Share via


Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson

Alfred Thompson's blog about teaching computer science at the K-12 level. Alfred was a high school computer science teacher for 8 years. He has also taught grades K-8 as a computer specialist.

So you want to teach computer science?

A number of years ago after being laid off from a job developing software I went into teaching. I...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/08/2012

There Is More To Computing Than Computer Science

Last week Doug Peterson pointed me to an article called “Let’s not call it computer science if we...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 06/05/2012

How do they know they are interested?

Or more importantly how do students know that they are NOT interested in computer science? As I...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/31/2012

Kinect for Windows: SDK and Runtime version 1.5 Released

If you are using the Kinect sensor for projects, especially if you have the new Kinect for Widows...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/25/2012

Be What’s Next!

Grace Hopper used to tell her audiences that if they ever used “because we have always done it this...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/18/2012

What should the High School CS curriculum look like?

I get asked questions like this a lot “can you share how you would construct a 3 year programming...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/17/2012

Please Don’t Learn To Code

I am a late convert to the idea of computer science education for everyone. Or pretty close to...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/15/2012

Student Implemented SharePoint Solutions

I hear a lot of questions about SharePoint. Things like what can I do with it? How hard is it to...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/15/2012

Learning Should Be Fun

Years ago I was sitting the the front of church and via a fluke of acoustics I heard a little girl...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/11/2012

Game Design with XNA, Kinect and Windows Phone

Please take a look at the new Game Design with XNA and Microsoft Technologies: Advanced XNA, Kinect,...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/10/2012

A reminder–CS & IT Conference 2012

Have you signed up for the best value in computer science education professional development? In...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/09/2012

I didn’t have much to say last week so I decided not to say much on the blog. I also took a couple...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/07/2012

New Podcast Series - The Campus Coder

Glen Gordon and Ed Donahue have a new podcast series, The Campus Coder. The first podcast is with...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 05/01/2012

Home again! A lot of traveling the last two weeks but I’ll be home for a while now. I had a great...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/30/2012

Fun is to Entertainment as Education is to Training

How often have you heard a teacher say something to the effect that their job is not to entertain?...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/28/2012

US Imagine Cup Winners 2012

The 2012 Imagine Cup is now history for most teams. A few are still involved as they are on their...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/24/2012

I’ve been in Redmond WA at Microsoft’s headquarters since last Friday for the US Finals of the...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/23/2012

Computer Science Across the Curriculum

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Seung Yu, the principal of the new Academy for Software...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/20/2012

Better Learning Through Movement

And fun as well. Recently a co-worker sent me a link to some videos that were done by the Houston...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/18/2012

Plagiarism v. Learning

The SIGCSE mailing list has been having a very active discussion of plagiarism in computer science...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/17/2012

Later this week I head out to Redmond Washington to take part in the US finals of the Imagine Cup....

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/16/2012

Keeping it real

Lee Kolbert wrote a blog post (Dear Will Richardson ) that I see as a real call to action for those...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/15/2012

Recognizing Teachers Who Recruit Women and Girls into STEM

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has opened nominations for the A. Richard Newton...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/12/2012

What Do Magic and Computer Science Have in Common?

Industrial Light and Magic has got to be one of the coolest company names I have ever heard. It...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/11/2012

dream.build.play reminder

The dream.build.play challenge is still wide open for people looking to take their Windows Phone or...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/10/2012

Interesting Links Post 9 April 2012

I need a favor. A small favor. I need people to click this link and go vote for the Imagine Cup...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/09/2012

Learn The Cloud. Make A Difference. @home with Windows Azure

How does learning about cloud computing while contributing to scientific research sound to you? Join...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/07/2012

Women In Computer Science–What Happened?

Years ago, when I was a student at Taylor University (in what is now the Taylor Computer Science and...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/05/2012

2012 US Imagine Cup People’s Choice Voting

The voting is now open for the US Imagine Cup People’s Choice award. You can visit the web...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 04/04/2012

Why Universities Should Host High School Programming Contests

I finished up last week with a trip to Western New England University where they were running a high...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/27/2012

Who Is In Charge

I have to confess that I have not been doing a great job of keeping up with my blog reading...

Author: Alfred Thompson Date: 03/25/2012

<Previous Next>