The discussion covers the current landscape of LLMs in coding education, from the benefits of faster iteration cycles to the risks of students losing that crucial "aha moment" when they solve problems independently. Simon shares insights on prompt injection vulnerabilities, the importance of local models for privacy, and why he believes LLMs are much harder to use effectively than most people realize.

Key topics include:

• Educational Strategy: When to introduce AI tools vs. building foundational skills first
• Security Concerns: Prompt injection attacks and their implications for educational tools
• Student Engagement: Maintaining motivation and problem-solving skills in an AI world
  
• Practical Applications: Using LLMs for code review, debugging, and rapid prototyping
• Privacy Issues: Understanding data collection and training practices of major AI companies
• Local Models: Running AI tools privately on personal devices
• The "Jagged Frontier": Why LLMs excel at some tasks while failing at others

Simon brings 20 years of Django experience and deep expertise in both web development and AI tooling to discuss how educators can thoughtfully integrate these powerful but unpredictable tools into their classrooms. The conversation balances excitement about AI's potential with realistic assessments of its limitations and risks.

Whether you're a coding educator trying to navigate the AI revolution or a developer interested in the intersection of education and technology, this episode provides practical insights for working with LLMs responsibly and effectively.

Resources mentioned:

• Simon's blog: simonwillison.net
• Mission Encodable curriculum
• Datasette and LLM tools
• GitHub Codespaces for safe AI experimentation

Special Guest: Simon Willison.

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In this episode, we're thrilled to welcome Sheena O'Connell, an educator and developer from South Africa who has been making waves in the Python education community. Sheena shares her journey from electrical engineering to founding Prelude, where she runs advanced Django learning sprints and teamwork training courses.

We explore the critical importance of soft skills in technical education, diving into Google's Project Aristotle and the five key factors that make teams effective: psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact. Sheena provides fascinating insights into how cultural concepts like Ubuntu ("I am because we are") influence collaborative learning and professional development.

The conversation covers practical strategies for teaching both technical and soft skills to adult learners, the challenges of helping students transition from learning to professional environments, and how to build psychologically safe spaces that promote growth and learning.

We also discuss upcoming events including Django Con Africa in Tanzania and PyCon Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa, which Sheena is chairing.

Whether you're an educator, team leader, or developer interested in fostering better collaborative environments, this episode offers valuable insights into the intersection of technical education, cultural awareness, and team dynamics.

Key Topics Discussed

• Transitioning from technical roles to education
• Building effective coding bootcamps and adult learning programs
• The importance of soft skills in technical careers
• Google's Project Aristotle and team effectiveness
• Psychological safety and stereotype threat
• Cultural influences on learning and teamwork (Ubuntu philosophy)
• Managing the "desperation mindset" in learning environments
• Professional development and career transitions
• PyCon Africa and Django Con Africa
• Cross-cultural team dynamics and communication

Guests

Sheena O'Connell - Founder of Prelude, former educator at Umuzi, and chair of PyCon Africa 2025

Resources Mentioned

• Google's Project Aristotle
• The Culture Map (book on cultural differences in teams)
• Prelude Tech - Sheena's platform for Django courses and teamwork training
• PyCon Africa 2025 (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• Django Con Africa (Arusha, Tanzania)
• Ubuntu philosophy
• Umuzi (South African coding bootcamp)

Connect with Sheena

• Personal blog: sheenaoc.com
• Courses and training: Prelude TV
• PyCon Africa 2025: October, Johannesburg, South Africa

Wins and Fails of the Week

Sheena

• Win: Successfully running a teamwork course for Canonical with an international team
• Fail: All her plants fell onto the couch (and the subsequent cleanup)

Kelly

• Win: Attending ISTE conference in San Antonio, meeting previous podcast guests, and co-hosting a presentation
• Fail: Losing momentum on Anthony Shaw's GitHub course due to summer break

Sean

• Win: Being interviewed by media about AI coding tools and AWS Amazon Q
• Fail: Home server power supply failure during a lightning storm, breaking all home automations

Episode Notes

This episode provides valuable insights for educators at all levels, from K-12 teachers to corporate trainers. The discussion of soft skills, cultural awareness, and team dynamics offers practical strategies that can be applied in classrooms, coding bootcamps, and professional development settings.

The conversation highlights how technical education must go beyond coding skills to prepare students for successful careers, emphasizing the importance of communication, collaboration, and cultural competency in today's global technology landscape.

Special Guest: Sheena O'Connell.

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Special Guest: Brianne Caplan.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Code Your Dreams | Teaching Inner-City Chicago Kids To Code — Where Every Dream Counts: Embracing Innovation Through Education for a Brighter Future

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Chuck Severance about making programming accessible to everyone, the importance of practical applications in learning, and the potential of remote internships in programming education.

Description

In this episode of Teaching Python, hosts Kelly Schuster-Paredes and Sean Tibor chat with Dr. Chuck Severance, widely known as Dr. Chuck, about his innovative approaches to make Python and programming accessible to everyone. They discuss Dr. Chuck's methods for engaging learners of all ages, the critical role of practical application in education, and how creating connections can help students retain complex concepts.

The conversation also delves into the potential for scalable, remote internships and how empowering students with programming skills at a younger age can have far-reaching effects on their future careers. Dr. Chuck shares his experiences, strategies, and vision for the future of programming education, making this episode a must-listen for educators and learners alike.

Sections

• Introduction
• Wins of the Week
• Guest Introduction
• The Making of a Viral Python Course
• Importance of Practical Applications
• Empowering the Future with Python
• Closing Remarks

Special Guest: Dr. Charles Severance aka "Dr. Chuck".

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• PY4E - Python for Everybody — This web site is building a set of free materials, lectures, book and assignments to help students learn how to program in Python. You can take this course and receive a certificate at: Coursera: Python for Everybody Specialization edX: Python for Everybody FreeCodeCamp Free certificates for University of Michigan students and staff CodeKidz
• PY4E - Python for Everybody — The goal of this book is to provide an Informatics-oriented introduction to programming. The primary difference between a computer science approach and the Informatics approach taken in this book is a greater focus on using Python to solve data analysis problems common in the world of Informatics.

