High-impact computer science resources that are based on sound educational psychological theories to help all pupils reach their full potential. I’m an experienced teacher/HoD and professionally create computing and computer science teaching resources through my company Nichola Wilkin Ltd. All these resources have been exclusively created by me. I’m an author who has written for both BBC Bitesize and Cambridge University Press. Quality teaching resources you can trust!
High-impact computer science resources that are based on sound educational psychological theories to help all pupils reach their full potential. I’m an experienced teacher/HoD and professionally create computing and computer science teaching resources through my company Nichola Wilkin Ltd. All these resources have been exclusively created by me. I’m an author who has written for both BBC Bitesize and Cambridge University Press. Quality teaching resources you can trust!
How can a rubber duck help you be a better programmer? How can they possibly have a place in our classrooms? What is rubber duck debugging?
When I first heard about this strange phenomenon, I was a little sceptical. Is this just another gimmick? Is there a surplus of rubber ducks that need repurposing? No, apparently this is a recognised programming technique that really works.
What do you do?
You need enough rubber ducks so that each pupil has their own duck. Amazon sell bags of rubber ducks for a reasonable price.
Run through the presentation with them, give them the 3 Python programs to practice with and watch as your programming classes learn how to solve many of their programming problems without having to rely on you!
If you are having trouble finding non-squeaky ducks you can either print out an image of the duck to be blue-tacked to the corner of their screen for everyone, or try the squeaky ducks but tell them, if there is an excessive amount of squeaking they will have their duck taken away and given a "flat duck"instead.
Are you ready for an exhilarating and festive end of term Christmas activity? Look no further than our electrifying Christmas Computing Quiz, tailor-made for your Year 7 students!
Prepare to be dazzled with a captivating fusion of computing challenges specially crafted for Year 7, seamlessly intertwined with a medley of delightful and interactive Christmas activities that will leave both your SLT and your year 7 computing pupils in high spirits as the term concludes.
HOW DOES THE CHRISTMAS COMPUTING QUIZ WORK?
Once you’ve purchased the resource you get a PDF which contains a link. Share the provided link with your students and watch as it whisks them away to an enchanting digital realm filled with engaging questions and intriguing tasks.
Your year 7 computing students can embark on this journey of knowledge and fun on their own, or, for an added dose of excitement, encourage pairs of students to team up and tackle the quiz together. The joy multiplies as collaboration ignites their enthusiasm.
And the best part? The quiz is a self-guided adventure. As your students conquer each challenge, the next one automatically beckons, providing you with invaluable time to support those in need or attend to the myriad of other holiday season tasks tugging at your attention.
Fear not, for we’ve thought of everything. All the answers are readily available in the comprehensive teacher’s guide, ensuring you can rescue any students who find themselves in a puzzling predicament.
This captivating experience is designed to last between 35 to 45 minutes so you may need to provide a second activity for particularly speedy early finishers.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
You get a single PDF file which contains the link to the activity and the answers to the quiz.
Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Grab your copy of the Year 7 Christmas Computing Quiz – a timeless gem that you can deploy year after year with a new wave of Year 7 computing students. Let the festivities begin!
COMPUTING TOPICS INCLUDE:
Computer hardware
Famous people in computing
Scratch programming
Software
E-Safety
.
Click here to check out this amazing bundle to get all 5 Key Stage 3 Computing and GCSE Computer Science quizzes at a knock down price.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In order to run the quizzes there are a few activities which require links to external websites. Here are the external sites that you will need to have unblocked on your school network.
view . genial . ly
jigsawexplorer . com
PLEASE NOTE:
This game is intended to be used on a desktop or laptop computer and some of the features will not be available on an iPad or other mobile device.
Are you ready for an exhilarating and festive end of term Christmas activity? Look no further than our electrifying Christmas Computing Quiz, tailor-made for your Year 11 computer science students!
Prepare to be dazzled with a captivating fusion of computing challenges specially crafted for Year 11, seamlessly intertwined with a medley of delightful and interactive Christmas activities that will leave both your SLT and your year 11 computer science pupils in high spirits as the term concludes.
