Teaching Python

RESOLVED - RIP Google Colab in Education

October 11th, 2021
By Sean Tibor
colab, education, google, python

Starting in September 2021, students in K-12 schools began receiving warnings that their access to Google Colab was denied. Increasingly frustrating was that the issue was inconsistent across student accounts. One student could be happily coding away, while the student sitting next to them was unable to access their notebooks. At our school, our technology admins could see that Google Colab was enabled as a marketplace app for all students.

CircuitPlayground Error Bingo

October 4th, 2021
By Sean Tibor
bingo, circuitpython, gamification

As we're teaching using the Adafruit CircuitPlayground, the same errors come up over and over. In order to make this less stressful and more fun, we've made a game out of it!

Our Top 5 Bots for the Computer Science Classroom

September 9th, 2021
By Kelly Paredes
awsdeepracer, code-a-pillar, coding, computer science, cue, dash, lego, python, robomaster, robots, spike prime

Robots are important in the Computer Science Curriculum. Check out our top 5 bots to use!

Hacking the Classroom Hand Sanitizer Dispenser Part 2

August 3rd, 2021
By Sean Tibor
hacking, hardware, home assistant

In part 2 of this project, Sean hacks our classroom's hand sanitizer dispenser to encourage students to practice better hand hygiene. This project uses Home Assistant, the Amazon Echo, and an ESP8266 running ESPHome to make it much more fun to sanitize your hands.

Digital Citizenship Examples for the Computer Science Classroom

July 30th, 2021
By Kelly Paredes
coding, computer science, digital citizenship, digital footprint, digital skills, iste, standards

Although a coding curriculum lends itself easily to incorporating many digital citizenship skills, even the best Computer Science course may not always find ways to directly teaching them. However, here are some easy ways to ensure that you focus on the three categories of digital citizenship.

Drill to Skill

July 25th, 2021
By Kelly Paredes

Unlocking talent and growing your coding knowledge can be accomplished with a very important process of Drill and Skill. Get a brief peak of growing myelin, from the book "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle.

Live Stream with PyCharm Edu on May 20th

May 17th, 2021
By Sean Tibor
idesesries, livestream, pycharm, python, teaching

Teaching Python will live stream Episode 69 with PyCharm EDU on Thursday May 20 via YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook Live!

Five Strategies to promote Pattern Awareness in Python

May 3rd, 2021
By Kelly Paredes

Pattern recognition techniques are a powerful tool for enhancing students' comprehension of coding concepts, leveraging the brain's innate affinity for patterns to foster a deeper understanding of code.

Five Steps for Building Rubrics for Authentic Assessments

March 30th, 2021
By Kelly Paredes
blooms_taxonomy, ivypanda, learning, objectives, python, resources, rubrics, single-point rubric

In this blog post, we will look at using rubrics to judge achievement on authentic assessments.

Identifying and Teaching "Mistakes" to Help us Learn Code

March 19th, 2021
By Kelly Paredes
effective effort, fail fast, failure, failures, learning, mistakes, process over product

At the start of every coding course, computer science teachers can benefit from explaining to students the process and skills of learning how to fail. Most students' first reaction to using the word "fail" takes their minds to the gradebook and the repercussion that may be felt from their parents or on their GPA if they fail a class. However, explaining how mistakes can be used to enhance learning has many different advantages.