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From Pascal to Python
A look at the journey schools (specifically Burnside High) have taken from no computers to students being able to take courses in computer science, software engineering, game development and microelectronics.Abstract
The Gestetner machine was the coolest piece of technology in schools when I was young. The smell of that blue ink on newsprint paper will live with me forever, but times change and so does technology.By the time I left high school we'd gone from that to having 12 BBC micro's in one classroom - one of them even had a disk drive. But everything done on those computers was at a hobby level, and there were no educational achievements gained from them as far as 'The System' was concerned.
Fast forward (quite) a few years to the new millennium, and computers were starting to become a lot more prevalent in schools - and some departments, often Maths, even used them in teaching. But there still weren't any great educational outcomes from this use (although for those of us who were true nerds at school this was probably the best class of all, regardless).
In the early 2000's a small group of teachers started fighting to get some proper standards in place - and not just the older Unit Standards which tended to be quite simple, and quite prescribed (click here, do this, get that) - but the new Achievement Standards which allowed students to gain tertiary-applicable NCEA credits while learning useful skills.
Success meant that in 2011 the first iteration of these standards was rolled out across NZ. Standards that also allowed teachers to customise a course to their own skillset, vitally important given not all teachers are Software Engineers.
This talk is on how we use Python and related tools to enable our students to learn great skills and deliver awesome projects in (and sometimes despite) the system.
Steve Dunford
Steve Dunford is a grumpy old Teacher of Digital Technologies at Burnside High School in Christchurch where he teaches Electronics, Computer Science and Software Engineering.In his spare(?!) time he is a vintage radio nut and part-time pretend farmer.