Students complete a number of computing and fun festive questions and activities using a multitude of formats. Along the way they collect numbers which will be used unlock a door and release Santa from the Krampus’ Prison and save Christmas!
HOW DOES THE CHRISTMAS COMPUTING QUIZ WORK?
Once you’ve purchased the resource you get a PDF which contains a link. Share the provided link with your students and watch as it whisks them away to an enchanting digital realm filled with engaging questions and intriguing tasks.
Your year 11 computer science students can embark on this journey of knowledge and fun on their own, or, for an added dose of excitement, encourage pairs of students to team up and tackle the quiz together. The joy multiplies as collaboration ignites their enthusiasm.
And the best part? The quiz is a self-guided adventure. As your students conquer each challenge, the next one automatically beckons, providing you with invaluable time to support those in need or attend to the myriad of other holiday season tasks tugging at your attention.
Fear not, for we’ve thought of everything. All the answers are readily available in the comprehensive teacher’s guide, ensuring you can rescue any students who find themselves in a puzzling predicament.
This captivating experience is designed to last around 60 minutes but you may wish to provide an additional activity in case you have any particularly speedy early finishers.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
You get a single PDF file which contains the link to the activity and the answers to the quiz.
Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Grab your copy of the Year 11 Christmas Computing Quiz – a timeless gem that you can deploy year after year with a new wave of Year 11 computer science students. Let the festivities begin!
COMPUTING TOPICS INCLUDE:
Python programming
Hardware and software
Data representation
Searching and sorting algorithms
.
Click here to check out this amazing bundle to get all 5 Key Stage 3 Computing and GCSE Computer Science quizzes at a knock down price.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In order to run the quizzes there are a few activities which require links to external websites. Here are the external sites that you will need to have unblocked on your school network.
view . genial . ly
jigsawexplorer . com
Are you ready for an exhilarating and festive end of term Christmas activity? Look no further than our electrifying Christmas Computing Quizzes. This bundle includes 2 quizzes: one for year 10 and one for year 11 meaning you are reuse them year after year without fear that your students will have done them before.
Prepare to be dazzled with these fun digital student-led quizzes specially crafted for each year group studying GCSE Computer Science. Decode the secret Christmas message or break Santa out of prison by answering computing questions correctly with a Christmas theme that will leave both your SLT and your GCSE Computer Science pupils in high spirits as the term concludes.
HOW DO THE CHRISTMAS COMPUTING QUIZZES WORK?
Once you’ve purchased the resource you get a PDF file for each quiz which contains a link. Share the provided link with your students and watch as it whisks them away to an enchanting digital realm filled with engaging questions and a different, fun Christmas theme for each quiz.
Your students can embark on this journey of knowledge and fun on their own, or, for an added dose of excitement, encourage pairs of students to team up and tackle the quiz together. The joy multiplies as collaboration ignites their enthusiasm.
And the best part? The quiz is a self-guided adventure. As your students conquer each stage, the next one automatically beckons, providing you with invaluable time to support those in need or attend to the myriad of other holiday season tasks tugging at your attention.
Fear not, for we’ve thought of everything. All the answers are readily available in the comprehensive teacher’s guides, ensuring you can rescue any students who find themselves in a puzzling predicament.
These captivating experiences are designed to last around 60 minutes but you may need to provide a second activity for particularly speedy early finishers.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
You get two PDF files, one for each quiz, which contains the link to the activity and includes the answers.
Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Grab your copy of this great value GCSE Computer Science Christmas Quiz bundle – a timeless gem that you can deploy year after year with each new wave of GCSE Computer Science students. Let the festivities begin!
Click here to check out this amazing bundle to get all 5 Key Stage 3 Computing and GCSE Computer Science quizzes at a knock down price.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In order to run the quizzes there are a few activities which require links to external websites. Here are the external sites that you will need to have unblocked on your school network.
view . genial . ly
jigsawexplorer . com
what3words . com
PLEASE NOTE:
This game is intended to be used on a desktop or laptop computer and some of the features will not be available on an iPad or mobile device.
