Journaling in the Computer Science Classroom

One of the biggest changes for the new APCS Principles course is the use of Performance Tasks (PT) as a part of the official CollegeBoard assessment. These PTs and a summative test at the end of the year will be used to score the kids, just like the 1-5 score they get on other AP tests.

This means our students need lots of practice writing. In my CS Principles pilot we do a lot of journaling throughout the year. I give them specific prompts to respond to every few days. We also heavily use discussion boards (more on that here) to get them reading and responding to other students work. this is especially important since two of the PTs are collaborative.

This year I am trying to keep these topics n a more organized list - here are the topics for Unit 2: The Internet Unplugged: Journal Topics for Unit 2

For their journals - I read them periodically throughout the term. I am not checking for grammar or spelling - the goal is to get ideas recorded and to start using writing as a part of their reflections on the topics we use in class.

Note - if you were using an old version of the PTs, they were updated earlier this fall. You can find the update here.

The most significant change is the Internet Task has been replaced by Explore. The feel of the two tasks are the same, but the updated version allows them to pick any innovation, not just those centered around the Internet.

For my students I am doing journal topics that connect the Internet and innovation. we'll be doing a Model Performance Task in the next few weeks, and will finish the first PT on Innovation after we finish the Unit 2.

Other writing Posts:

• The Great Debate
• Discussion Boards
• Debating Computer Science
• Music to teach Computer Science

How to Teach the Internet - Don't

Today my Computer Science Principles classes are starting Unit 2: The Internet Unplugged.

So rather than a terrible exciting lecture on the structure of the Internet - translation "Here's what I think you should care about" - we started with questions.

Telegraph Lines

They were asked to write their own definition of the Internet, and share at least three questions they have about it.

Really, we all use it daily, so we should all have our own working understanding of what it is. By starting with their understanding I can see where we need to add information and what the emphasis should be.

The questions help me plan our activities. By the end of the chapter I want them to understand that the Internet is a physical thing, and be able to describe how it works. I want them understanding how content is posted and to discuss the implications ethically of its content. I want them to know a little HTML and CSS and have the confidence to look up what they need.

But first, I want them thinking.

Questions they asked:

• How is it possible that the internet can be censored in some countries?
• Who owns the internet?
• Who made the internet?
• How does it actually work?
• Why was it originally created?
• When did personal computers have access to it?
• Who owns data on the internet?
• Why is internet copyright so important?
• How hard is it to break the internet?

Right now some of my favorites are Who owns the internet? and  How is it possible that the internet can be censored in some countries? 

Frankly we could start by investigating those two things and cover everything we need to know.

Bookshelf:

• Tubes by Andrew Blum
• Story of how theInternet is constructed - I summarized it here
• As We May Think by Dr. Vannevar Bush
• Originally published in 1945 this is the first description of linked text - "Thus he builds a trail of his interest through the maze of materials available to him." Really, read section 7 if you are short on time.
• Blown to Bits by Hal Abelson (also available free here)
• Good reading for students, especially the appendix
• Stuck in the Shallow End by Jane Margolis
• Also read this by Jane - great food for thought in this era of "tech fixes everything"

Some Lessons We'll do:

• Cups and Strings
• Mapping the Internet
• Underwater Cables
• Why do HTML

Top 20 Ways to Learn Computer Science Online

I've been trying to keep up with all of the new ways to learn to code online - the first list is here. The new APCS Principles course has a lot of elements that move beyond teaching computer science as a coding class, including teaching about the Internet and using data. It is getting hard to keep up.

Modest Maps

A few top 20 lists:

• Top 20 Online training sites for Web Design 
• Top 20 Data Visualization Tools
• Top 20 Coding Online Tools

And for a little numerical diversity:

• Top 10 Sites for Free Education with Elite Universities

Underwater Spaghetti - Internet Cables

So sometimes in teaching you add a little fun fact into a lesson and that one little grain of sand takes over.

Underwater Internet Cables

I know, it seems totally random. But for two years in the APCS Principles pilot the students have been totally transfixed by this. It was a tiny picture off to the side of the notes and their questions. It led to a great conversation about the physical structure of the Internet and equity of access.

So look at this map:

I asked the kids what they notice first - many of them talked about how many parts of the world have very limited connections. This makes for a great writing prompt for their journals.

Just found these interactive maps - they let you explore these cables ad see where the connections are.

• Interactive Cable Map - this one lets you click and see details about where the lines are connected to various countries
• Interactive Cable Map with List of Cables - This one has a nice listing to the side of all of the major cables
• Collection of Maps-picture 5 - 8 that moves through the growth of users from 2002 to 2008 is pretty impressive

As an interesting comparison, here is a map of the first underwater cables laid int he mid 1800'a that made up the telegraph system:

Internet, Intranet, and Extranet

This is a free online course from Education Portal. The class is Business 104: Information Systems and Computer Applications.

