Resources by Queen Mary University of London
Displaying 1 - 10 of 96
A Godlike Heart
A Godlike Heart is a short story about computational thinking, introducing the idea of using binary to represent different kinds of information. Set in ancient Mexico it follows the story of the kidnapping of and subsequent search for the daughter of a great “Jaguar Knight”, a general in the Mexican army.
It...
The life and work of Ada Lovelace and its importance in the development of computer programming are highlighted in these resources which are suitable for secondary aged students. Also included in this list is a primary resource from Barefoot computing, 'Code Cracking Unit' which looks at the history of computing...
AI: Where is The Intelligence?
This booklet was created by the Computer Science for Fun team (Paul Curzon, Peter McOwan and Jonathon Black), for a Junior School project on artificial intelligence. Its articles include:
- The history of ‘living dolls’
- How we recognise intelligence - which animals / machines are clever? ...
An Intelligent Piece of paper
This longer article taken from AI: Where is the Intelligence? discusses Artificial Intelligence and rule following "bots". The activities contained within would easily lend themselves to a series of lessons on algorithms. The section on...
Assignment Dry Run
This activity, available in three different programming languages, requires students to ‘dry run’ written code and work out what it does. This is a useful skill for programming, which tests their understanding of assignment and subsequent changes to variables within programs. They step through code and analyse the...
Australian Magician's Dream
Made up of two complementary activities, these resources from the CS4FN team go deeper into theory about search algorithms.
The first activity involves the teacher leading a magic trick using some normal playing cards. In the subsequent explanation of the trick, students are asked to consider the pseudocode...
Biology Loves Technology
This booklet is filled with examples of how scientists are combining Computing and Biology. There is a web address and QR code next to every summary so that students can follow the link and find out more.
Biometric Mice
This brief article taken from CS4FN looks at how a user authenticates themselves to a computer could be used as the starting point for class discussions around passwords, security, biometrics and other related topics concerning how users...
Box Variables
This unplugged activity, from the CS4FN team at Queen Mary University of London, helps learners to understand variable assignment and operations. They use the idea of variables as boxes as the basis of a group activity, developing their use of logical thinking to trace variables through programs.
The...
Brain in a Bag
This unplugged activity from Peter McOwan and Paul Curzon mingles computer science with biology. A group activity is used that mimics the firing of neurons within the brain. These trigger other neurons to fire – these can be compared to AND gates in logic circuits.
The ‘brain in a bag’ kits used in the...