Today's Topics:

• Making Coding Engaging
• Personal Coding Stories and Teachings
• Tools and Strategies for Coding Education

Special Guest: Charlie Meyer.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Pickcode | The coding platform for education — Pickcode's online editor is the easiest way to teach and learn programming

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Online Python Tutor - visualize, debug, get AI help for Python, Java, C, C++, and JavaScript — Python Tutor helps you do programming homework assignments in Python, Java, C, C++, and JavaScript. It contains a unique step-by-step visual debugger and AI tutor to help you understand and debug code.
• Welcome - Barbara Oakley

In this episode of the Teaching Python podcast, co-hosts Sean Tibor and Kelly Schuster Paredes discuss the significance of failure in learning. They assert that failure is a crucial part of development and growth, providing an opportunity to be resilient and persistent when things don't go to plan. Sean shares a personal experience where he turned a coding failure into a learning opportunity, evolving better testing principles. Also, they discuss the need for a secure environment to allow for failure and learning. They conclude by introducing their community partnership with Python Tutor, a tool that helps in visualizing Python code execution.

Support Teaching Python

Note: This is a shorter episode format that focuses on one specific topic, limited to 15-20 minutes.

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Links:

• Teams for Education - Replit — Tests and autograding Save time on grading. Free yourself up for more individual attention and increase student persistence by letting them test code before turning it in.
• PyBites Platform | Real World Python Exercises — Overwhelmed by tutorials? Stop consuming books and courses! The only way to really learn to code is to write a lot of relevant code. Our platform makes you a confident programmer fast.

Special Guest: Ines Montani.

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Links:

• ines.io — Hi, I’m Ines. I’m a software developer working on Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing technologies, and the co-founder and CEO of Explosion. We’re the makers of spaCy, one of the leading open-source libraries for Natural Language Processing in Python, and Prodigy, a modern annotation tool for creating training data for machine learning models.
• Explosion — Company co-founded by Ines, specializing in AI and NLP developer tools.
• spaCy · Industrial-strength Natural Language Processing in Python — A leading Python library for NLP, designed to help process and understand large amounts of textual data.
• Prodigy · Prodigy · An annotation tool for AI, Machine Learning & NLP — An interactive annotation tool for AI and machine learning, mentioned extensively in the conversation.
• MagicMirror² — The open source modular smart mirror platform
• Our Patreon — The Patreon page where listeners can financially support the podcast.

1. Personal Updates
   • Sean Tibor shares his excitement about meeting his overseas team members for the first time.
   • He also expresses pride at watching his first batch of students graduate and choose to study in computer science and related fields.
2. Future Learning Journeys
   • Kelly Schuster-Paredes reflects on the exciting learning opportunities the students will undertake.
   • She expresses hope that these students will return to share their experiences and insights (Teaching Python website).
3. Inviting Past Students on the Podcast
   • Both hosts discuss the possibility of inviting former students to the podcast as guests.
4. Current Students Excelling
   • Kelly shares an anecdote about a 6th grader surpassing her knowledge in Python's Turtle module.
5. Plans for the Podcast
   • Return in June with the first guest speaker of the year.
   • Considering a summer sabbatical to prepare for the upcoming school year.
   • Plans to enhance their Patreon community with exclusive benefits.
6. Reach Out!
   • Sean invites listeners to reach out via social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
   • He also encourages feedback on potential topics or guests for future podcast episodes through their website contact form.
7. Signing Off
   • The hosts sign off, promising more Python learning insights and experiences in the next episodes.

For more details, visit the Teaching Python Podcast website.

Support Teaching Python

In this interview, we'll cover everything from the shortage of computer science teachers to smart doorbells to going beyond Kahoot! to tools that help teachers assess student learning progress.

Special Guest: Ryan Dehmoubed.

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Links:

• Python Smart Doorbell - JuiceMind — Learn the fundamentals of Python by building a REAL product – a Smart Doorbell that sends text messages and emails!
• Ping Pong Launcher - JuiceMind — Strengthen your Python skills and learn the fundamentals of robotics by building a Ping Pong Launcher that can fire a ping pong ball 20 feet!
• JuiceMind Quizzes

Join us as we talk about everything from our favorite teaching examples, the process of book writing, fostering cats, and more.

Special Guest: Al Sweigart.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Invent with Python — Learning to program makes you a smarter and more capable human being. Rocket science uses programming, but programming isn't rocket science. Whether you're a student preparing for a software career, an office worker buried under spreadsheet files, or a hobbyist who wants to make video games, the Python programming language is an excellent start in the world of programming. Get started for free with the online copies of Al's books!
• The Recursive Book of Recursion: Ace the Coding Interview with Python and JavaScript: Sweigart, Al: 9781718502024: Amazon.com: Books — An accessible yet rigorous crash course on recursive programming using Python and JavaScript examples. Recursion has an intimidating reputation: it’s considered to be an advanced computer science topic frequently brought up in coding interviews. But there’s nothing magical about recursion.
• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition: Practical Programming for Total Beginners: Sweigart, Al: 9781593279929: Amazon.com: Books — Learn how to code while you write programs that effortlessly perform useful feats of automation! The second edition of this international fan favorite includes a brand-new chapter on input validation, Gmail and Google Sheets automations, tips for updating CSV files, and more.
• Python Programming Exercises, Gently Explained , Sweigart, Al, eBook - Amazon.com — Many books and websites have aggressive programming challenges for top coders. However, this book is for the rest of us. We want challenges that improve our coding skills, not leave us confused and discouraged. Other tutorials and books have taught you the basics of Python, but the 42 programming exercises in this book let you practice what you've learned. Selected for their simplicity, these programming problems include gentle explanations of the problem, the prerequisite coding concepts you’ll need to understand the solution, and helpful templates to put together the programs if you have trouble starting from scratch.
• Amazon.com: The Big Book of Small Python Projects: 81 Easy Practice Programs eBook : Sweigart, Al: Kindle Store — If you’ve mastered basic Python syntax and you’re ready to start writing programs, you’ll find The Big Book of Small Python Projects both enlightening and fun. This collection of 81 Python projects will have you making digital art, games, animations, counting pro- grams, and more right away. Once you see how the code works, you’ll practice re-creating the programs and experiment by adding your own custom touches.
• Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python: Best Practices for Writing Clean Code: Sweigart, Al: 9781593279660: Amazon.com: Books — BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN NOVICE AND PROFESSIONAL You've completed a basic Python programming tutorial or finished Al Sweigart's bestseller, Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. What's the next step toward becoming a capable, confident software developer?
• Cracking Codes with Python: An Introduction to Building and Breaking Ciphers: Sweigart, Al: 9781593278229: Amazon.com: Books — Learn how to program in Python while making and breaking ciphers—algorithms used to create and send secret messages! 
• Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python, 4th Edition: Sweigart, Al: 9781593277956: Amazon.com: Books — Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python will teach you how to make computer games using the popular Python programming language—even if you’ve never programmed before!

