Next meeting: Sat, 10/19 : Physical Computing Lab

Edit: workshop notes and resources posted.

Next PSCSTA Meeting: 

• Topic: Physical Computing Lab with Arduino hosted by Andy Davidson
• Date: Saturday, October 19, 2013
  10 am - 12 n followed by socializing and networking 12 − 1 pm
• Place: UW, Sieg Hall, Room 233 (Map)

This month’s meeting is about physical computing — the blending of computer software and electronics hardware to create interactive systems. We’ll explore the Arduino platform, a small, open-source, inexpensive but powerful micro-controller that is used by artists, designers, engineers, hobbyists, and students for prototyping many different kinds of interactive systems and environments.

No prior electronics experience is necessary, and novice as well as expert programmers should find something fun and interesting. In a hands-on session, you’ll learn to create basic Arduino applications and see how it might be used in K-12 environments. I’ll have some beginner as well as advanced projects to work on.

PLEASE RSVP: If you intend to participate, please RSVP to adavid7@uw.edu. Since this workshop involves hardware, I want to make sure I have enough systems for everyone. Please bring your own laptop to use and (if you have time) download and install the Arduino software on it before the workshop (it’s free!).

LOCATION: Note that we are NOT meeting in the usual location this month, but will be in Sieg Hall, which is very close to the CSE building.

Two clock hours will be provided for the workshop portion.

NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing

As many of you know, the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing honors young women who are active and interested in computing and encourages them to pursue their passions. Award recipients receive cool prizes as well as access to scholarships, internships, and a community of like-minded, technical young women. Girls with all levels of experience are encouraged to apply: the award recognizes aspirations as well as accomplishments!

Educators who endorse their student's applications are eligible to win the NCWIT Educator Award (Paul Osborne and Sam Procopio are past winners in Washington). Educator Award winners receive up to $1000 toward professional development. This year, educators also will be entered into a drawing for each student they endorse. The more students you encourage to apply, the more likely you are to win a laptop or tablet!

The award application at http://ncwit.org/awardWA/ is now open and will close October 31st. Please encourage girls you know to apply and pass on this message to parent newsletters, teachers and other groups who work with girls.

You can use this flyer and small poster to advertise.

Here are a few reasons you should encourage girls to apply:
- the application process gets girls thinking about the role of computing in their futures
- schools and school boards pay attention to courses that result in students getting awards
- the prizes are substantial
- 20 girls will be recognized in Washington state so there are a lot of awards to go around
- nominators become eligible for the educator award
- UW CSE will be hosting the award ceremony again and we'll use the opportunity to expose winners to more cool computer science

9/21: September meeting - Scratch 2.0

Edit: workshop notes and resources posted

Next PSCSTA Meeting:

• Topic: Scratch 2.0 hosted by Hélène Martin
• Date: Saturday, September 21st, 2013
  10am - noon followed by socializing and networking noon - 1pm
• Place: UW, Paul Allen Center for CSE  (Directions & Parking)

Scratch 2.0 offers several valuable improvements over prior versions.  Join us to learn about making programs more interactive with video and sound and to see how building new blocks can help students learn about abstraction.  Prior experience with Scratch is not required.  If you are an experienced Scratch teacher, please bring some assignment ideas to share with the group!  Teachers of all disciplines are invited -- bring your colleagues!

Two clock hours will be provided for the workshop portion.

This is a football game day so there may be extra traffic on campus.  Parking is provided free of charge by UW.  Please e-mail us if you did not receive parking instructions through the PSCSTA mailing list.

Upcoming events:

• NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing registration opens 9/18 and closes 10/31.  Encourage all tech-savvy high school girls you know to apply.
• Counselors for Computing on Friday October 11th 8:30am - 3pm.  Details and registration here.

10/11 at UW: Counselors for Computing

What: A conference for middle and high school counselors about computing.
When: Friday, October 11th 8:30am - 3pm
Where: UW Paul Allen Center for CSE
Why: More and more students are interested in computing and this is a great opportunity for counselors to learn how to guide them.
Registration

Please, please share this letter to counselors and this letter to administrators in your school or with your kids' schools!

Dear PSCSTA Members:

Greetings from the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). I manage the Counselors for Computing program, which brings professional development to counselors in places where changes in CS education have implications for guidance. We are presenting a program at UW in conjunction with the UW Computer Science and Engineering department and the Washington School Counselor Association on October 11, 2013 and would appreciate your help in getting get the word out to counselors in your school.

In addition, if you as a CS teacher feel moved to speak to counselors (or if you can recommend someone else), let me know and we'll send an invitation along.

Regards,

Jane Krauss
NCWIT Counselors for Computing
jane.krauss@ncwit.org
www.ncwit.org

2013-2014 calendar posted

Our meeting schedule for the year is now live!  We have an exciting series of hands-on workshops, fun discussions and students events lined up.

Meetings will continue to be held from 10am to noon on Saturdays in the 6th floor Commons of the Paul Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering.  Socializing and networking will occur noon to 1pm.

Clock hours will be provided for the workshop portion!

Our first meeting is coming up on September 21st.  We will send out another reminder as well as parking instructions next week.

The detailed schedule is posted at http://www.pscsta.org/p/meetings.html.

Here is a preview of meeting dates and topics covered (blue events are for students):
Sep 21, 2013 Scratch 2.0
Oct 19, 2013 Physical Computing Lab
Nov 16, 2013 Nifty Lessons
Dec 14, 2013 WINTER PROGRAMMING CONTEST 
Jan 11, 2014 AP CS Labs
Feb  8, 2014 STEM OUT!
Mar 15, 2014 AppInventor Lab
Apr ??, 2014 SPRING PROGRAMMING CONTEST 
May 17, 2014 State of CS Education
Jun 21, 2014 End of Year Wrap Up & Social  

We will discuss the date of the April contest during our September meeting.  Thanks to all of you who have provided feedback through the member survey.

We encourage you to add the PSCSTA meeting calendar to your own calendar by following the instructions at http://www.pscsta.org/p/meetings.html#add_calendar

Online Practice Problem Resources

The following list of online resources for student practice problems have been added to the PSCSTA.org Resources page.  I was aware of Coding.bat and PracticeIT, but found Programr.com today and thought I would make sure these were shared with all.

• http://www.programmr.com/ (Java, C#, C++, Android, Python, Processing, HTML, and many others)
• http://practiceit.cs.washington.edu/index.jsp (Java)
• http://codingbat.com/ (Java and Python)

If you are aware of other such resources, please share and I will update our listing.

Greg Kilpatrick

2013 Scholarship Winners!

We would like to congratulate the following students as the 2013 scholarship recipients from the Puget Sound Computer Science Teachers Association:

Angela Rocchi

Tahoma Senior High School

CS Teacher: Crystal Hess

Judy Zhou

Garfield High School

CS Teacher: Earl Bergquist

Mary Martin

Holy Names Academy

CS Teacher: Sam Procopio

Thank you to everyone for your entries. Look for our next scholarship offering in the spring of 2014.