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Coding Cam Jam kits in Python at Key Stage 2

All_about_code – amazing site for using a Python library called edupy for coding Cam Jam Edu Kits on th eRaspberry Pi.

Pro Bot

Pro Bot robot

It might be languishing somewhere in your school but the Pro Bot is a fantastic bit of kit for Computing and Mathematics at Key Stage 2.  The official Pro Bot guide is not much use but Terrapin have a great booklet available here.

 

GPIO Zero

GPIO Zero appears a great development for physical computing in the classroom. You can use it from flashing LEDs to sensors and motors,  in both Python and Scratch. It utilizes the Pi’s GPIO pins to make programming objects in the real world accessible to everybody. I can’t wait to use it this half term.

Office 360 for Education and Google for Education

    

I have been amazed recently at how many schools just have laptops and no servers.

For them either       Office 360 for education or    Google for Education would seem a perfect fit. I wonder how many schools in this situation have gone down that route and how successful it has been for them.

PICADEMY MANCHESTER

PICADEMY@GOOGLEMANCHESTER

Looking for great CPD around the Raspberry pi then head over to Picademy at Manchester. Still lots of time to apply. See website booking page for details.

Ways of using Raspberry Pi in the classroom. 1 Making a remote controlled robot car with Scratch

The robot car in action

Updating and Upgrading Raspbian on the Raspberry Pi

Before starting work with the Raspberry Pi ensure it is up to date.

First, update your system’s package list by entering the following command in LXTerminal

or from the command line:

sudo apt-get update

Next, upgrade all your installed packages to their latest versions with the command:

sudo apt-get upgrade

When it asks “Do you want to continue y/n? Enter y for yes.

Generally speaking, doing this regularly will keep your installation up to date, in that it will be equivalent to the latest released image available from raspberrypi.org/downloads.

VNC for Raspberry Pi

Lots of instructions on the net but this one works.

To Install a Remote Control for your Raspberry PI.

You will be installing a VNC viewer controller (X11VNC)

Its is designed for people to easily set up their Pi for remote control from another computer or Tablet e.g. iPad

This will give you full remote control over the normal Raspberry Pi standard desktop.

This is very useful when you want to power your Pi off batteries and stick some wheels on it and turn it into a robot vehicle.

The Installer has been installed but if any problems occur then do the following:

To install, run LX Terminal (see above for what it looks like) and copy and paste or just copy the following code:

•wget http://goo.gl/MbfUEp -O isx11.sh

•and then press enter to download the installer

•Once it has finished downloading, type the following and follow the instructions:

•sudo bash isx11.sh

•At the end, you need to reboot your Pi and then you should be able to use a VNC program on another computer (Use TightVNC) to connect and control and view your Pi

(Retrieved simplesi.net 6.2.15)

Or input in LX terminal

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver

and next run TightVNC Server which will prompt you to enter a password and an optional view-only password

Then reopen pi.

Next. this you will have to do. From command line (LX Terminal) run the following code:

ifconfig

Then check which ip address raspberry pi is working on.

Set up VNC viewer on the iPad for this address or one similar to it. It will be there after you have used ipconfig .

Enter that address in iPad VNC viewer. Then shut down Raspberry Pi remove connection to monitor. Switch it back on and after two minutes open up VNC viewer on iPad with IP address and you should see the Terminal screen for the  Raspberry Pi on your iPad.

Code for Scratch on your Raspberry Pi to work the motors and let you control it from your keyboard

Source Code

original codes for PiRoCon at git hubWeb Link

Code as it could appear on your Scratch screen

 

New year, new blog?

Had lots to say but no time to say it. Now wondering if I should just carry on where I left off but see it focussed on ICT and Computer Science. Mouthful for a website so might just keep it as it is. OECD still seems to find it useful and in UK change of name to Computing was to try to get Computer Science an equal partner with using Information Technology, Communication with digital devices and Digital literacy. 

April 2014

Not sure whether to change to Computing in the Primary School. Or set up new blog.