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Welcome to PyCon US 2023 - PyCon US 2023 — Presenting PyCon US 2023 a 20th Year Anniversary Celebration! Salt Lake City, Utah - April 19, 2023 - April 27, 2023 Tutorials - April 19-20, 2023 Main Conference and Online - April 21-23, 2023 Job Fair - April 23, 2023 Sprints - April 24-27, 202

Special Guest: Elad Inbar.

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Links:

• RobotLAB Group - Robotics Solution Integrator — We are "The Robot Guys". the only company you will ever need for your turn-key robotics solution. No matter how small or large your project is, we can do the heavy lifting for you!
• NAO Robot Power V6 Educator Pack — The latest version of NAO with 10 major areas of improvement is here! Bring STEM and Coding to life with the NAO Robot. Hands-on learning platform to teach core subjects: Reading, Writing, Math, pre-algebra, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and programming.

Episode Errata:

• The hackday event referenced in the episode was related to Pyscript and more information will come out on that shortly.
• The data science competition for high school students referenced in the episode is called Data Science Expo and will be piloted in the 2022-2023 school year.

Note: we had to go to the cloud-based recording backup for this episode, so you may notice a few issues with audio quality. Our editor did his best to clean it up, but there are a few rough spots.

Special Guests: Albert Defusco and Sophia Yang.

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Links:

• Anaconda Nucleus — Find content in the Anaconda library, support, and more!
• Anaconda | The World's Most Popular Data Science Platform — Anaconda offers the easiest way to perform Python/R data science and machine learning on a single machine. Start working with thousands of open-source packages and libraries today.
• Getting started with Anaconda — Anaconda documentation — Anaconda Distribution contains conda and Anaconda Navigator, as well as Python and hundreds of scientific packages. When you installed Anaconda, you installed all these too.
• PyScript | Run Python in your HTML — Run Python in Your HTML

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Links:

• Rubicon — Where kids learn the skills that aren't taught in school

Its main goals are to make coding with Python per se and Python on the micro:bit more accessible:

• An appealing user interface with bright colours
• Contextual help and autocomplete
• Example snippets of code you can browse and insert, like browsing blocks in MakeCode or Scratch
• Simple code structure highlighting to aid understanding about indents in Python
• Explanation of features of MicroPython useful in CS teaching, but not covered in device-oriented documentation
• Built-in serial console and REPL so you can do more traditional Python coding using your keyboard input and printing to the screen – the micro:bit is your Python runtime!

Special Guest: Giles Booth.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• seantibor/uorganisms: Python micro:organisms on the BBC micro:bit — The uorganism, spoken: 'micro:organism' (get it?), project helps students understand how genetic information is passed from generation to generation using the BBC micro:bit. Each micro:bit holds a single virtual organism that can reproduce with other micro:bits in range using the built-in radio. Using the REPL, students can see how new organisms are created and track how genetic information is passed from parents to offspring.
• Python Editor for micro:bit — The Beta version!
• Micro:bit Educational Foundation | micro:bit — The Microbit foundation home page
• Talk - Kelly Schuster - Paredes/Sean Tibor: Learn Python Like a 12 Year Old - YouTube — Along the way to adulthood, we often lose that sense of wonder, enjoyment, and playfulness that we had as kids in our favorite school subjects. As adults, we can become better learners ourselves when we examine how kids learn coding with Python. In this session, we’ll talk about making thinking and coding visible, to the brain science behind how we learn new things, to the importance of playfulness in learning. We will share a variety of helpful tips to improve your learning whether you are new to Python or an experienced coder.

Special Guest: David Cavallo.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Amazon - Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50: Future Visions of Education Inspired by Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon’s Seminal Work: Stager, Gary S., Solomon, Cynthia: 9781955604000: Books — In 1971, Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert published Twenty Things to Do with a Computer, a revolutionary document that would set the course of education for the next fifty years and beyond. This book, Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50, is a celebration of the vision set forth by Papert and Solomon a half-century ago.
• The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen - Kindle edition by Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. — In this groundbreaking work, Kwame Anthony Appiah, hailed as "one of the most relevant philosophers today" (New York Times Book Review), changes the way we understand human behavior and the way social reform is brought about. In brilliantly arguing that new democratic movements over the last century have not been driven by legislation from above, Appiah explores the end of the duel in aristocratic England, the tumultuous struggles over footbinding in nineteenth-century China, the uprising of ordinary people against Atlantic slavery, and the horrors of "honor killing" in contemporary Pakistan.
• One Laptop per Child - Wikipedia — One Laptop per Child (OLPC) was a non-profit initiative established with the goal of transforming education for children around the world; this goal was to be achieved by creating and distributing educational devices for the developing world, and by creating software and content for those devices.
• The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age , Wolfram, Conrad - Amazon.com — The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age is a groundbreaking book that exposes why maths education is in crisis worldwide and how the only fix is a fundamentally new mainstream subject.

Note - this is a live debrief with no editing. Enjoy!

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Learn Python Like a 12-Year-Old - Speaker Deck — View the slides for Kelly & Sean's PyCon 2022 main talk, Learn Python Like a 12-Year-Old
• Busting Curricular Myths of Teaching Python - Speaker Deck — Check out our slides from the PyCon US 2022 Education Summit

“Are we preparing students to identify and confront problems they care about, collaborate beyond classroom walls, and overcome the false dichotomy between local versus global? Do we see our work as educators as the work of building a better world?”

Special Guest: Will Richardson.

