“The low-level software that supports a computer’s basic functions, such as scheduling tasks and controlling peripherals.” (dictionary definition) So, what is an Operating System - our computers, tablets, smartphones, etc all need one, but what do they actually do? Most adults have no idea! The course is delivered in 4 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating, animated PowerPoint presentations with painstakingly selected, embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lessons and a Kahoot quiz. This series, for absolute beginners, looks at how computers worked before the Operating System the role of the Operating System managing things and user interfaces examples of Operating Systems Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

Vector graphics are computer graphics images that are defined in terms of points connected by lines and curves to form polygons and other shapes. (wikipedia) Inkscape is free, professional quality, vector graphics software. Note, for Inkscape v0.91 go to this project. Computing is about so much more than just programming, and Inkscape is a great way to introduce students to vector graphics. Although those with an artistic flair will particularly love this series of lessons, they were extremely popular with ALL students. The course comprises 7 one-hour lessons, using a stimulating PowerPoint presentation to introduce each lesson, and includes worksheets to accompany the lessons, and a Kahoot! quiz. Digital Images and a first look at Inkscape Exploring Inkscape v1.3x features and the Node Editor Projects (3 lessons): Penguin, Pac-man baddie, Elephant, Turkey Free exploration Kahoot quiz and Self assessment Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

A pixel is generally thought of as the smallest single component of a digital image. (wikipedia) Using technology to create art has become extremely common and popular (and also, financially lucrative!). Furthermore, students love designing and creating sprites and animated GIFs. This series of 4 one-hour lessons looks at digital images - bitmaps and vector graphics using the piskel web app to create sprites using the piskel web app to create animated GIFs I have used it very successfully with students in grades 4 through to 8 (with slight modifications), and all have absolutely loved the topic. The lessons comprise: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides, together with embedded videos (to extract, click here) worksheets, ideas and self-evaluation documents Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

I introduce students to programming through Scratch, and then extend this into the world of text based coding through Python and Python Turtle. The lessons use Trinket as a simple interface for entering and running Python code - no downloads required. The students are introduced to Python coding in the context of creating amazing patterns. In so doing, they become familiar with the commands and the syntax, and learn to debug errors they will inevitably have made. There is enough material for approx. 4 one-hour sessions, and of course, once students get started, they can easily develop their own ideas. I’ve delivered these lessons to Year 5/6 students, and they have absolutely loved it. The lessons are delivered through a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides and embedded videos (can be extracted if required). In addition, there is a workbook of activities. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

How often have your students (and often, colleagues) struggled to find their files? File Management is so critical to managing digital content, yet students (and adults) know so little about this. The course is delivered in 3 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lesson, a self evaluation document, plus a Kahoot quiz. storage devices digital files opening and saving files from within applications like Word managing files and folders using File Explorer I repeat these lessons at the beginning of each school year with students in years 3 through to 7 (with slight modifications) so that they are better equipped to work with their files in applications such as Word and PowerPoint. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

HUGE REDUCTION on all Scratch v2 resources. In my series of Scratch projects, students are encouraged to learn through doing - creating projects that encourage learning. In this NEW series of lessons for Scratch 2, I provide a more structured approach, looking in detail at Scratch programming tools. Each tool is explored through simple projects, and students then go on to further explore using guided project worksheets. What is Scratch v2 Events and Triggers Controls Motion and the Stage Data Variables Operators - number Operators - text The lessons comprise: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides, together with the project instructions a Word document with the PowerPoint project instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout for students to follow accompanying fully-working Scratch project files for students and teachers Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: scratch, computer, programming, coding, algorithm

HUGE REDUCTION on all Scratch v2 resources. This is designed to support the Switched On Computing Year 4 unit 4.2, and has been specifically written with year 4 pupils in mind. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, whilst at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. To this end, I use the following approach: - break the project down into manageable chunks - present students with “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide students with the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with introductory slides and the project instructions 2. a Word document with the PowerPoint instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch project files for teachers that match the project Other lessons in this series: A FREE introduction to Scratch. Project I: A maze type project. Project II: Create a question and answer type quiz. Project III: A game where students move a sight with the mouse to shoot ghosts. Project IV: Students create a Music Player with layers of menus for different categories. Project V: Simulate a toy with touch pads. Project VI: Drawing shapes and repeating patterns. Project VII: Base Attack. [Project VIII: Flappy Octopus.</> ](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/scratch-viii-flappy-octopus-11558745)Budle of Projects I-III. Budle of Projects IV-VI. ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated to maximize their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

HUGE REDUCTION on all Scratch v2 resources. In this project, students create their own Music Player with levels of menus for different categories of music. The corresponding music tracks can then be uploaded. There are many sites offering Scratch Projects. However, many tend to be like recipes - students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, without learning a lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, and at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. I use the following approach: - break the project into manageable chunks - present “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with instructions 2. a Word document with the instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch files for teachers that match each stage of the project ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so please provide constructive feedback.