Are you ready for an exhilarating and festive end of term Christmas activity? Look no further than our electrifying Christmas Computing Quiz, tailor-made for your Year 8 students!
Prepare to be dazzled with a captivating fusion of computing challenges specially crafted for Year 8, seamlessly intertwined with a medley of delightful and interactive Christmas activities that will leave both your SLT and your year 8 computing pupils in high spirits as the term concludes.
HOW DOES THE CHRISTMAS COMPUTING QUIZ WORK?
Once you’ve purchased the resource you get a PDF which contains a link. Share the provided link with your students and watch as it whisks them away to an enchanting digital realm filled with engaging questions and intriguing tasks.
Your year 8 computing students can embark on this journey of knowledge and fun on their own, or, for an added dose of excitement, encourage pairs of students to team up and tackle the quiz together. The joy multiplies as collaboration ignites their enthusiasm.
And the best part? The quiz is a self-guided adventure. As your students conquer each challenge, the next one automatically beckons, providing you with invaluable time to support those in need or attend to the myriad of other holiday season tasks tugging at your attention.
Fear not, for we’ve thought of everything. All the answers are readily available in the comprehensive teacher’s guide, ensuring you can rescue any students who find themselves in a puzzling predicament.
This captivating experience is designed to last between 30 to 40 minutes so you may need to provide a second activity for particularly speedy early finishers.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
You get a single PDF file which contains the link to the activity and the answers to the quiz.
Don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Grab your copy of the Year 8 Christmas Computing Quiz – a timeless gem that you can deploy year after year with a new wave of Year 8 computing students. Let the festivities begin!
COMPUTING TOPICS INCLUDE:
Computer networks
Scratch programming
Computer jargon (missing words)
Computer systems
.
Click here to check out this amazing bundle to get all 5 Key Stage 3 Computing and GCSE Computer Science quizzes at a knock down price.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In order to run the quizzes there are a few activities which require links to external websites. Here are the external sites that you will need to have unblocked on your school network.
view . genial . ly
jigsawexplorer . com
PLEASE NOTE:
This game is intended to be used on a desktop or laptop computer and some of the features will not be available on an iPad or other mobile device.
How can you teach your students about malware, in an engaging way? The key is to break up the theory into small manageable chunks and reinforce each section with a variety of activities. And that is exactly what this computer science lesson does.
Why spend hours making your own resources when it is all done for you? Download this malware computing lesson today and save yourself all that preparation.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
This lesson includes:
an attractive dyslexia friendly PowerPoint presentation,
differentiated lesson objectives,
videos to change focus and break up the lesson,
loads of individual and group tasks and questions,
printable ready to use worksheets for classwork,
3 differentiated exam style questions which can be used either in the plenary or set for a homework task,
a comprehensive teacher’s lesson plan including ALL THE ANSWERS.
.
WHAT DOES IT COVER?
Suitable for GCSE Computer Science pupils following either OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) or AQA GCSE Computer Science (8520) syllabuses.
With virtually no preparation (apart from photocopying the worksheets) you will be ready to teach your classes about:
Passive attacks
Active attacks
Social engineering attacks
Insider attacks
Computer viruses
Trojan software
Spyware
Adware
Phishing
Pharming
.
DURATION: 1 lesson
Download this ready to use lesson now and take back control of your workload.
Click here to see some more computer science lessons
How can you teach your students about embedded systems, in an engaging way? The key is to break up the theory into small manageable chunks and reinforce each section with a variety of activities. And that is exactly what this computer science lesson does.
Why spend hours making your own resources when it is all done for you? Download this embedded systems computing lesson today and save yourself all that preparation.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
Suitable for GCSE Computer Science pupils following either OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) or AQA GCSE Computer Science (8520) syllabuses.
This lesson includes:
an attractive dyslexia friendly PowerPoint presentation,
differentiated lesson objectives,
a video to change focus and break up the lesson,
loads of individual and group tasks and questions,
a printable ready to use worksheet for classwork,
3 differentiated exam style questions which can be used either in the plenary or set for a homework task,
a comprehensive 3-page teacher’s lesson plan including ALL THE ANSWERS.