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Links:

• BIG Questions Institute - Big Questions Institute — The Big Questions Institute was created to help educators of all stripes build their capacity to see and accept this moment for what it is and to peer into the future with skill. We ground that work in "fearless inquiry," a disposition of deep questioning and truth-telling of our practice and mission.
• EMO - LivingAi — Built with multiple sensors and cutting-edge techs, Emo is a cool desktop AI robot pet with characters that can self-explore the world and react to you with 1000+ faces and movements. 
• 9 Questions Free EBook - Big Questions Institute — In this new ebook written by BIG Questions Institute co-founders Will Richardson and Homa Tavangar, we suggest that now is the perfect time to ask whether the learning environments our students need today are the same as the ones schools offered them pre-pandemic. And that this is no time to go back to a "normal" which in many ways wasn't all that great to begin with.
• 10 Books for 2022 - Big Questions Institute — (*Because This Is an Historic Moment for Education)
• Amazon.com: The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War eBook : Donohue, John "Chick", Molloy, J. T.: Kindle Store — One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired—some would call it insane—idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer. It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever.
• Amazon.com: Who Do We Choose To Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity eBook : Wheatley, Margaret J.: Kindle Store — On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of her classic Leadership and the New Science, bestselling author Margaret Wheatley once again turns to the new science of living systems to help leaders persevere in a time of great turmoil.

From the great guests to the wins in the classroom, Kelly and Sean catch up and kick off the new year together.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Amazon.com: Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know eBook : Grant, Adam: Kindle Store — Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people's minds--and our own. As Wharton's top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners.
• Amazon.com: Terraform: Up & Running: Writing Infrastructure as Code: 9781492046905: Brikman, Yevgeniy: Books — Terraform has become a key player in the DevOps world for defining, launching, and managing infrastructure as code (IaC) across a variety of cloud and virtualization platforms, including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, and more. This hands-on second edition, expanded and thoroughly updated for Terraform version 0.12 and beyond, shows you the fastest way to get up and running.
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV Series 2017– ) - IMDb — A housewife in 1958 decides to become a stand-up comic.
• Amazon.com: LEGO Ghostbusters ECTO-1 (10274) Building Kit; Displayable Model Car Kit for Adults; Great DIY Project, New 2021 (2,352 Pieces) : Toys & Games — This is the ultimate ECTO-1 building kit for fans of LEGO bricks and Ghostbusters looking to build their next model car or simply relax with an immersive hands-on hobby project
• Hacker News - We're two middle school teachers learning and teaching Python [audio] | Hacker News
• Teaching Python Episode 68: Learning How To Learn with Barbara Oakley — This week, Kelly & Sean chat with Barbara Oakley, author of the upcoming books Uncommon Sense Teaching and Learn Like a Pro. Together, we talk about everything from learning Russian to the ways that the brain processes information and how teachers can best help students learn.
• Teaching Python Episode 67: Mu Editor: Part 1 of the Education IDE Series — Kelly and Sean kick off part 1 of their Education IDE series with Nick Tollervey and the Mu Editor, a Python editor for beginners with modes for "pure Python," MicroPython, CircuitPython, PyGame, Flask web apps, and more.
• JoBase | Home — Welcome to JoBase JoBase is aimed at beginner coders who want to have fun making games with Python. Follow steps below to prepare your computer for JoBase.

Special Guest: Richard Culatta.

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Links:

• Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World by Richard Culatta — When it comes to raising children in a digital world, every parent feels underprepared and overwhelmed. We worry that our children will become addicted to online games, be victims of cyberbullying, or get lost down the rabbit hole of social media. We warn them about all the things they shouldn't do online, but we don't do nearly enough to teach them the skills of digital well-being.
• We are ISTE | ISTE — We help educators around the world use technology to solve tough problems.
• Circuit Playground Bluefruit - Bluetooth Low Energy : ID 4333 : $24.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits — Circuit Playground Bluefruit is our third board in the Circuit Playground series, another step towards a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. We've taken the popular Circuit Playground Express and made it even better! Now the main chip is an nRF52840 microcontroller which is not only more powerful, but also comes with Bluetooth Low Energy support for wireless connectivity.

Special Guest: Becky Smethurst.

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Links:

• Dr. Becky - YouTube — Your friendly neighbourhood astrophysicist. I'm Dr Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know.
• 5 ways I use code as an astrophysicist - YouTube — I could not get my science done if I did not know how to code. Here are 5 things I use it for.
• Space at the Speed of Light: The History of 14 Billion Years for People Short on Time , Smethurst, Dr Becky - Amazon.com — From the big bang to black holes, this fast-paced illustrated tour of time and space for the astro-curious unlocks the science of the stars to reveal fascinating theories, surprising discoveries, and ongoing mysteries in modern astronomy and astrophysics.

Special Guest: Rusti Gregory.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Trick or Treat for Programmers — Sure, you know Trick OR Treat, but how about Trick XNOR Treat?

Episode Outline

1. Importance of variety in Lessons
   1. Motivation
   2. Increase Focus/Keeps classroom live and Active
   3. Combat Boredom/Avoids dullness
   4. Demonstrating concepts in multiple settings reinforces learning
2. Importance of Lesson Planning
   1. Basic Objectives
   2. Activities
   3. Assessments
   4. Time Management
   5. Result- oriented
3. Creating Environments for learning:Good Teaching Tools for SEL/21st Century Skills
   1. Delivery and sharing of resources
      1. LMS
      2. Weekly Overview
      3. Screenshots
      4. Sharing of Colab documents
   2. SEL Core Competencies: Self Awareness, Self Management, Social Awareness, Relationship SKills, Responsible decision making.
      1. Padlet- reflection and sharing ideas?
      2. Focusing Tools: Strick Workflow : block specific sites for 25 minutes by a click of a chrome extension
      3. Self Learning Opportunities: “Curiosity is the main driver of learning.”
   3. Teaching Techniques/Communication Tools
      1. Looking at a lot of code:
         1. Screenshare (Currently feature in Zoom) - allow students to share their code and have students look for errors on other student codes/Air server/Cast
      2. Use of Videos:
         1. Loom/Screencastify- give students short videos that they can use on their own time.
      3. Use of Class Time:
         1. Time to Talk it out (Think alouds) - give students time to talk about code verbally
         2. Pre-Teaching Vocabulary
         3. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review
         4. Class Challenges
   4. Share the tools and how we use them
      1. IDE’s (details in episode 25)
         1. Mu Editor
            1. Great IDE for beginners and comes packaged with Python
            2. Works for pure Python, hardware, web development, games
            3. Intentionally limited to encourage students to move beyond
            4. In 2020: Kelly & Sean use it for programming micro:bits with sixth grade
            5. Best Audience: complete newbies to Python, hardware hackers
            6. Available for Mac, Windows, Linux
         2. Colab -
            1. Jupyter Notebooks in Google Apps system
            2. Pure Python with visualizations, graphing, etc.
            3. In 2020: Kelly & Sean use it for Python review sheet & quick demos
            4. Showing iterations/versions of code without Git
            5. Includes sharing/commenting features of Google Drive
            7. Best audience: newbies already familiar with Google Docs, more accomplished programmers that want to practice concepts without writing full “software”
         3. Repl.it
            1. Web-based coding environment for Python
            2. Multiplayer mode, assignment submissions with automated testing
            3. Classroom environment works well for adult learners
            4. In 2020: Kelly & Sean use it for student projects, especially those that run 3rd party packages
            5. Best audience: students that want to live code with others and share programs easily with teacher or peers
         4. Advance coding Options
            1. Used for differentiation with students or advanced applications like EV3 coding
            2. We use these ourselves to write software for school use
            3. Goal is to have 8th graders ready for these environments
            4. Options
   5. Visualization Tools
      1. Python tutor
      2. Python Turtle
      3. Mu Debugger
   6. Class Challenges versus Codechalleng.es
   7. Manipulatives: Robots and Hardware
      1. Microbits
      2. CircuitPython devices
      3. DFRobot Maqueen Plus

