Science Oxford’s Month of Computing for schools
Friday 9th February 2018
February is our Month of Computing and we’re all about supporting primary school teachers in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to learn innovative and fun new ways to confidently teach computing! From our new twilight CPD sessions, to lending a set of micro:bits (tiny programmable computers), we want to help teachers to help their pupils develop vital programming skills.
NEW computing CPD sessions – Get Coding
Primary teachers! We’re delighted to announce our new computing CPD sessions ‘Get Coding‘ created after listening to your feedback. Using micro:bits, which are little programmable computers designed to make learning and teaching easy and fun, you’ll get an introduction to programming, a great selection of resources and plenty of ideas to take back into your classroom. Our computing expert Sarah, who has devised the Get Coding session, has ensured that it is perfect for everyone, from beginners to those with plenty of experience. You can learn more about micro:bits here.
Free Science Oxford Computing CPD Session for primary teachers
We are pleased to be able to offer one lucky school a free twilight CPD session with our resident computing expert, Sarah Townson; Sarah will introduce your staff to fun and engaging ways to teach computing, suitable for every teacher, from complete beginners to experienced programmers. Using the free online platform Scratch, as well as a variety of other resources, she’ll inspire and excite your staff with the many opportunities that the computing curriculum offers. As this is a free twilight, we’ll ask for feedback from your staff and the whole session, including time for feedback, will last 2 hours. Get in touch asap with [email protected] for your chance to take up this great opportunity!
New micro:bit kit loan for schools
Thanks to support from the micro:bit Foundation, we now have a full class set of micro:bit computers to lend to schools. Our micro:bit kit loan comes with everything that you need to work with up to 30 pupils at a time, including lessons plans for an entire term. you work in an area of particular need and would otherwise struggle to access technology for your students, please get in touch with [email protected] as we may be able to offer your school this fantastic resource for free!
Computing workshops for schools
If you’d rather bring in an expert, we have that covered too! As part of our programme of interactive STEM workshops for primary schools, we have developed two new sessions for KS2 classes.
Codebreakers turns your class into secret agents, using micro:bit computers to pass secret messages to each other. Students discuss online privacy as well as enjoying a fun activity that introduces programming in an accessible way.
Micro:bot Mazes develops pupils’ engineering skills as they use the micro:bits to control robot buggies around a maze. Your class will build resilience as well as gaining a valuable introduction to programming in this exciting, hands-on workshop.
