The Raspberry Pi Education Manual

This resource is designed as an introduction to activities available using a Raspberry Pi computer. The introduction explains:
*what a Raspberry Pi is: a small, affordable yet powerful computer
*what can be learnt from this manual: how to perform simple programming and the basics of computer science
*who the manual is for: most people of eight years and older

The manual consists of the following sections:

[b]A beginner’s guide to Scratch[/b] explains the basics of Scratch, how to move the sprites around the screen, how to use loops to produce animation, how to use variables to store data for use in programs, decision making in programs, how to write control programs that respond in different ways depending on inputs to the program and to learn some of the techniques used for game programming by playing some Scratch games. Each section explains what to do, contains screen shots showing which blocks to use and sets tasks for the reader to complete.

[b]Experiments in Python[/b] begins with an introduction to the text based language. The first section explains about the use of the IDLE shell, how to begin to write simple programs and how to import ‘pygame’. The next section explores some maths programs: to find the factors of numbers and to produce Fibonacci sequences. Explanation follows of how python programs are interpreted. The next sections show how to create a game using python, add comments to programs, manipulate data, sort and search data and display graphics. Further sections explore memory and storage and accessing the internet.

[b]Human-computer interfacing[/b] explores how the Raspberry Pi receives information from the real world telling them what to do. The role of ports is explained, python twitter tools, email application, remote procedure call, web applications and cookies. The final sections consider the uses of the general purpose input/output (GPIO) interface and the Arduino interface.

[b]The Linux command line[/b] looks at the programs that can be run from the command line, the Bash shell, command syntax and file structure, manipulating files and folders and ‘superusers’ using the sudo command. The next session explores how to access the Raspberry Pi remotely using an SSH client.

[b]What next?[/b] details a number of places where help, ideas, inspiration and resources can be found.