →

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Flappy Birds – learning to code

Posted on April 16, 2016 by

/studio.code.org/c/205556489 I decided to give Year 9 students a fun introduction to programming. The exercise involved building a flappy birds game and then playing it either via desktop or mobile phone. Try it… (game built by Harriette B) This was a … Continue reading →

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Am I fair?

Posted on October 16, 2015 by

I like to be fair and perceived as fair with my students. I even roll a dice to see who gets to answer the questions (with an option to nominate). Following a programming assessment (Year 10) I asked students if … Continue reading →

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