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Code With Mu — Code with Mu: a simple Python editor for beginner programmers.
• Welcome To Colaboratory - Colaboratory — Colaboratory, or "Colab" for short, allows you to write and execute Python in your browser, with Zero configuration required Free access to GPUs Easy sharing
• Repl.it - The collaborative browser based IDE — Use our free, collaborative, in-browser IDE to code in 50+ languages — without spending a second on setup.
• Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined — Code editing. Redefined. Free. Built on open source. Runs everywhere
• PyCharm Edu — A Professional Tool to Learn and Teach Programming with Python
• Python Tutor - Visualize Python, Java, C, C++, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Ruby code execution — Python Tutor helps people overcome a fundamental barrier to learning programming: understanding what happens as the computer runs each line of code. You can use it to write Python, Java, C, C++, JavaScript, and Ruby code in your web browser and see its execution visualized step by step.

Episode Contents:

• Wins of the Week
• Main Topic: The Upcoming School Year
• Integrating New Ideas
• Safely Teaching Physical Computing
• PyBites / CodeChalleng.es
• Flipped Classroom
• Using Reflection
• Choice Boards
• Routines and Rituals
• Teacher Self Care
• Setting Realistic Expectations

Follow @TeachingPython on Twitter. Send us a message at teachingpython.fm

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• Amazon.com: Logitech MeetUp HD Video and Audio Conferencing System for Small Meeting Rooms: Computers & Accessories — Logitech's premier conference cam specifically designed for business grade video meetings in huddle rooms and small conference rooms
• Python Testing with pytest: Simple, Rapid, Effective, and Scalable: Okken, Brian: 9781680502404: Amazon.com: Books — Do less work when testing your Python code, but be just as expressive, just as elegant, and just as readable. The pytest testing framework helps you write tests quickly and keep them readable and maintainable - with no boilerplate code. Using a robust yet simple fixture model, it's just as easy to write small tests with pytest as it is to scale up to complex functional testing for applications, packages, and libraries. This book shows you how.
• PyBites Platform | Hone Your Python Skills — Whether you aspire to become a web developer, data scientist, DevOps or cybersecurity engineer, good chance you will greatly benefit from being well versed in Python!
• Edpuzzle — Make any video your lesson Choose a video, give it your magic touch and track your students' comprehension.
• Pythex: a Python regular expression editor — Python Regular Expression tester
• Loom: Video Messaging for Work — The expressiveness of video with the convenience of messaging. Communicate more effectively wherever you work with Loom.
• Amazon.com : Meeting Owl Pro - 360 Degree, 1080p Smart Video Conference Camera, Microphone, and Speaker (Automatic Speaker Focus & Smart Meeting Room Enabled) : Electronics — BEST TEAM MEETING EXPERIENCE Meeting Owl Pro is the top 1080p resolution 360° smart video conferencing camera It automatically highlights and shifts focus to different people in the room when they speak so you know what's happening as if you're there
• Device Simulator Express - Visual Studio Marketplace — Make without limit! Device Simulator Express, a Microsoft Garage project, allows you to code microcontrollers without the hardware on hand! You can program your Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPX), your BBC micro:bit or the Adafruit CLUE! Test and debug your code on the device simulator and see the same result when you plug in your actual microcontroller. Curious about the output of the device, the serial monitor allows you to observe the device output.

In this episode, Kelly and Sean talk about ways they keep their distance learning sessions fresh and engaging for students. From refresher exercises to virtual classroom management, we've got some ideas that can help you teach no matter where you or your students are sitting.

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• Helping the naturally gifted- keeping up; keeping them learning
• Developing the vocab that allows students to solve problems
• Losing students during code-alongs
• Kids stuck in Turtle module
• Getting past the frustration level - waiting on the “click”

As a special bonus, we talk about a few of the new arrivals in our classroom, including the newest LEGO Education Robot, the Spike Prime!

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• Real Python: Visit realpython.com/teachingpython to get your FREE video course.

