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How the “Frontier” Became the Slogan of Uncontrolled AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been billed as the next frontier of humanity: the newly available expanse whose exploration …
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Reflections on Programming and Teaching
Mark Guzdial has an interesting post called Reflections of a CS Professor and an End-User Programmer in which he compares end-user programming and professional...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
School Year is Over, Time to Get Ready for Next Year
It is teacher wrap up day at Bishop Guertin. The warning bell for homeroom just rang but of course the students were done on Friday so there are no students coming...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Thoughts on Textbooks in Progress
My first published book, Microsoft Visual Basic FUNdamentals, came out 18 years ago. It was for Visual Basic version 6 and what I did was to take what and how I...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Computer Science Teacher as Unicorn
The t-shirt image here showed up on my Facebook feed the other day. My first thought was “Yes, computer teachers are the coolest.” Of course I know a lot of teachers...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Looking Back At APCS Principles–My First Year
During a conversation with my dean, he said it takes about three years to really get teaching an Advanced Placement course down pat. I don't know if that is the...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Programming Projects–The good, the bad, and the ugly
End of the semester project time for me. All of my programming students have been finishing up[ their self-selected projects and I have been grading. It’s always...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Micro:Bits and Teaching Networking
This year i taught advanced Placement Computer Science Principles with a mix of high school juniors and seniors. Because of the schedule I had the juniors for several...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Assumptions, Misunderstandings, and Programming Decisions
My beginning students have big problems with writing decision statements. Boolean expressions are a real problem. Most of the time it is because they expect the...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Can We Get there (#CSforAll) From Here?
When I was in high school (I graduated in 1971 so this was a while ago) there was a computer in the building. If you got an A in Calculous as a junior you could...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Why Don’t Universities Require Computer Science?
We talk a lot about requiring computer science as a high school graduation requirement. It is an issue that is not without controversy. (Should Palo Alto students...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Teaching Through Stories
This time of year I think a lot about how I teach. There is something about the end of the year and evaluating how much my students have (or have not) learned that...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Teaching the History of Computing
History is important. We’ve all heard, if not quoted, the adage that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Mark Guzdial has a blog post...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Can I Plan For Next Year Yet?
My school has a couple of weeks left but it’s getting close. My Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles students have taken their AP exam. My own exam for...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Does It Matter What Programming Languages We Teach in High School
I’m tempted to just leave this post blank and see what sort of comments it gets. But I am incapable of that. Sorry. Assuming we are preparing high school students...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Academically rigorous is incomplete without computer science
Mark Guzdial linked to this post on his blog - Feeling disadvantaged in CS courses at University of XXX – Original post at Minimal exposureInteresting line from...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Programming is easy. Debugging is hard.
I may be in a minority in this but in some ways the most fun part of my job is debugging student code. Students are very clever at wring code that doesn’t workMy...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Visual Studio Live Share–Something CS Teachers Can Use?
Microsoft is having their big MS Build event this week. I don’t have time to watch it live but I have been seeing hints of things via social media. Most of what...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
My Code is the Same as Yours But Mine Doesn’t Work
We're all heard it from students "My code is the same as yours but mine doesn't work." The implication is clear – it is the computer's fault that the program...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson
Are You In On the Social Media Conversation around CS Education?
Today is the absolute deadline for my students in Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles to upload their Create Performance Task to the Digital Portfolio...
From Computer Science Teacher - Thoughts and Information From Alfred Thompson