Tag: computer science

  • Another day in St Andrews, the Caird Hall Gathering in Dundee and memories of Christchurch

    Another day in St Andrews, the Caird Hall Gathering in Dundee and memories of Christchurch

    They say you can’t visit St Andrews without running into someone you know and thus far this has proved true for us. Last weekend we ran into someone from Daniel’s school also attending the offer holder day. Yesterday Daniel and I were there again and the strangest of coincidences happened. I didn’t technically know the…

  • Daniel is going to St Andrews

    Daniel is going to St Andrews

    Daniel got some exciting news last week: he received an offer to study computer science at the University of St Andrews. This was his top choice so he’s planning to accept it and will commence university in September this year. I never imagined I’d one day have a child at St Andrews University. It must…

  • Build your own computer kit for kids

    Build your own computer kit for kids

    Elizabeth received a Kano computer kit for Christmas this year. It consists of a Raspberry Pi with all the other bits required to build your own computer and learn to code. She’s very interested in learning programming and I’m very happy to encourage this (although I keep trying to tell her there’s much more to…

  • How many iPads does a school need?

    Contrary to what people might think, I feel that spending lots of money on shiny new iPads for schools is money poorly spent. I don’t deny that iPads are great learning tools – I can attest to that – but they’re very expensive upfront and don’t last all that long before they become obsolete and need replacing.…

  • My birthday, computer science, clouds, pauses, and helmets

    I’m 39 tomorrow, boo hoo. Only one more year and I’m 40. That’s scary. Apparently a new computer science curriculum has been launched in English schools as a replacement for the old ICT course. I think this is wonderful. Teaching children how to create software is far more useful than simply teaching them how to use it;…

  • The Auckland Harbour Bridge and computer science in New Zealand

    I was driving over the Auckland Harbour bridge last week and thinking, I don’t really trust New Zealand engineering. This is possibly because I got to witness the catastrophic collapse of two New Zealand buildings in Christchurch not long after they’d been deemed safe by engineers. Although it has since transpired that the so-called engineers…