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• Amazon.com: Adeept BBC Micro:bit Sensor Starter Kit | Microbit Programmable Starter Kit for Micro:bit with 35 Projects PDF Tutorial Book | Micro:bit and Expansion Board Included: Toys & Games — BBC Micro:bit Development Board is included. A wide variety of Sensor Modules - The best choice for learning electronics, programming and IoT. Excellent PDF Manual - 124 pages, 35 projects with detailed guidance. MakeCode and Python code are provided. Powerful technical support - Official forum, Videos and E-mail.
• LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Set — The LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Set is the go-to STEAM learning tool for grade 6-8 students. Combining colorful LEGO building elements, easy-to-use hardware, and an intuitive drag-and-drop coding language based on Scratch, SPIKE Prime continuously engages students through playful learning activities to think critically and solve complex problems, regardless of their learning level. From easy-entry projects to limitless creative design possibilities, SPIKE Prime helps students learn the essential STEAM and 21st century skills needed to become the innovative minds of tomorrow... while having fun!
• MicroPython on SPIKE Prime : 12 Steps - Instructables — You can code SPIKE Prime using MicroPython which is a subset of python for small microprocessors. You can use any terminal emulator to code the SPIKE Prime hub.
• pi-top [4] — pi-top [4] is a new game-changing, programmable computing device that combines digital making, coding and practical projects. With pi-top [4], educators, students and inventors get to design, code and make anything they can imagine using one simple, easy-to-use system. From beginner to superuser, pi-top powers your projects and brings learning into the real world.
• Amazon.com: AWS DeepLens (2019 Edition) – deep learning-enabled video camera for developers: Amazon Devices — AWS DeepLens allows developers to get started with deep learning through sample projects with practical, hands-on examples which can start running with a single click. Models trained in Amazon SageMaker can be sent to AWS DeepLens with just a few clicks from the AWS Management Console. AWS developers can run any deep-learning framework, including TensorFlow and Caffe. AWS DeepLens comes preinstalled with a high performance, efficient and optimised inference engine for deep learning using Apache MXNet. AWS DeepLens integrates with Amazon Rekognition for advanced image analysis, Amazon SageMaker for training models and with Amazon Polly to create speech-enabled projects. AWS DeepLens is easy to customise and is fully programmable using AWS Lambda.

Special Guest: Peter Chan.

Sponsored By:

• Real Python: Visit realpython.com/teachingpython to get your FREE video course.

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• Humble Book Bundle: Python & Machine Learning by Packt (pay what you want and help charity) — HUMBLE BOOK BUNDLE: PYTHON & MACHINE LEARNING BY PACKT Whether you’re a Python developer new to machine learning or want to deepen your knowledge of the latest developments, our latest ebook bundles from Packt is perfect for you!
• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition: Practical Programming for Total Beginners: Al Sweigart: 9781593279929: Amazon.com: Books
• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition: Practical Programming for Total Beginners: Al Sweigart: 9781593279929: Amazon.com: Books — The second edition of this best-selling Python book (100,000+ copies sold in print alone) uses Python 3 to teach even the technically uninclined how to write programs that do in minutes what would take hours to do by hand. There is no prior programming experience required and the book is loved by liberal arts majors and geeks alike.
• Amazon.com: BBC2546862 Micro:bit go: Computers & Accessories — This educational STEAM toys pack teaches kids aged 11+ about coding, tactile creativity and craft. Part of Tech Will Save Us's Coding-Tech range, this kit is a perfect accompaniment to the BBC Micro:craft, Micro:bot and Micro:mods kits. Suitable for 6th, 7th and 8th Grade learning Free access to Club Make for unlimited projects and learning experiences Perfect for learning at home, for educational after-school STEAM workshops, in classrooms or in schools
• Homepage | Minecraft: Education Edition — WHAT IS MINECRAFT: EDUCATION EDITION? A game-based learning platform that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving in an immersive digital environment. Educators in more than 115 countries are using Minecraft: Education Edition across the curriculum!
• Trinket: An Hour of Python
• Hour of Code | Codesters — Through Codesters Hour of Code projects you will be introduced to a variety of programming concepts by creating fun games, art, and animations. In the process, you will learn Python, a real programming language used every day at companies like Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube.

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• matplotlib · PyPI — Matplotlib strives to produce publication quality 2D graphics for interactive graphing, scientific publishing, user interface development and web application servers targeting multiple user interfaces and hardcopy output formats.
• scipy · PyPI — SciPy (pronounced “Sigh Pie”) is open-source software for mathematics, science, and engineering. The SciPy library depends on NumPy, which provides convenient and fast N-dimensional array manipulation. The SciPy library is built to work with NumPy arrays, and provides many user-friendly and efficient numerical routines such as routines for numerical integration and optimization. Together, they run on all popular operating systems, are quick to install, and are free of charge. NumPy and SciPy are easy to use, but powerful enough to be depended upon by some of the world’s leading scientists and engineers. If you need to manipulate numbers on a computer and display or publish the results, give SciPy a try!
• sympy · PyPI — SymPy is a Python library for symbolic mathematics. It aims to become a full-featured computer algebra system (CAS) while keeping the code as simple as possible in order to be comprehensible and easily extensible. SymPy is written entirely in Python. It depends on mpmath, and other external libraries may be optionally for things like plotting support.
• arrow · PyPI — Arrow is a Python library that offers a sensible and human-friendly approach to creating, manipulating, formatting and converting dates, times and timestamps. It implements and updates the datetime type, plugging gaps in functionality and providing an intelligent module API that supports many common creation scenarios. Simply put, it helps you work with dates and times with fewer imports and a lot less code.
• Likert scale - Wikipedia — A Likert scale (/ˈlɪk.ərt/ LIK-ərt[1] but more commonly pronounced /ˈlaɪ.kərt/ LY-kərt[2]) is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires.
• translate · PyPI — Translate is a simple but powerful translation tool written in python with with support for multiple translation providers. By now we are integrated with Microsoft Translation API and Translated MyMemory API
• Play Rocket League® | Rocket League® - Official Site
• JMMS vs. Pine Crest Game #1 - YouTube

Also this week, Bob and Julian from the PyBites website are making their Newbie Bites 40% off, with half of the proceeds going to the Teaching Python podcast! Check it out on their latest newsletter post

