Python for Kids is a new No Starch publication written by Jason R. Briggs. Aimed at children from the ages of 10 up who would like to learn Python, the book starts with the very basics even down to installing Python on your computer.

With Python being such a popular choice in UK education at the moment, especially when it comes to chosing a language to teach at GCSE level, Python for Kids has entered the market at the right time and as things stand, it is one of the better books out there.

The book is well paced, leading readers through 18 chapters starting with variables and operators and finishing with two full game projects. The text is a little heavy at times (to be expected to be fair), but the font is nice and big which hopefully doesn’t look as threatening to young learners. It is also nicely illustrated and has regular code snippets to help with explanations.

I personally wouldn’t recommend this for a 10 year old who was new to programming, but that is certainly no fault of the book itself. I firmly believe block languages such as Scratch offer a much easier introduction to programming and computational concepts as you do not have to worry about the syntax as much as a higher level language. However, if you have a young child who has already progressed passed this stage then I think Python for Kids would be an excellent choice to continue their development.

I also would recommend this book for any KS3/KS4 students who wish to get into programming. The nice, easy to read style of the book that keeps to a gamification style of programming throughout will certainly appeal to youngsters.

No Starch publications also need to take some of the plaudits for continuing to publish books that are slightly different to the mainstream and their catalogue continues to grow with some very interesting books around the area of computer science.  It is worth heading over there for a look at what other titles they have to offer: www.nostarch.com

Recently at this year’s BETT show, the Kodu Kup was officially launched in the UK.  It has been running in the US for a number of years, but this is the first time UK students will get the opportunity to compete against one another.  Any child from the age of 7 to 14 can enter as individuals or in teams of up to 3 people.

Students have to design a game and front cover for one of three potential themes; retro arcade games, water awareness or Mars exploration.  The deadline is May 31st 2013 and the 10 shortlisted entries will be invited to Microsoft HQ to present their games and take part in workshops.  Three teams will be awarded XBox consoles for their efforts with the best overall team claiming the Kodu Cup.

There are resources available to help teachers, produced by the excellent Geeky Nicky from Interactive Classroom.

“Programming plays a huge role in the world that surrounds us, and though its uses are often purely functional, there is a growing community of artists who use the language of code as their medium. Their work includes everything from computer generated art to elaborate interactive installations, all with the goal of expanding our sense of what is possible with digital tools. To simplify the coding process, several platforms and libraries have been assembled to allow coders to cut through the nitty-gritty of programming and focus on the creative aspects of the project. These platforms all share a strong open source philosophy that encourages growth and experimentation, creating a rich community of artists that share their strategies and work with unprecedented openness. ”

Featuring:
Daniel Shiffman – Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYUhttp://www.shiffman.net/
Keith Butters – Barbarian Grouphttp://barbariangroup.com/software/ci…
James George & Jonathan Minard – RGBDToolkithttp://www.rgbdtoolkit.com/

*****Here’s a list of all the projects displayed!*****
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/c…

Music:
Phyrid - https://soundcloud.com/phyrid
Jinx - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCsVzi…
Hopeku - http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste…
Dexter Britain - https://soundcloud.com/dexterbritain
Milhaven - http://milhaven.bandcamp.com/track/lo…
Binarpilot - http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/1125…
http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/3590…

More Off Book:
Our video on Bad Behavior Online: http://youtu.be/RVSAFhTjAdc
Our short documentary on The Universal Arts of Graphic Design:http://youtu.be/sTi5SNgxE3U
We took a look at The Impact of Twitter on Journalism:http://youtu.be/Nl9xI-kAE8A
We Celebrated Retro Media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47oBPj…

Follow Off Book:
Twitter: @pbsoffbook
Tumblr: http://pbsarts.tumblr.com/

Produced by Kornhaber Brown: http://www.kornhaberbrown.com

If you missed the first episode of game sound effects, you can still catch it here: Creating Bone Chilling Video Game Monster Sounds

Super Scratch Programming Adventure is a new publication from No Starch Press.

It is written in a comic book style format and covers 9 projects of varying difficulty. All of the projects are centered around game making and include many references to popular books, films or events which will appeal to students. Each stage introduces another part of the story as students follow Mitch and Scratchy on their adventures.

The games themselves are some of the most impressive game projects I have seen in Scratch and will certainly inspire students to explore and create their own ideas. Not only do they introduce concepts which are easily applied to other projects, but they also encourage students to take a lot of care over the graphics in their projects. The finished games look very polished as well as being fun to play.