.
WHAT DOES IT COVER?
With virtually no preparation (apart from photocopying the worksheets) you will be ready to teach about your classes about:
What an embedded system is
How an embedded system differs from a general purpose computer system
Identifying the purpose, input, process and outputs of a variety of embedded systems
Identifying the benefits of using embedded systems
.
DURATION: 1 lesson
Download the lesson now and take back control of your workload.
Click here to see some more computer science lessons
This memory and storage workbook is perfect for students studying for the OCR GCSE (9-1) in computer science and has been updated to completely cover the new specification J277.
It can be used in the classroom as a teaching aid, for self-study or as a revision tool. In this resource you will receive an interactive PDF workbook so your students can either print it out and complete the activities by hand or fill it in electronically making this an ideal workbook for use in school or for students studying at home.
The answer booklet is provided as a separate PDF file so you can assign your students the workbook without including the answers.
This 64-page workbook completely covers the new specification J277 1.2 Memory and Storage theory.
Table of Contents:
Read Only Memory (ROM)
The purpose of ROM
Random Access Memory (RAM)
The purpose of RAM
Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
Static RAM (SRAM)
The difference between ROM and RAM
The need for virtual memory
The need for secondary storage
Common types of storage (Optical, Magnetic, Solid state)
Data capacity and calculation of data requirements
Denary (base 10)
Binary (base 2)
Hexadecimal (base 16)
Convert between binary, denary and hexadecimal
Adding binary numbers
Binary Shifts
Character Sets (ASCII and Unicode)
Bitmap images
Colour depth
Resolution
Metadata
Sound
How sound can be sampled and stored in a digital form
Sample rate
Bit depth
Compression (Lossless and Lossy)
.
You may also be interested in these workbooks which have also been updated for the new specification:
Systems Architecture
Computer Networks, Connections and Protocols
Network Security
Systems Software
Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts of digital technology
Algorithms
Programming Fundamentals
Producing Robust Programs
This is a written test about computer networks.
It includes questions about LANs, the internet and the world wide web, network hardware, network topologies, data packets, MAC and IP addresses, network security and cloud storage.
Useful revision tool to help GCSE pupils recognise gaps in their knowledge.
Suitable for GCSE Computer Science classes and KS3 Computing classes.
This test takes most students 25 - 40 mins to complete.
FREE BONUS PRODUCT INCLUDED
As a special thank you for purchasing this product I am pleased to be able to also include a surprise FREE bonus gift. This gift is one of our complete resources which we will usually charge full price for but is yours absolutely free when you purchase this product. Just our little way of saying thank you to our valued customers. I hope you enjoy it and get use out of it, with my compliments.
Are you looking for a set of fun, hands-on activities which will reinforce how to use key programming skills in Scratch? These flash card coding challenges are easy to use and will keep your students engaged whist embedding how to use the Scratch coding blocks.
Your students will be having so much fun they won’t even realise they’re learning!
Each pack includes 20 different Scratch coding flash cards WITH THE ANSWERS. You have the option of printing in colour but we also include a black and white version to save you ink.
Grab your copy now and either use them straight away or keep them as a handy addition to your teacher’s tool kit.
HOW CAN I USE THESE FLASH CARDS IN MY CLASSROOM?
Your students pick a card and create the programming challenge described on the front of the flash card. Once they have created their Scratch program, students test their completed program and turn over to see the suggested Scratch code answer on the reverse of the card. If they get stuck, they can always turn the card over to see the suggested solution they can copy.
When they have their program working correctly, students swap their flash card for another and repeat the process.
Students can work individually or in pairs for this activity and love the competitive nature of using these flash cards as they see how many they can complete.
These flash cards are great when used as:
a starter,
a plenary,
for early-finishers or
as an easy, highly engaging in-class activity.
.
HOW DO I PREPARE THE CARDS?