HUGE REDUCTION on all Scratch v2 resources. In this project, the Scratch Pen is used to draw geometric shapes using Repeat blocks. There are many sites offering Scratch Projects. However, many tend to be like recipes - students almost mechanically enter code and create “delicious cakes”, without learning a lot about Scratch. My goal is to get students to create a fun project, and at the same time learn how the instructions work and fit together. I use the following approach: - break the project into manageable chunks - present “pseudo-code” for each chunk - provide the Scratch commands to implement the pseudo-code, but jumbled up In this way, students learn about pseudo-code (an important part of coding), and have to understand the Scratch instructions in order to sequence them correctly to match the pseudo-code. The lessons comprise: 1. a PowerPoint with instructions 2. a Word document with the instruction slides printed 2 to a page as a handout 3. accompanying Scratch files for teachers that match each stage of the project ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested”, and continually updated. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so please provide constructive feedback.

We all use computers, but how much do we really know about hardware and software? These lessons look specifically at hardware, introducing students to what computers are all about in an accessible way. The course is delivered in 3 x 60-minute lessons, using stimulating PowerPoint presentations with embedded videos, and includes worksheets to accompany the lesson, plus a Kahoot quiz. What is a computer Input devices and Output devices The CPU and storage The future, and some fun tasks Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James

The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, is an information system where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators, which may be interlinked by hyperlinks, and are accessible over the Internet. (wikipedia definitions) This is a series of 60 minute lessons that will give students (and often, teachers) a much greater understanding of what the internet is, how it works, what the World Wide Web is (no, it is not the internet) and creating web pages using HTML. Each lesson comprises: 1 a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides 2 loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) 3 worksheets and self-evaluation files plus a Kahoot! Quiz The lesson objectives are: understand what the Internet is understand how the Internet works understand what the World Wide Web is understand web pages and HTML In addition, there are a series of lessons that look at what a web page is, how HTML works, and creating a web page using HTML ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

I introduce students to programming through Scratch, and then extend this into the world of coding through Python. The lessons use Trinket as a simple interface for entering and running Python 2 and Python 3 code - no downloads required. This series of 4 one-hour lessons for absolute beginners looks at what is Python using strings and performing maths operations functions, variables, loops and comparative operators creating a Magic 8 Ball game in Python using user input adapting the game to SenseHat in Trinket Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides embedded videos worksheets and self-evaluation files Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: computer coding programming Babbage Lovelace function loop variable

Flowol 4 allows students of all ages to develop logical reasoning and problem solving talents, develop programming skills and explore the world of automatic, autonomous systems and robots. This series of 3 one-hour lessons for absolute beginners looks at what is control technology using Flowol to control simple mimics using Flowol to control mimics with decisions and numerical inputs Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint with explanatory slides inspiring embedded videos worksheets and self-evaluation files Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.

Computers did not just drop out of the sky - real people came up with the ideas and created what we have today! The series of 3 lessons tries to make these pioneers real, and focuses on people such as Leibniz, Jacquard, Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Page and Brin, Jeff Bezos, and more… They cover topics such as binary numbers, early computers, the internet, the World Wide Web, Apple, Microsoft, Quantum computers, Amazon, Ebay, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok Each lesson comprises: a fully animated PowerPoint loads of embedded videos (can be extracted if required) fun worksheets Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback. Teacher/Author: Barrie James Search words: computer pioneer history Leibniz Jacquard Babbage Ada Lovelace Alan Turing Tim Berners-Lee Steve Jobs Bill Gates Page Brin Jeff Bezos google amazon apple microsoft internet world wide web www

Note that, although these lessons are written specifically for Word 2016, the content is generic and pretty much applies to all subsequent versions of Word. Word processing is a key skill in many walks of life, both business and personal, and Microsoft Word dominates the market. Being able to use this application effectively therefore provides the user with a real advantage. The course comprises 4 one-hour lessons, using a stimulating PowerPoint presentation to introduce each lesson, and includes supporting worksheets to accompany the lessons. A first look at word processing and Microsoft Word (including tips on selecting text, navigating, deleting text and using the Clipboard) Formatting Fonts and Paragraphs Inserting and formatting images Free exploration Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, and a BIG BIG thanks for looking (as a full time practising teacher, I KNOW how time consuming this process can be). ALL my postings are FULLY “classroom-tested” - before I publish, my lessons are tested by both myself and colleagues, rigorously evaluated and discussed, and continually updated to maximise their effectiveness. But there is always the possibility of error and room for improvement, so do please provide constructive feedback.