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.
Recursive Loops
Last week I wrote about loops and how some students seem to have trouble with them. On the link to...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 02/01/2011
2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum
The Innovative Education Forum (IEF) is part of a worldwide program from Microsoft Partners in...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/25/2011
Interesting Links 24 January 2011
I have a good bunch of links this week. Actually a wide variety of them. I hope you find some of use...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/24/2011
R Waldo Roth–In Memorial
Computer science education in 1972 was a lot different from what it is today. Back then most...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/21/2011
Microsoft Math 4.0 and more
Something for the math teachers out there – Microsoft Math now at version 4.0 From the download...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/20/2011
Tell The Government What You Think about K-12 Computer Science Education
Update: If you missed the 1/31 deadline, the program running this solicitation has said they will...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/19/2011
Microsoft at TCEA 2011
Well I am making my plans to be at TCEA again this year. I’m hoping to see a bunch of people. I’ll...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/18/2011
Registration now open for the Microsoft bliink Web Design Competition
I told you it was coming. Yes, Bliink the web design competition is now open across the US. With...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/13/2011
Why Experience Matters
A recent Dilbert cartoon had a man saying “I know what I am talking about. I have thirty years in...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/12/2011
A Joint Call for Research on Why Computer Science Education is Important for K-12
As much as we believe and try to make the case that studying computer science is good for all...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/12/2011
GiveCamp Across America
GiveCamp Across America – will you join us?! We’re looking for students and faculty to...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/11/2011
Interesting Links 10 January 2011
Yesterday I got the “Royal Treatment.” That is to say that Ken Royal from Scholastic did...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/10/2011
To IDE or Not To IDE
One of the controversial issues that keeps coming up in computer science education is the role of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/07/2011
Measure 21st Century Teaching and Learning at Your School Today!
I just saw an announcement of an interesting new program from Microsoft’s Partners in Learning team...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/06/2011
Seven Reasons to Teach Windows Phone Programming
I had an email from Pat Yongpradit over New Year’s week end. Pat is an award winning high...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/05/2011
Imagine Cup News January 20111
Are you back at school yet? Hope you had a good holiday break. I know I did. The other day I got the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/04/2011
Interesting Links 3 January 2011
Happy New Year! I hope your year is off to a good start. I know mine is. I’m very excited about the...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/03/2011
My Most Read Posts of 2010
For the most part I want to focus on the future and not the past. But I did want to take one look...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 01/01/2011
Top Ten Indications You Are A Computer Industry Newbie
Just for fun and because I am old[ish]. But more seriously, because people should know the history...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/29/2010
Interesting Links 27 December 2010
If you are like me and like most teachers you are still on vacation. You have had enough of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/27/2010
High School Computing Is Boring
Periodically I check the list of searches that lead people to this blog. And there are a lot of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/23/2010
Thinking Speed over Typing Speed
Last week I ran across a blog post by John D Cook titled How much does typing speed matter? that got...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/22/2010
How not to teach programming
Through the wonders of DZone I came across a blog post called Don't teach like you code. The target...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/21/2010
Interesting Links 20 December 2010
I’ve been on vacation since a week ago and gotten a lot done. My office is now neater and cleaner...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/20/2010
Computer Science Teacher Education
Mark Guzdial makes a strong case that the Best hope for CS Teacher Education is in-service, not...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/17/2010
Microsoft bliink…a web design competition for high school students
I’ve talked about Bliink in the past. (See bliink) Over the last couple of years Microsoft has...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/16/2010
CS&IT 2011 — Call for Proposals
The Computer Science Teachers Association sent out a call for proposals for the Annual CSTA Computer...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/15/2010
Free E Books from Microsoft
I “borrowed” this list from the Microsoft UK Higher Education blog (Free Microsoft...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/14/2010
Interesting Links 13 December 2010
Did you do anything special for Computer Science Education week last week? The one thing I did was...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/13/2010
Does learning have to stop when the last bell rings?
We have this tendency to think that learning at school takes place only between the opening and...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/10/2010
Four Key Concepts of Computer Programming
Last week Rob Miles who is taller than I am, has more hair than I do and has an English accent all...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/08/2010
Top Read Posts from November 2010
As with most blogs traffic here comes from two main sources. One is subscribers; people who follow...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/03/2010
Characteristics of a Good Programming Project
Hélène Martin had a pair of great posts last week (links below) about what makes a good...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/02/2010
Do We Need A New Teaching Programming Language
I saw some discussions lately about the need or lack of need for new programming languages. In once...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 12/01/2010
Artificial Intelligence and Game Programming
Recently the Advanced Placement Computer Science mailing list had an exchange looking for...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/30/2010
Interesting Links 29 November 2010
I hope everyone (US anyway) had a great Thanksgiving last week. For me it was a good time with fun,...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/29/2010
Does Learning Computer Science help anything else?
When something I think about a good deal turns up in two or more blogs written by other people my...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/25/2010
Imagine Cup Insider–Announcing IC Solve This
Turn Your Ideas Into Action! Imagine a world where global Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGO’s),...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/23/2010
Student Access to the AppHub for Windows Phone 7
One of the many benefits of the DreamSpark program, besides all of the free software, is access to...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/22/2010
Wisdom in Lists–Really?
Like a lot of people I have an affection for lists that condense a lot of wisdom into a brief set of...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/17/2010
Pledge to Participate in and be a Supporter of Computer Science Education Week!
Computer Science Education week is December 5-11, 2010 this year. ACM and the chair of CSed Week...
Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 11/16/2010