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• PocketLab — PocketLab Voyager, PocketLab Weather, and PocketLab One connect with a single button to a smart phone, tablet, Chromebook, or computer and instantly stream data that you can see and record. PocketLab has the same features as lab equipment that costs thousands of dollars but is low cost and intuitive to use.
• Circuit Playground Bluefruit - Bluetooth Low Energy ID: 4333 - $24.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits — Circuit Playground Bluefruit is our third board in the Circuit Playground series, another step towards a perfect introduction to electronics and programming. We've taken the popular Circuit Playground Express and made it even better! Now the main chip is an nRF52840 microcontroller which is not only more powerful, but also comes with Bluetooth Low Energy support for wireless connectivity.
• Amazon.com: Monk Makes Electronic Starter Kit for Micro:bit: Camera & Photo — Learn electronics and coding with the micro:bit. Includes a 30-page instruction booklet with 7 projects. Control a light bulb and motor from your micro:bit and play sounds. Measure sound, temperature and light using your micro:bit Please note a micro:bit is NOT included
• Original Prusa MINI - Prusa3d.com - Open-source 3D printers by Josef Prusa — Introducing our new compact 3D printer with all the bells and whistles you would expect from the creators of the award-winning original Prusa i3 MK2 and MK3S! The mini is a big printer in a compact body. We did our best to squeeze as many features into 349 USD / 379 EUR as possible. The Mini is great for beginners, companies looking to build a printing farm and 3D printing enthusiasts worldwide.
• Monoprice Voxel 3D Printer - Black/Gray with Removable Heated Build Plate (150 x 150 x 150 mm) Fully Enclosed, Touch Screen, 8Gb and Wi-Fi: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific — The Voxel is a unique, easy to use, beginner-friendly 3D printer that brings 3D printing to the masses with its simple menu system displayed on a 2.8" color IPS touch screen. The assisted leveling system reduces calibration to a single tap on the touch screen and the print nozzle can be swapped out in seconds, without the need for tools of any kind. It features 8GB of internal memory, a USB port, a Wi-Fi radio with a hotspot, and a built-in camera for monitoring print operations.
• Amazon.com: 5 Set STEM Kit,DC Motors Electronic Assembly Kit for Kids DIY STEM Toys Intro to Engineering, Mini Cars, Circuit Building DIY Science Experiments Projects for Boys and Girls: Toys & Games — This 5 model kit inspires young inventors to build their own cars and models. Children are happiest with their hands and minds are working together – they're having fun and they can showcase their creations.
• LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Set by LEGO Education — The LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime Set is the go-to STEAM learning tool for grade 6-8 students. Combining colorful LEGO building elements, easy-to-use hardware, and an intuitive drag-and-drop coding language based on Scratch, SPIKE Prime continuously engages students through playful learning activities to think critically and solve complex problems, regardless of their learning level.
• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, 2nd Edition: Practical Programming for Total Beginners: Al Sweigart: 9781593279929: Amazon.com: Books — The second edition of this best-selling Python book (100,000+ copies sold in print alone) uses Python 3 to teach even the technically uninclined how to write programs that do in minutes what would take hours to do by hand. There is no prior programming experience required and the book is loved by liberal arts majors and geeks alike.
• Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming: Eric Matthes: 9781593279288: Amazon.com: Books — This is the second edition of the best selling Python book in the world. Python Crash Course, 2nd Edition is a straightforward introduction to the core of Python programming. Author Eric Matthes dispenses with the sort of tedious, unnecessary information that can get in the way of learning how to program, choosing instead to provide a foundation in general programming concepts, Python fundamentals, and problem solving.
• Pandas for Everyone: Python Data Analysis: Python Data Analysis (Addison-Wesley Data & Analytics Series): 9780134546933: Computer Science Books @ Amazon.com — Pandas for Everyone brings together practical knowledge and insight for solving real problems with Pandas, even if you’re new to Python data analysis. Daniel Y. Chen introduces key concepts through simple but practical examples, incrementally building on them to solve more difficult, real-world problems.
• House of Robots: James Patterson, Chris Grabenstein, Juliana Neufeld: 9780316346795: Amazon.com: Books — In this highly-illustrated series from James Patterson, an extraordinary robot signs up for an ordinary fifth grade class . . . and elementary school will never be the same!
• Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor (Frank Einstein series #1): Book One: Jon Scieszka, Brian Biggs: 9781419724923: Amazon.com: Books — Clever science experiments, funny jokes, and robot hijinks await readers in the first of six books in the New York Times bestselling Frank Einstein chapter book series from the mad scientist team of Jon Scieszka and Brian Biggs. The perfect combination to engage and entertain readers, the series features real science facts with adventure and humor, making these books ideal for STEM education. This first installment examines the science of “matter.”

1. Trends in the Computer Science classroom
2. Integration into other subjects
3. Reducing Teacher Workload
4. For Student Access to Tools
5. As a School-wide Initiative

It's amazing to think that many problems in Machine Learning were considered hard just 5 years ago. What will the next 5 years bring?