These flash cards are so easy to prepare. Simply print, glue the back and fold in half along the vertical guideline, before cutting to size.
If you want to reuse them time and time again, it may be worth laminating your flash cards.
Each set has 20 individual programming challenges so you may need to prepare more than one set for larger classes.
These are an excellent addition to your computing teacher’s toolkit and you’ll wonder how you ever managed without them.
Get your copy of these user-friendly, highly engaging Scratch flash cards before you forget. Go on, click on the “Buy Now” button straight away. If you don’t, you’ll regret it later.
Click here to take a peek at my Computational Thinking Escape Room - a finalist in the Teach Secondary Awards.
This visually appealing knowledge organiser is a quick summary to recap how to produce robust programs. It can help pupils revise for end of unit tests or GCSE computer science exams by including small straightforward facts that can be learnt in minutes.
A powerful revision aid that your students will love.
What are you waiting for? Grab your copy now and together we can boost your pupil’s confidence in understanding how to create robust programs.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
This PDF knowledge organiser includes the important facts and a separate PDF document includes revision tips and an exam style question including a possible answer.
HOW CAN I USE IT?
This resource makes an ideal homework task, can be used as part of a lesson or given to pupils to help them with their revision.
WHAT DOES IT COVER?
This knowledge organiser includes easy to digest facts on the following topics:
Input sanitisation
Validation checks
Planning for contingencies
Anticipating misuse
Authentication
Adding comments, indentation and using sensible variable names
Iterative and final/terminal testing
Syntax and logical errors
Using a test table
.
Get your copy of this fantastic knowledge organiser now. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.
Click here to see my other computer science knowledge organisers
At the start of every term I get many emails and phone calls from teachers who have recently taken over as the head of Computer Science and are unsure where to start. Some of them are walking into a well-ordered department where everything is laid out and ready-to-go, others are not so lucky.
Often, they are the only person in that department and so don’t have anywhere to turn to ask for help. And then the headteacher casually strolls into your room when you have barely been for a day and asks you for your ICT policy document by the end of the week. Gulp!
Not to worry, I have this one ready to go and better still it is completely free!
With a brief read through, only some minor tweaking to make it fit your school and copying them into your schools template it should satisfy your headteacher and give you a bit of valuable breathing space while you try to get your head around the one hundred and one other things you need to do.
Acceptable Use Of ICT Policy For Pupils
The acceptable use of ICT policy is for pupils and includes an acceptance form, they need to sign and hand back to you.
Make sure you insert your school name in the first paragraph of page 1 and if you are printing it out to send home you will probably want to copy it into your schools’ template.
At the start of every term I get many emails and phone calls from teachers who have recently taken over as the head of Computer Science and are unsure where to start. Some of them are walking into a well-ordered department where everything is laid out and ready-to-go, others are not so lucky.
Often, they are the only person in that department and so don’t have anywhere to turn to ask for help. And then the headteacher casually strolls into your room when you have barely been for a day and asks you for your ICT policy document by the end of the week. Gulp!
Not to worry, I have this one ready to go and better still it is completely free!
With a brief read through, only some minor tweaking to make it fit your school and copying them into your schools template it should satisfy your headteacher and give you a bit of valuable breathing space while you try to get your head around the one hundred and one other things you need to do.
School Data Protection Policy
A School Data Protection policy isn’t really your responsibility as head of computer science and is something somebody who has received adequate training should be looking after. The name of the allocated data protection officer (DPO) and their contact details should be inserted into section 5.2 (Data protection officer) and is usually somebody in the admin team.
This FREE programming languages and IDEs workbook is perfect for students studying for the OCR GCSE (9-1) in computer science and has been updated to completely cover the new specification J277.
It can be used in the classroom as a teaching aid, for self-study or as a revision tool. In this resource you will receive an interactive PDF workbook so your students can either print it out and complete the activities by hand or fill it in electronically making this an ideal workbook for use in school or for students studying at home.
The answer booklet is provided as a separate PDF file so you can assign your students the workbook without including the answers.
This free 12-page workbook completely covers the new specification J277 2.5 Programming Logic and Integrated Development Environments (IDE) theory.