However, the code needed for these projects is certainly not the easiest and for a beginner starting Scratch, they may feel a little lost about what is going on and how everything is exactly working. With this in mind, I feel this book is better suited to students who already have had an introduction to Scratch and are now ready to see what the development environment is capable of.

After the story finishes, SSPA includes a nice introduction to joining the Scratch website and sharing projects as well as a nice section on using Scratch and Picoboards.

Super Scratch Programming Adventure feels fresh and unique and is a welcome addition to the collection of Scratch publications. I certainly recommend it, there isn’t another book like this out there and the projects on offer are some of the best and most polished Scratch games that I have seen. It is obvious that a lot of care and thought has gone into each stage, but the level of difficulty is just a little too high for real beginners. However, it is perfect for students who have a basic understanding of the Scratch environment.

It is great to see Codecademy still pushing new ideas to introduce programming in schools and these new resources look very good.

Sources:
Codecademy Official Page
Codecademy After School Club
Codecademy Teacher’s Lounge

The site is full of content for students and covers all the required topics in some depth. Sometimes the information on offer goes beyond what is needed at GCSE level, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as finding resources to push the more able students is not always easy.

Many of the pages contain animations which at times are useful and others are a little distracting when trying to read the text. The animations that are used to explain a point or topic are very useful, but there are a few too many which add little other than a distraction. It would be nice to allow the user to start the animation with a click rather than have them playing automatically. Even better, it would be great to be able to play them at your own rate – similar to a slide show.

When you sign up you have two logins – student and teacher. Whilst the student login gives pupils access to the main information pages, the teacher login offers materials to help deliver the topics to the class. A presentation and worksheet(s) are available to download for each topic and again the quality and a good depth of information are present. The worksheets are excellent and will save teachers preparation time, but the presentations are a little text heavy for my liking.

Currently it costs £35 a year to access the resources and this represents excellent value for money. Mike Coley is constantly looking at improving and updating the site so it will keep up to date with any changes in the GCSE.

For the price, it is impossible not to recommend signing up. As a classroom resource, a time saving way of accessing worksheets and presentations or just for a student revision guide, gcsecomputing.org.uk is a fantastic resource for anyone looking to deliver the OCR GCSE Computing course this academic year.

Links:
www.gcsecomputing.org.uk

A group of online-learning ventures is collaborating on a new kind of free class to be offered this fall, known as a mechanical MOOC (for “massive open online course”), that will teach a computer-programming language by patching together existing resources from open-learning sites.

Their first course “A Gentle Introduction to Python,” will blend content from M.I.T.’s OpenCourseWare, instant-feedback exercises and quizzes from Codecademy, and study groups organized by OpenStudy, and will be coordinated through an e-mail list operated by Peer 2 Peer University.

Could be very useful for students who wish to get into programming. We will keep a keen eye on this course when it launches on October 15th 2012.

Links:
NY Times – Free Online Course Will Rely on Multiple Sites
The Mechanical MOOC Homepage

Following on from our story on Glitch Art, 8 bit art also has a good following. It doesn’t just end with graphics either, 8 bit music also popular and even has live gigs!

Could be a good opportunity for cross curricular work with art or music and ICT. There are even a couple of sites which allow you to 8-bit versions of youself:
www.8bityourself.com
eightbit.me

Beginning with early Atari and Nintendo video games, the 8-bit aesthetic has been a part of our culture for over 30 years. As it moved through the generations, 8-bit earned its independence from its video game roots. The idea of 8-bit now stands for a refreshing level of simplicity and minimalism, is capable of sonic and visual beauty, and points to the layer of technology that suffuses our modern lives. No longer just nostalgia art, contemporary 8-bit artists and chiptunes musicians have elevated the form to new levels of creativity and cultural reflection.

Art by:

Jude Buffum
JamesBit
Snake
Pei-San Ng
Sevens Heaven
R Grillotti
Jamon
Paul Robertson
Thretris

Music by:

Sycamore Drive
Netlabelism
Eric Skiff
Minusbaby
Anamanaguchi
Kupa
Lunchbox tha Narcoleptic

A clever use of the Arduino to create a very simple touchless 3D tracking interface. Could be a good project for an after school club.

Links:
A Touchless 3D Tracking Interface