Not all of this applies to the CS Principles class, but the section on the Internet offers some good explanations ns of the Internet at a more technical level.

http://education-portal.com/academy/topic/internet-intranet-and-extranet.html

Keys to the Web

Keys to the Web

we used these back when we did the Internet Unplugged unit back in the fall.

Writing in the Computer Science Classroom

So, you think you are not an English teacher? Guess again.

Disney's Paperman 

This is a good article about the new Disney short film Paperman.  We'll be using this article as a prompt in the CS Principles class this week. In making the short Disney combined traditional hand drawn animation with the CGU technology with a piece of software called Meander.

For the CS Principles Pilot this year the focus is on assessment - how will Collegeboard test the kids at the end of the year?

One major change from the existing AP Computer Science course is the addition of written portfolio items. You can preview them here under Prototype Items. Students are asked to write to demonstrate learning in the CS Principles class.

The best way to prepare for a written assessment is to write, go figure. So though out the course I have the students respond in discussion boards and journals. My goal is once a week. Just like with coding frequent practice leads to mastery.

It has been very interesting to see the student's reactions. In the pilot class I have a wide range of abilities. Some are seniors taking mostly IB and AP classes, others might not take a single advanced class while in high school. From all the computer science teachers I talk to this is pretty typical. It means that we cannot make assumptions about the students' writing levels.

One thing I learned last year was I had to be very explicit about what academic writing should look like. While they have all written English papers, it doesn't always occur to them that rules like "write in full sentences" apply in the computer science class.

We finished up the first Portfolio papers right before winter break. Since the Internet Unplugged is the second unit I cover int he course we did the Internet Portfolio paper. We'll be doing the ones on data and programming over the next two months.

I'll summarize more about the Internet Portfolio papers and the experience of working on them with the kids later. Right now I am just trying to come up with enough interesting discussion board topics to keep them writing until the next round.

Why Code Academy is Awesome

We have been using Codeacademy in the CS Principles course to cover HTML and CSS (the abstraction part of the Big Ideas). IT is a great tool - lets the kids self pace, give instant feedback. They have made some pretty amazing things.

Plus the site uses badges to track progress. You know how I love badges.

I just got this e-mail from them - such a grreat summary of why Computer Science is important:

You’ve been a Codecademy student for a month now. Well done!

Here’s why that’s great news for you:

We believe that learning how to program is the best job security you can have because it’s more important than ever before to understand the systems we depend on every day.

The need for computer literacy has never been greater. As a Codecademy user, you’re getting a head start in many ways:

• You’re learning how programs function, and how to control them

• Programming is a skill that’s virtually guaranteed to help you get a job

• By learning to code, you’re becoming a creator: someone who makes things happen

• You can create programs, games, web pages and animations

• As your coding skills grow, you can share knowledge and even teach your skills to others

• In a world of tech consumers, you’re becoming an empowered builder…

Nice work!
So don’t stop here. Why not master a topic right now?

Exactly.

Weekly Roundup - Computer Science Surfing

Some Computer Science websites I've been looking at this week:

• Little Bits these kits let you build circuits. They snap together with magnets. When we cover conditionals in the CS Principles class we also do logic gates and circuits. This could be a fun way to visualize this.

• Ted Talk Andrew Blum. What is the Internet Really? We're just finishing up our Internet unit in CS Principles. Monday is our last day before break and this will be a great way to finish up the whole thing.
• While you are at it you should really read his book: Tubes . My fantasy field trip at this point is to go to Northern VA and visit the parking garage he mentions that housed the early pieces of the Internet. Then we'd have ice cream, because sometimes that's what it takes to make a parking garage exciting.
• Ada Lovelace Video - Her birthday was on Monday. This video is the best explanation I have found about why she matters. The kids seemed to like it to. It is always a good sign when they 1) watch the video without trying to sneak in a round of Bloons Tower Defense and 2) ask questions after it is done. Score on both counts.
• Also on Monday Google did a Doodle of Ada. As always, Google helps make it relevant.
• The rest of the video series also looks great - covers everyone from Alan Turing to Hedy Lamarr.
• Also: Good article about Facebook Interns on why CS is a good choice.
• Also, if you are feeling crafty - This site has templates for Star Wars snowflakes.

Paper Robots

We're doing a little crafting in the lab today.

(Source: Next to Nicx)

My CS Principles kids are plugging away on their Internet Portfolio papers. They have chosen some very interesting problems to write about. We are also doing the CSS section of Code Academy. My plan is for them to do a web page about thier paper to present their solutions.

