In this full scheme of work, designed for a series of two-hour double-lessons, students develop a Mars Rover for NASA based on a standard VEX design. They learn about the components of a robotics system including control units and data communications, and work through a design process towards a prototype. The VEX...

This one-hour lesson examines the design of IoT algorithms, considering how individual devices execute algorithms as code, allowing them to work together. The key aims are to develop computational thinking while raising awareness of the potential for future careers and enterprise.

The lesson starts with the...

This activity from the Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) team at QMUL is an introduction to algorithms suitable for those in upper primary school. A ‘self-working’ magic trick is shown – this is a trick that works every time, as long as the process is followed exactly. No understanding of the trick is needed by the...

This activity introduces children to the Kodu games programming environment through tinkering. They are asked to experiment with an existing game code, and also to start from a blank screen.

Guided...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit. This resource focusses on pupils designing, programming and using a BBC micro:bit to complete the mission challenge to find out more about the planet Mars.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design and...

These paired activities, from Paul Curzon of the CS4FN team, offer an interesting slant on search algorithms and their relative efficiency.

Students are asked to consider sufferers of ‘locked-in syndrome’, a condition that leaves a healthy mind inside body that is, often, completely paralysed. If the...

This activity combines computing and maths to look at algorithms. Children are challenged to solve missing number problems in number sequences, using logical reasoning. Additional challenges are then presented, and children are asked to share not just the answer, but the approach they took to solving the problem...

In this multi-lesson project pupils design and code a computer game. It uses a rainforest theme but can be adapted to any topic, with learners of varying age or ability.

The project includes:

• Decomposition of the elements of a game
• Designing the game
• Creating assets for the...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit. This resource focusses on pupils designing, programming and using a programmable device that can be used as a musical instrument in a class performance.

In this activity pupils will design and create a programmable device that can...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit. This resource focusses on pupils designing and programming a BBC micro:bit to help wheelchair athletes monitor and record their sporting performance over time.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design...

This series of five one-hour lessons covers computer networks at secondary-school level. The objectives of the lessons are:

• Describe what a network is, the difference between a LAN and a WAN and identify three network topologies.
• Describe pieces of hardware that are needed in a network.
...

This short unplugged activity, away from computers, introduces pattern recognition using familiar objects. Children are asked to analyse groups of objects (cats, cars and so on) to identify features common to all of them. Exceptions to the 'rules' are discussed, and parallels with writing computer programs are...

This series of three lessons introduces Python programming to students in secondary school. The lesson objectives include:

• Creating simple code including the input and print scripts
• Using "If statements" to make a decision
• Using the random function in programs

Detailed...

Produced in 2015, these resources look at the development of encoding messages and how technology and science has developed to allow us to keep messages secure. Looking at unintuitive quantum properties of light, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal and entanglement, students will see how keys can be shared to ensure...

This magic trick from the Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN) team at QMUL is based on a ‘self-working trick’. It includes a set of instructions which, so long as the commands are followed, works every time. It is, therefore, an algorithm.

The trick involves playing cards – the actual value of the cards is not...