Inspiring great teaching through Kodu
On October 6th, the second issue of the Micro:Mag came out. It features my guide explaining how to use Kodu Game Lab with the micro:bit, using the micro:bit as a controller. This uses the micro:bit's accelerometer to control a character in a game, You can also make the micro:bit spell out a word or sentence... Continue Reading →
I recently wrote an article for Lego's hub on the TES website about how coding challenges can be used to inspire your pupils and the importance of placing them within a real-world context. A great way to help your pupils understand the relevance and importance of coding is through the use of competitions. There are... Continue Reading →
The program I needed to make: For my Part 3 investigation, I wanted to have a working game showing an octopus simulation game based on the Tamagotchi/Nintendogs style where the only interaction the player has with the character is through GUI buttons on their screen. In the past, I had only made sections of... Continue Reading →
BCS Certificate in Computer Science teaching Part 3 investigation. Question investigated is: 'Can the same programming objectives be achieved when pupils are creating different types of programs or must a class always work towards the same goal to ensure that no one misses out on a key concept?'
This year I decided to get an alternative tree for my classroom and when I saw this one from Hobbycraft, it seemed perfect for some coding projects to be easily attached. The tree decorations are made up of sparkle batons cotrolled by a Crumble controller. We used sparkle batons but if you don't have any... Continue Reading →
For this activity, I asked pupils to work in pairs to plan a Christmas-themed game. I demonstrated my own planning using the planning sheets that I was providing them with as well as providing the game I had created based on the planning: The game is available here I was building on some of the... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/tg8-1Sk1Ugg Today I had a great day at the CAS South West Regional conference held at Plymouth University. It was a fantastic opportunity to find some new ideas to test out. I particularly enjoyed learning more from Nic Hughes (@duck_star) about the crumbles and testing out the crumble bots. I can't wait to begin making... Continue Reading →
Gruffalo cut scene planning Designing my Gruffalo World A far more complex skill on Kodu than creating a simple game is creating an animation or cut scene. These are really impressive when they are achieved as they allow a storytelling element to be added to the game. They can be triggered by a range of... Continue Reading →
This is a project that I carried out with Year 6 pupils. Initially they had to design their world and we looked at the different characters in a Mario game and their behaviours (e.g. when they bump a flower, they can shoot bombs, etc.) This was a project for pupils who had already had plenty... Continue Reading →