A few of  the kids have gotten ahead. On the paper, and the CSS, they even have done all of the Ruby stuff in Code Academy.

So we're making paper robots.

• Paper robots advent calendar
• Paper Toys

My Secret Obsession

I have a thing for elementary classrooms. While the idea of teaching the 12 and under crowd is in no way appealing, all the projects and circle time really sound fun.

Here are a few of my favorites:

This one we have used already this year. It is great for doing Octal and Hexadecimal numbers. It really gets the point across that hex and octal are a more compact way of storing large values. When you pull the cups apart you have the number written inside...I'll try to post a picture of the Hex-Cups to make that clearer.

We already do the Analog-Binary Calculators - which my kids call Flippy-Dos, so the cups have become Roley-Dos. And seriously - the flippy-do is the easiest way to show twos comp for negative numbers.

This would be great for showing the sequencing of code. My beginning students have a hard time sometimes getting the ordering of the commands. This could be a fun way to demonstrate how important the order is. They could work in pars with a whiteboard and follow each other's commands.

This project maps where a student is in their community. This is my next project for the CS Principles course. One of the my goals for the students is to understand that the Internet is a physical thing. My plan is to do these showing where they are on the Internet. They would be on the small circle in the middle - and then the structures that make up the Internet are on each of larger circles moving out.

This is a review game - the site includes the cards for the pockets. This would work well for AP style problems

Tubes and Squirrels

They really are evil.

OK, For full disclosure, we have a thing about squirrels at our house. Every year we plant tomatoes, and for the past three we have not gotten a single tomato. Now I know you are probably thinking we just don't know what we are doing...But those beautiful, healthy tomato plants are surrounded by eggplant, peppers, swiss chard, peanuts (yes, peanuts), beans, chickens...you get the idea.

Unfortunately those beautiful, healthy tomato plants are also surrounded by squirrels. Our octogenarian wiener dog is a bit past the chasing other mammals phase of his life,and the blind Labrador is full on useless at this, so it it rodent city around here.

And at this point you are wondering what any of this could possibly have to do with computer science. Normally you'd be right, but there is a tie in...Tubes.

I got this out of the library, and it is so good I ended up buying a copy. The author starts his journey to discover the structure of the Internet after some of the aforementioned rodents disrupt his connection to the net.

I am hoping to get some classroom copies for this next year - it would work well in both the CS Principles class and in the International Baccalaureate Computer Science courses. Great background on the physical structure of the Internet. It is at a level most high school kids should be able to read it. Plus it would work really well with Baker Franke's #hashtagging homework project - which you can find on his course Moodle here with a more complete description given during the CS&IT presentation here.

Mapping the Internet

Whenever we start a new topic I love having an activity to set the tone. I came across the Mapping the Internet a few weeks back.

The projects asks people to "Please draw a map of the Internet, as you see it. Indicate your "home".

Yesterday I wrote about HTML in my Internet Unplugged unit. I think this would be a fun way to start off that unit.

My Daughter's Maps

They have a taxonomy of these maps. Which of course is data - another big idea from CS Principles. From here it would be interesting to collect the student's drawings and do some discussion board topics about what they drew. Were there common themes? How did your map change after learning about the physical parts of the Internet? Did it change after learning HTML and CSS?


Another thing I try to do is set a presence for computer science in my school. Wherever we can I do art projects and hang them in the halls around the building. This would be another great way to get computer science out of the lab.

HTML is not programming, so why teach it?

So in talking to parents and guidance counselors I occasionally get asked if a kid can jump ahead and take one of our upper lever computer science classes. My first question is always "have they programmed?" Yes, I know, programming is not the end all and be all of computer science, but for a student that wants to take the current AP Computer Science course they need to be able to code.

Sadly the answer I most often get is "yes, they know HTML". Sigh.

For the CS Principles pilot this last year my second unit was The Internet Unplugged.  We covered both the hardware side along with how to actually make a web site. Yes, I taught HTML and CSS.

So the question is - why cover HTML at all?

One of the core themes of the CS Principles course is broadening participation. So many students have had exposure to HTML, and they all use web sites. This is the interface they use to get at the information on the web. It is an immediate way to show abstraction in action.

Plus, as we transitioned to coding students were already used to the idea that formatting and exact punctuation matters. This let us focus on the tools of programming, like ifs and loops.

And of course, CS Principles is not all about programming. The Internet is one of the seven core principles, equal to programming.

So this summer I am reviewing what we did in CS Principles last year. Honestly this was one of the better units we covered. It tied into all of the big ideas and was something we referred back to the rest of the year.

On the other hand I am not crazy about how I taught HTML. It was a bit dry - too much lecture and we got a bit bogged down. I'd like to reduce this to just 4 days.

