Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson
Alfred Thompson's blog about teaching computer science at the K-12 level. Alfred was a high school computer science teacher for 8 years. He has also taught grades K-8 as a computer specialist.
Ada Lovelace Day 2010
It’s Ada Lovelace day again. Today many hundreds (hopefully a couple of thousand) of bloggers are...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/24/2010
Rethinking Hello World
Is it time to rethink and replace “Hello world?” Honestly I think so. The purpose of “Hello Word” is...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/23/2010
Interesting Links 22 March 2010
What a week. Very busy with several speaking engagements including a set of hands on labs with high...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/22/2010
Virtual Events for Educators and School Administrators
I regularly receive announcements about Microsoft events for educators. Some of them are directly of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/19/2010
New Teaching & Learning Resources for XNA and Web
Last week Microsoft put several curriculum modules on on the higher education part of the Faculty...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/17/2010
Windows Phone 7 Series Programming
Programming phones seems to be the hot new thing these days. Yesterday Microsoft announced the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/16/2010
Thoughts On AP CS Principles
The Advanced Placement Computer Science exam is one of the smallest and least diverse members of the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/15/2010
Turning on a Paradigm
I’m in Milwaukee for SIGCSE this week. I love this conference most for the informal conversations...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/10/2010
Interesting Links 8 March 2010
Well last week was another interesting week for me. I finished it off with a short trip to Houston...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/08/2010
10 things likely to be overheard from a Klingon Programmer
I have no idea where this came from originally but it showed up on the AP CS mailing list this week....
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/05/2010
Upcoming Microsoft Teacher Leader Training Events
Are you an educator responsible for providing technology training to colleagues? Do you frequently...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/04/2010
Newsletters for Computer Science Teachers
Maybe you are the sort who likes their news to come on paper. Or perhaps you just like your news in...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/04/2010
Say That Again in English
One of the first things I do in the morning is check Twitter. I start with my calendar and my email...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/02/2010
NASA Be A Martian Pathfinder Innovation Challenge
Back last November I posted a short link to NASA’s Be A Martian program page. I guess I didn’t...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/26/2010
Students to Business Career Streams
Microsoft is doing a number of things to help people enter and grow in technology careers. Yesterday...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/25/2010
Small Basic is Moving And Other Resources On the BDLC
Small Basic is now part of the Beginning Developer Learning Center. Looks like the whole landing...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/24/2010
ASCII Art For Fun and Projects
I guess I am on a nostalgia kick. Earlier this week I found a link to an Text Ascii Art Generator...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/23/2010
Interesting Links 22 February 2010
I blogged a lot of opinion pieces last week. I’ll try to have more information this week. But at the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/22/2010
Not being able to program a computer is like …
I confess to an almost addictive love for a good analogy to explain various ideas. One analogy...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/20/2010
Nostalgia
Last week someone on the SIGCSE mailing list mentioned that they learned to program in FORTRAN,...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/19/2010
Cheating In Computer Science Classes
This story on cheating in Computer Science classes is one of those things that really makes you...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/18/2010
Where is the Computer Science at Education Technology Conferences?
I’ve been attending educational technology (EdTech) conferences for years now. Some of them are...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/17/2010
Make Haste Slowly
On Monday I posted a link to An idiots guide to really bad programming. It is an interesting list...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/16/2010
Interesting Links 15 February 2010
I’m running late today I am afraid. Got home late from the west coast last night and my body is a...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/15/2010
Programming Contests – for good or for ill
In various contexts the subject of programming contests has come up in conversations I have been...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/11/2010
Small Basic 0.8 Now with Silverlight
There is a new version of Small Basic out this week. More details about it on the Small Basic blog...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/10/2010
New Windows 7 Track on Microsoft’s Certification Game!
OK so maybe you’re not using Windows 7 at school yet but I’ll bet a lot of your students are running...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/09/2010
Interesting Links 8 February 2010
Well did you watch the Super Bowl? I confess that I did not. I’m just not that into football. Still...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/08/2010
Bliink Web Design Competition for Texas High School Students
The Microsoft Corporation, NASA, the Texas Business & Education Coalition, and the State of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/07/2010
What Are You Learning This Summer
No, really! Are you making your summer plans yet and do they include learning time? I have some...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/05/2010
Facebook Development
One of the things that came up from the panel I was on last week (that panel has prompted a bunch of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/04/2010
Surprise and wonder in computer science
Last week I attended a workshop day at Stevens Institute of Technology where Michael Kolling,...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/02/2010
Interesting Links 1 February 2010
All sorts of good things last week. Tops among them was a visit to Stevens Institute of Technology...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/01/2010
Microsoft Institute Series for Teacher Leaders
February 10-11 in Austin, Texas Register Now: Part 1 Registration Wednesday, February 10 1 p.m.-5...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/27/2010
Can Movie Computer Screens Help Us Design Better
NPR did a story recently on the computer screens that we see in the movies. You know the ones with...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/27/2010
DigiGirlz Days Spring Schedule
Well the latest batch of DigiGirlz Days are starting to get scheduled. What are DigiGirlz Days? They...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/26/2010
So are there or are their not jobs in CS and IT
The other day in my interesting links post I included links to several articles/blog posts. One...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/22/2010
Microsoft at TCEA
In a couple of weeks I’ll be heading down to Austin Texas for the annual TCEA conference. This is...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/19/2010
Interesting Links 18 January 2010
When it rains it pours! I spent last week at FETC in Florida but kept a weather eye out for...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/18/2010
FETC Day 1 (2010)
My first piece of advice to anyone attending FETC or other major education technology conference is...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/13/2010
Brute Force or is there an easy way?
This year being ‘10 has lead to a lot of talk about numbers that look like binary numbers 1/11/10 or...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/13/2010