The National STEM Learning Centre and Network supports the teaching and learning of science, design and technology, computing, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in schools and colleges throughout the United Kingdom, from primary level to post-16.

This edition of the Computing at School newsletter covers many topics including:

*Visual development of mobile apps using App Inventor

*Active learning in computing using Lego NXT and Logo

*BYOB, an extension to Scratch that aids abstraction and extension

*Robot simulation using RoboMind...

This resource is based on the Inventive podcast. The podcast mixes engineering fact with fiction. Each podcast features an interview with an engineer. In this activity, Data scientist and inventor Larissa Suzuki is the inspiration for Tim Maughan to write 'My city is not a problem'.

Short audio clips...

The Inventive podcast uses storytelling to encourage listeners to find out more about engineers and what they do.  In each episode, Professor Trevor Cox interviews an engineer, and then a writer uses that interview as inspiration for a piece of fiction. The podcast brings...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology, meaning that it is significantly changing the way that people, businesses, and industry interact. To put it in context, the invention of the wheel, electricity, TV, and GPS are all disruptive technologies that changed the way in which society worked.

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This Barefoot Computing resource builds on the ‘Maths quiz with selection’ learning activities which should be undertaken first.

It involves improving an existing Scratch maths quiz and adding score-keeping using...

Siemens have created a number of high-quality engaging online interactive games and activities for pupils of all ages covering many aspects of the STEM curriculum.  Topics range from cybersecurity to carbon emissions; programming to dressing a site worker in appropriate personal protective clothing. Many of the...

A useful handbook for setting up a student-led STEM club, with exemplars from three schools.

It is increasingly recognised that giving students opportunities to act as ambassadors and mentors for STEM subjects outside of school can be of great benefit to the individual, their institution, and to the broader...

This edition of the Computing at School newsletter focuses on teaching computing in primary schools, and contains articles covering:

*Pedagogy of computing in primary schools

*National curriculum programme of study

*Game design in the primary classroom

*Primary – secondary transition...

This edition of the Computing at School newsletter contains articles covering:

*Computing in the national curriculum

*Computational thinking in the classroom

This activity away from the computer is from the Barefoot Computing project. It is intended to provide a theoretical understanding of why and how variables are used in computer programming, using the example of score-keeping in a classroom quiz. Involving several volunteers from the group, the activity uses...

This brief activity uses false-colour images of the Columbia glacier to introduce the idea of using sequences of satellite images to monitor change and focuses on the selection of appropriate data for an investigation.

This short activity introduces students to the ideas of the footprint and resolution of an image, asking them to choose and use appropriate methods to calculate how these quantities would change as they moved a camera to a series of vantage points above the surface of the Earth

In this activity students take on the role of Earth observation scientists submitting a request for an image they would like for their research. This gives them the opportunity to consider the possibilities of pictures taken from orbit (and the limitations) and to write scientifically for a specific audience. It...