Next year I plan on trying Thimble. This is offered by Mozilla and lets you type in the HTML interactively and see what happens immediately. It also points out errors right away.

Cups and Strings - follow up

(This is part 2 - Read about Part 1 here)

This activity went great today.We used cups instead of cans - worked perfectly. They worked in group of four. Each group got string, two cups, scissors and a copy of the Morse code chart. They were asked to first send voice messages, then use Morse code to send a message. Each group reflected on how they agreed to communicate dots and dashes and how they knoew the message arrived correctly. They were then asked if they had to use this method to transmit a messgage back to town (we're in the sticks) what would they do?

This may seem like a simple and silly activity, but it really ties into seeral things we will be covering the next few weeks. First, all data is sent over the Internet using some form of encoding. For this to work you have to agree ahead of time on a set of protocols. Their communication with the cups required a dedicated line, the string. One of the major developments that led to the Internet was Leonard Kleinrock's ideas about dividing messages into smaller packets which moved us past the need for dedicated lines. In networking and other areas there are things we can do numerically to check if a message arrives correctly. The list goes on.

A fun side effect was they had to deal with interference on their lines. As other students moved theough the halls we had various "interruptions in service". One involved a kid licking the string, no idea why.

While I hope the Internet is safe from licking, it is certainly at risk of natural and man-made interrruptions.

I had several students stop and ask what we were doing, and it was a hoot to hear my kids explain how awesome computer science is. They were the perfect ambasadors. In a moment so perfect I couldn't have scripted it if I tried one of my students explaind to his friend we ran into that "everyone should know this stuff, it's important".

The groups really experimented with this. One group created a three-way syste. Interesting fact, the cups have to be nearly equidistant for a message to transmit to all three cups. My favorite was the group that used Pythagorean theorem to find the length of their string.

Cans and String: The Internet Unplugged

I am still gathering materials for the CS Principles course. Every time I think I am caught up I find something new.

Today while reading over the blog by Harry Lewis , author of Blown to Bits, I found a book that is exactly what we are going over right now.

On my shopping list: D is for Digital by Brian Kernighan. He teaches at Princeton. Here is the course website: Princeton site for CS 109

We are in the middle of Unit 2-The Internet Unplugged. We've done HTML, as an example of abstraction and creating digital artifacts. We'll be adding CSS next week. right now we are talking about the physical structure of the Internet. I honestly thought this lesson would be a bit dull, but the students really had a lot of questions. I try to end each block with an "exit ticket". Last class they had to tell me one thing they had learned new and one thing they were curious to learn. This helps me steer where we are going.

It is amazing how little they really know about the Internet...it has been omnipresent since they were little, so very few of them have ever really looked at the how and why behind it all. To me it is foundational for technological literacy.

I am so glad we started with binary this year. Honestly it was a stall tactic-I had planned on doing it when we got to number calculations, but I had a few days to fill in Sept so we did binary, octal and hex. It had turned out to be perfect- so much of what we have done has related back to that lesson. Tomorrow we talk about IP addresses.

Tonight I am forcing my own children to eat a buffet of canned foods. Fortunately they like tomato soup. We're doing the "Two Cans and a String" game tomorrow and I am a bit short on cans. My challenge for the students is to discover how long a piece of string can be before the message breaks down. My plan is to use this an introduction to error checking - how do you KNOW the message you get is correct? I think it will also help with the idea of packets.

I have also been reading The Internet of Elsewhere. I am still reading the chapter on Korea. It includes a great description of the beginning of packets on the ARPANET. I like that it makes the connection that before packets information had to be sent in one long dedicated connection, like a phone call. I am hoping that our Cans and Strings activity will also help drive this point home.

Cybersecurity

Found this class site from Stanford with some good information on cybersecurity. Only the first few lessons are useful at our level, but it is good stuff.

Podcast Roundup

Today and tomorrow I am participating in VASS AP training. the best part is having time away from the hubbub of the classroom to reflect and plan a bit. On the way there and back today I caught up on podcasts. It was a nice break, the kids have been listening to Harry Potter audio books, so some grown-up listening was much appreciated. The September 21st episode of the NYT Tech Talk was especially good. It covered:

• New Google Wallet. This would be good for classroom discussion about security. They also mention an article about hacking that says it wold take a hacker less then 18 minutes to hack a 4 digit pin. (Will your Google Wallet be stolen in 18 minutes? (PCMag.com) )
• They talked about the online game Fold It - recently online players helped crack some of the Aids mystery.
  BBC Article
  FoldIt
• They did an interview with the founder of Dot Com. This service lets you test and receive information back from a website...even if you are not using a smart-phone. Dot Com
  
  The thing I love about this is they use their own markup language to embed the information. I think it would be interesting to contrast that to HTML...just to get across what a markup language is.