[Scott Leiper]

08/01/2020 at 1:43 pm

I am always chased at this time of year to spend my budget, and with Office365 I am almost entirely paperless, I have Scholar Notes as well as my own and some other colleagues, I don’t photocopy much and I have all the pens I could use.

What do people spend their budgets on? I feel I need to support my Highers more and any resources or ideas to support them would be most appreciated.

[Lee Murray]

08/01/2020 at 3:49 pm

We are in a similar position and thinking of things to spend the money on is a struggle. We thought of digital cameras and microphones but the money we have would buy about 2 very low quality digital cameras that most pupils would laugh at. Their mobile phones would blow them away. Same with the microphones.

A couple of hundred quid is a huge amount of money to not spend, but at the same time it doesn’t get you much.

[Greg Reid]

08/01/2020 at 5:06 pm

***Shameless plug alert***
If you have money to spend I can recommend a new book I’ve been working on in my own time. 😉 “How to Code in Python” covers GCSE, N4/5 and very nearly all of Higher. It is available from 28th Feb.

The book is a combination and extension of a few teaching resources I was working on when still in the classroom. Each section has chapters on:
– Explanations of Python Code
– Computational Thinking Puzzles (good for homework with answers and comments will be available online)
– Programming Challenges (all solutions with comments will be available online)

Sections are:
1. Input, output and simple calculations
2. Selection (if) statements
3. Repetition (Loop) statements
4. Storing multiple values using lists
5. Predefined functions
6. Modular programming
7. File handling
8. Standard algorithms
9. Large project tasks

As the book covers several courses I’m putting together a document that matches puzzles, challenges etc to each course in Scotland.

[Scott Leiper]

09/01/2020 at 9:55 am

I have been buying things over the last few years, I have a couple of Blue Snowball USB mics and my class share a Canon 750D which we use for filming. But you’re right I couldn’t have bought what I have in one year.

I always feel like these are toys though, certainly when I bought the 4 drones last year it felt like a toy, and although I have used them with junior classes in controlling them through scratch they did feel a bit frivolous. I might look into a limited set of books.

[Lee Murray]

09/01/2020 at 10:22 am

Oooh, drones you can control with Scratch sound good. Which ones did you get and how do you control them through scratch?

[Scott Leiper]

09/01/2020 at 12:55 pm

Ryze Tello drone (Link), Ryze build them DJI supply the control software.
It doesn’t have GPS but the down-facing sensor keeps it surprisingly stable.

They have a whole EDU side, and they are pretty cheap considering what they do.

[davidstrudwick]

17/01/2020 at 10:07 am

The Lego Mindstorms EV3 stuff is worth a look if you can stretch that far. Good for teaching if statements and fixed and conditional loops 🙂