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• Collapsing Sith Lightsaber (Removable Blade) by 3DPRINTINGWORLD - Thingiverse — This Lightsaber has a removable collapsing blade that can be printed separately in a different color. The hilt is designed with a screw on cap which allows the blade to be inserted after its printed. Prints without supports, but you will need a printer capable of printing the hilt 205mm tall.
• Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience | VHIL — The Fundamental Attribution Error, as coined by Stanford Psychologists, describes how we blame others when bad things happen to them, but blame the external situations when bad things happen to us. There is a misconception that losing one's home is due to who you are and the choices you make. Becoming Homeless: A Human Experience seeks to counter this irrational tendency.
• ‎Socratic by Google on the App Store — Need to get unstuck? Socratic can help! This learning app, powered by Google AI, helps you understand your school work at a high school and university level. Ask Socratic a question and the app will find the best online resources for you to learn the concepts. Socratic supports most high school subjects, with more coming soon!
• Google Translate’s instant camera translation gets an upgrade — Google Translate allows you to explore unfamiliar lands, communicate in different languages, and make connections that would be otherwise impossible. One of my favorite features on the Google Translate mobile app is instant camera translation, which allows you to see the world in your language by just pointing your camera lens at the foreign text.
• Math Games | Mangahigh.com — Get your students excited, engaged and excelling at maths and coding! Adaptive quizzes, innovative games and social competitions Aligned to international curricula Real-time analytics with AI support for differentiation
• Amazon.com - Neato Botvac D4 Connect Blk - — rners, and corners are where the worst dirt hides. Our industry-leading design gets you a complete floor clean LaserSmart mapping - D4 technology intelligently navigates and maps your home, cleaning in straight lines instead of a random pattern -- so you never miss a spot Masterful on multiple surfaces - Neato D4 conquers any surface, from carpet, to hardwood, to kitchen tile. Intuitive operation and interface. Neato is simple to use. Our focus has always been on out-of-the-box, one-button, perfect cleaning. Clean winner in innovation. Get laser navigation, no-go lines, 70% bigger combo brush, smart-home interaction, app support, and most of all. . . real, autonomous, robotic vacuuming!
• Amazon.com: AWS DeepLens (2019 Edition) – deep learning-enabled video camera for developers: Amazon Devices — Learn the basics of deep learning - a machine learning technique that uses neural networks to learn and make predictions - through computer vision projects, tutorials, and real world, hands-on exploration with a physical device. AWS DeepLens lets you run deep learning models locally on the camera to analyze and take action on what it sees.
• Alexa in Education — Amazon Alexa is ushering in a new era of technology. One where students, educators, and parents can use their voice to interact with technology that deepens learning, provides access to critical information, and saves time. With Alexa, students can track upcoming events on their calendar, get study resources, or make an appointment with a guidance counselor – all without having to open their computer. Teachers can use Alexa to prepare for upcoming lessons, while administrators can quickly access important information like enrollment statistics.
• Raiders of the Pottery GAN: Using 3D Generative Adversarial Networks for Data Augmentation | SciPy - YouTube — Reassembly of 3D fragmented objects from a collection of hundreds of randomly mixed fragments is a problem that arises in several applied disciplines, such as archaeology, failure analysis, paleontology, etc. In this talk we will walk through the pipeline of 3D data generation in archaeological studies, from pre-processing of images, moving from 2D to 3D space, and finally the training and evaluation of generative adversarial networks in Python for 3D meshes corresponding to Iberian vessels. We will report several python libraries (scikit-image, pytorch, visdom, etc.) and how they are used in this particular pipeline. The main goal of augmenting our dataset in 3D is to perform fragment part identification and vessel reconstruction.
• The internet will continue to make life better | Pew Research Center — A large share of respondents predict enormous potential for improved quality of life over the next 50 years for most individuals thanks to internet connectivity, although many said the benefits of a wired world are not likely to be evenly distributed.
• Artificial Intelligence Applications to Support K–12 Teachers and Teaching: A Review of Promising Applications, Challenges, and Risks | RAND — Recent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have been successful in performing complex tasks in health care, financial markets, manufacturing, and transportation logistics, but the influence of AI applications in the education sphere has been limited. However, that may be changing. In this paper, the author discusses several ways that AI applications can be used to support the work of K–12 teachers and the practice of teaching by augmenting teacher capacity rather than replacing teachers.

10 Things We Wish We Knew Before We Started Python

1. Don't Be Afraid of the Unknown
2. There's Never Going to be Enough Time
3. Reading Error Codes
4. Simple and Slow beats Complex and "Correct"
5. Read a little. Code a lot.
6. Projects Really Work
7. You Have to Teach To Someone
8. Reach out to the Python Community
9. Don’t Let Imposter Syndrome Get You
10. You Don’t Have to Answer Every Question

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• Teaching and Learning with Jupyter — This handbook is for any educator teaching a topic that includes data analysis or computation in order to support learning. It is not just for educators teaching courses in engineering or science, but also data journalism, business and quantitative economics, data-based decision sciences and policy, quantitative health sciences, and digital humanities. It aims to provide an entry point, and a broad overview of Jupyter in education. Whether you are already using Jupyter to teach, you have found learning materials built on Jupyter that piqued your curiosity, or have never heard of Jupyter, the material in this open book can empower you to use this technology in your teaching.
• CodeGrades — CodeGrades are eight cumulative steps for learning how to code. They're a programming version of time-proven techniques like music grades, belts in martial arts or lifeguard certification. Level up by applying the knowledge and skills needed for each grade to your own fun, interesting and challenging coding projects.
• Welcome to #ElectronicHalloween 2019…Muah Ha Ha!! « Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — It is no secret that we love Halloween at Adafruit. What better time to show off your awesome wearable project or set up a super spooky yard display? Because we can’t hold our excitement to one day, we celebrate #ElectronicHolloween for the whole month of October.
• Amazon.com: DJI RoboMaster S1 Intelligent Educational Robot STEM with Programmable Modules Starters Bundle: Electronics — The S1 seamlessly combines competitive gameplay with and math and physics knowledge to make learning more fun than ever! Enjoy a wealth of teaching resources, practical knowledge, which can be applied during competition.
• Amazon.com: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World eBook: David J. Epstein: Kindle Store — Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you’ll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world’s top performers, from professional athletes to Nobel laureates, shows that early specialization is the exception, not the rule.
• Test & Code 89: Improving Programming Education - Nicholas Tollervey — Nicholas Tollervey is working toward better ways of teaching programming. His projects include the Mu Editor, PyperCard, and CodeGrades. Many of us talk about problems with software education. Nicholas is doing something about it.
• PyperCard - Easy GUIs for All — PyperCard 0.0.1-alpha.4 documentation — PyperCard is a HyperCard inspired Pythonic GUI framework for beginner programmers. What does that mean? PyperCard makes it quick and easy to create software with a modern user interface to use on your Windows, OSX, Linux, Android or iOS devices.
• Code Your Dreams

With more than 35 combined years of experience working or teaching in innovation areas, Kelly and Sean have a lot to share. This week's episode includes resources from innovation thought leaders, tips to become more innovative in your classroom, and a review of critical skills for innovators.

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Links:

• Pine Crest Innovation Institute 2019
• 10 Commandments of Innovative Teaching – A.J. JULIANI
• Books by A.J. Juliani (Amazon)
• The Educational Buzzword Dilemma: Why “Innovation” is about to Jump the Shark
• Defining Innovation? – The Principal of Change
• (36) The art of innovation | Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley - YouTube
• Innovation: Beyond the Buzzword | Programs for Professionals | MIT Professional Education
• Innovation: The Most Important and Overused Word in America | WIRED
• Amazon.com: Inquiry and Innovation in the Classroom (Eye on Education) (9780415743167): A.J. Juliani: Books

Every learner reaches a point where they may get frustrated, discouraged, or want to give up. How can you help them get past that moment and rebuild momentum? How do you recognize those moments? What can you do as a coach and mentor to help them? What activities help prevent those moments from happening?

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• Talk Python Episode 184: Teaching Python with BBC micro:bit
• James Charles on YouTube

Flow states are another phenomenon that indicates deep learning and knowledge acquisition. We've defined that as a state of increased productivity, focus, and absorption.

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