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.
Computational Tales
I recently found out (thanks to the SIGCSE mailing list) that Dr. Jeremy Kubica, software engineer...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 08/07/2011
i.am FIRST – Science is Rock and Roll
I’m a huge fan of the FIRST organization and their robotics programs at various education levels. So...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 08/04/2011
Imagine Cup Projects–Making The World Better For Millions
Many of the best projects that are entered in the Imagine Cup are inspired by real people solving...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 08/03/2011
Congratulations Louis Zulli Jr. and Doug Bergman
There were nine winners in the Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum, four...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 08/02/2011
Innovative Education Forum–Judging Day
Wow! Just WOW! I spent yesterday judging teacher projects as part of the US Innovative Educator...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/29/2011
Innovative Educator Forum Judge Workshop
For some competitions one selects a bunch of smart people, hands them a rubric and says “have at it....
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/28/2011
Small Grants for CS Education
If you are involved in K-12 computer science education you really owe it to yourself to join the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/26/2011
Encapsulation–An Introduction
My good friend Sam Stokes posted an introduction to Encapsulation not long ago. Not that I am...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/26/2011
Interesting Links 25 July 2011
I was on vacation last week. I had no Internet or cell phone access for a week. It was wonderful as...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/25/2011
What does it mean?
Last week I had the chance to hear Douglas Rushkoff talk at the annual CSTA CS&IT Symposium. All...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/22/2011
Are your students entered in the Windows Phone app contest
This Summer, build Windows Phone 7 apps and you could earn exciting prizes to catch a movie, eat ice...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/20/2011
Small Basic 1.0 is here!
Have you been working with Small Basic? If so you probably know that it has officially been...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/19/2011
Interesting Links Post 18 July 2011
Quite a week last week. You may have read my posts about the CSTA CS & IT Conference. I hope you...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/18/2011
Worldwide Telescope Tour Contest
Have you explored outer space using the WorldWide Telescope? Do you have a favorite tour of space...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/15/2011
CS & IT 2011 Day 2
Wow! The day started off with a bang. Doug Rushkoff, who wrote Program or Be Programmed: Ten...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/13/2011
CS & IT Conference Day 1 - 2011
This year CSTA is trying a bunch of new things with the CS & IT Conference. First off we added a...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/12/2011
Interesting Links 11 July 2011
If you followed my Twitter or read my blog over the weekend you may be tired of hearing about the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/11/2011
Kinect Workshop at the Imagine Cup
These are the views that greeted students entering the Sky Lobby of the host hotel of the World wide...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/10/2011
Student Media at the Imagine Cup
One of the things that is special about this year’s Imagine Cup finals is the student social media...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/10/2011
A Post BASIC World?
What does is mean to be in a post BASIC world? This is the question that comes to mine when I read...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/06/2011
Interesting Links 5 July 2011
Wow! What a week it has been. I came home from ISTE in time for the Fourth of July holiday. I’m...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 07/05/2011
Windows Phones for Students
OK so you are a student and you are wondering what to do over the summer. Perhaps you have a job but...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/29/2011
Interesting Links Post 28 June 2010
This post is late this week. Why? Totally wrapped up in ISTE. OK I did spend some of Sunday visiting...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/28/2011
Home Grown Computer Camp
Michael Scherotter who works for Microsoft decided to run a computer programming day camp in his...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/28/2011
Do We Really Want Digital Textbooks?
I’m in Philadelphia for the annual ISTE Conference. Yesterday was the EduBloggerCon – a very cool...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/26/2011
Adventures in NUI Part 1
Yesterday I was giving a career talk to a group from Year Up in Microsoft’s Technology Center....
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/25/2011
Would You Like to Pilot a New Game Development Course?
Would you like to pilot a new game development course (or two) in your school? With free...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/22/2011
Microsoft at ISTE 2011
As I promised yesterday, here is more information about Microsoft at ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia....
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/21/2011
Award Winning Keynoters at CSTA's Annual CS&IT Conference 2011
This year, CSTA’s annual CS&IT conference will include two fabulous keynoters: *Douglas...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/20/2011
Interesting Links 20 June 2011
This time next week I will be in Philadelphia for ISTE. I’m pretty excited about it. Some really...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/20/2011
Kinect SDK–Think Beyond the Mouse
Finally! The officially supported Kinect Software Developer Kit for the Kinect Device for Windows is...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/16/2011
Is Internet Education the Answer
A friend sent me a link to this inforgraphic about Internet education. I have mixed feelings about...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/15/2011
US Kodu Cup Winners Announced (2011)
Yesterday the Unlimited Potential team announced the winners of the inaugural US Kodu Cup...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/14/2011
Interesting Links Post 13 June 2011
Kodu Cup Winners Announced - late edit in today's post I spent part of this weekend installing new...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/13/2011
What is Digital Literacy? And is it enough?
Someone on twitter sent out a link to an article/video from the BBC called Are children becoming...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/10/2011
Computer Science Related Finalists in the Innovative Education Forum 2011
Yesterday Microsoft announced the second round of finalists for the Innovative Education Forum. Over...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/09/2011
TouchStudio–Script your Phone on Your Phone
OK you have a smart phone and you want to create an application for it. But you don’t have a...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/08/2011
Programming is for Girls
Fair warning: Some gross generalizations and exaggeration for emphasis follow. But some valid points...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/07/2011
Student Insiders and Imagine Cup Game Teams
I thought I might highlight a few student related things going on at Microsoft these days. ...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/03/2011