Table of Contents:
Characteristics and purpose of different levels of programming languages
Machine Code
Assembly language
High-level languages
The purpose of translators
Source code
Compilers
Integrated development environments (IDEs)
Editors
Error diagnostics
Run-time environments
Translators
.
You may also be interested in these workbooks which have also been written to cover the J277 specification:
Systems Architecture
Memory and Storage
Computer networks, connections and protocols
Network Security
Systems Software
Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Environmental Impacts
Algorithms
Programming Fundamentals
Producing Robust Programs
Boolean Logic
This FREE Boolean logic workbook is perfect for students studying for the OCR GCSE (9-1) in computer science and has been updated to completely cover the new specification J277.
It can be used in the classroom as a teaching aid, for self-study or as a revision tool. In this resource you will receive an interactive PDF workbook so your students can either print it out and complete the activities by hand or fill it in electronically making this an ideal workbook for use in school or for students studying at home.
The answer booklet is provided as a separate PDF file so you can assign your students the workbook without including the answers.
BONUS RESOURCE: This resource also includes a PowerPoint presentation that allows pupils to easily create neat logic circuits by simply dragging the options into the desired position. Clear instructions are given in the presentation on how to use it.
This free 12-page workbook completely covers the new specification J277 32.4 Boolean Logic theory.
Table of Contents:
Simple logic diagrams using the operators AND, OR and NOT
Truth tables
Combining Boolean operators using AND, OR and NOT
Applying logical operators in truth tables to solve problems
.
You may also be interested in these workbooks which have also been written to cover the J277 specification:
Systems Architecture
Memory and Storage
Computer networks, connections and protocols
Network Security
Systems Software
Ethical, Legal, Cultural and Environmental Impacts
Algorithms
Programming Fundamentals
Producing Robust Programs
Programming Languages and IDEs
At the start of every term I get many emails and phone calls from teachers who have recently taken over as the head of Computer Science and are unsure where to start. Some of them are walking into a well-ordered department where everything is laid out and ready-to-go, others are not so lucky.
Often, they are the only person in that department and so don’t have anywhere to turn to ask for help. And then the headteacher casually strolls into your room when you have barely been for a day and asks you for your ICT policy document by the end of the week. Gulp!
Not to worry, I have this one ready to go and better still it is completely free!
With a brief read through, only some minor tweaking to make it fit your school and copying them into your schools template it should satisfy your headteacher and give you a bit of valuable breathing space while you try to get your head around the one hundred and one other things you need to do.
Acceptable Use Of ICT Policy For Staff
The acceptable use of ICT policy is for staff and is a little more detailed than my policy for pupils. This can also be coped into your school template and requires staff to sign the last page.
This lesson teaches the pupils about the history of computers. It uses animations to tell the story in an interesting and entertaining way. As the pupils learn the history they fill in a worksheet which you can go through with the whole class. They then complete a word search identifying the key people in developing technology and finally they play a game to recap what they have learnt.
Suitable for GCSE Computer Science classes and KS3 Computing and ICT classes.
This is a quick reference guide to help pupils (and teachers) find the correct syntax for common lines of code in Python. Best used as a memory aid rather than a teaching aid. Print as a Booklet for best layout.
Suitable for GCSE Computer Science classes and KS3 Computing classes.
In an attempt to make pupils slightly more self-sufficient, here is a 10 page PDF glossary of some key Python terms with a brief explanation of each. Ideal to have a few printed out and ready to give to pupils who need them.
Can be used as part of the programming project resource bank.
Fun and ready to use activities to reinforce binary to denary conversation.
Binary Calculator - Great practical starter to introduce binary to denary conversion
Binary worksheet and homework pack - ready to use handouts to practice the skills learnt
Binary Game - a spreadsheet activity suitable for testing their understanding (self-marking)
Binary Quiz - PowerPoint based quiz to test their ability to convert binary to denary and denary to binary.
Logic gates and truth tables worksheet pack - ready to use handouts to practice logic gates and truth tables
