Teaching Python

We get a lot of questions about what parents should buy for their children for the holidays. In this episode, Kelly and Sean list out some of their favorite gifts for the holidays.

Episode highlights: Kelly & Sean celebrate two years of the Teaching Python and 183,000 downloads later. Kelly wins with a student that demonstrates year over year improvement in Computer Science. Sean builds a FastAPI and gets a steep learning curve. Kelly gets a birdbrained robot finch.

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Links:

• Amazon.com: Star Wars The Child Animatronic Edition 7.2-Inch-Tall Toy by Hasbro with Over 25 Sound and Motion Combinations, Toys for Kids Ages 4 and Up: Toys & Games — He may look like “Baby Yoda,” but this lovable creature is called The Child - and now you can become his protector with this animatronic toy from Star Wars. Touching the top of The Child Animatronic Edition’s head activates over 25 sound and motion combinations, including happy and excited sounds, giggles, babbles, and more, all while the figure’s head moves up and down, ears move back and forth, and eyes open and close. Boys and girls ages 4 and up can pretend to harness the power of the Force as The Child toy closes its eyes, raises its arm, and sighs as if exerting a great amount of energy.
• Amazon.com: All-new Echo Dot (4th Gen) + Amazon Smart Plug | Charcoal: Amazon Devices — Teach your child how to set reminders, listen to stories online, check the weather. Make sure to check your security settings.
• Alexa in the Classroom [A Teacher's Guide] | Voices.com — Not only has Amazon Alexa become popular in our homes, many young students are now starting to encounter Alexa in the classroom as well. While there are many ways that technology is being used in digital learning, introducing hardware and AI represents yet another learning trend, and many teachers are finding advantages to leveraging Alexa as a learning tool and even a classroom assistant.
• Amazon.com: pi-top [4] computer with Raspberry Pi 4 - 100+ hours of Coding Projects, STEM Learning, LEGO compatible: Computers & Accessories — pi-top [4] is an easy-to-use, rugged device for creating practical computing projects and learning to code. With pi-top [4] you get to design, code and make anything you can imagine using one simple system. From beginner to superuser, pi-top powers your projects and brings learning into the real world.
• Introducing Finch Robot 2.0! - BirdBrain Technologies — Bring computer science to life from kindergarten to college with the NEW Finch Robot 2.0!
• DK Eyewitness Books: Robot: Discover the Amazing World of Machines from Robots that Play Chess to Systems that Think: Bridgman, Roger: 8601400584828: Amazon.com: Books — Take a detailed look at the fascinating world of robots - from the earliest single-task machines to the advanced intelligence of robots with feelings. Young readers will be amazed to learn all that robots can do: perform delicate surgical operations, clean city sewers, work as museum tour guides, or even battle each other in combat. Find out how humans have created these mechanical minds and bodies.
• Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop - Full Computer Kit ID: 4796 - $100.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits — Raspberry Pi 400 is a complete Raspberry Pi 4-based personal computer, integrated into a keyboard. The Pi 4 is the first comp...

Kelly and Sean discuss many of the upcoming changes for a school year heavily influenced by COVID, distance learning, hybrid/flexible classrooms, and prioritizing health and safety over content.

Episode Contents:

• Wins of the Week
• Main Topic: The Upcoming School Year
• Integrating New Ideas
• Safely Teaching Physical Computing
• PyBites / CodeChalleng.es
• Flipped Classroom
• Using Reflection
• Choice Boards
• Routines and Rituals
• Teacher Self Care
• Setting Realistic Expectations

Follow @TeachingPython on Twitter. Send us a message at teachingpython.fm

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Amazon.com: Logitech MeetUp HD Video and Audio Conferencing System for Small Meeting Rooms: Computers & Accessories — Logitech's premier conference cam specifically designed for business grade video meetings in huddle rooms and small conference rooms
• Python Testing with pytest: Simple, Rapid, Effective, and Scalable: Okken, Brian: 9781680502404: Amazon.com: Books — Do less work when testing your Python code, but be just as expressive, just as elegant, and just as readable. The pytest testing framework helps you write tests quickly and keep them readable and maintainable - with no boilerplate code. Using a robust yet simple fixture model, it's just as easy to write small tests with pytest as it is to scale up to complex functional testing for applications, packages, and libraries. This book shows you how.
• PyBites Platform | Hone Your Python Skills — Whether you aspire to become a web developer, data scientist, DevOps or cybersecurity engineer, good chance you will greatly benefit from being well versed in Python!
• Edpuzzle — Make any video your lesson Choose a video, give it your magic touch and track your students' comprehension.
• Pythex: a Python regular expression editor — Python Regular Expression tester
• Loom: Video Messaging for Work — The expressiveness of video with the convenience of messaging. Communicate more effectively wherever you work with Loom.
• Amazon.com : Meeting Owl Pro - 360 Degree, 1080p Smart Video Conference Camera, Microphone, and Speaker (Automatic Speaker Focus & Smart Meeting Room Enabled) : Electronics — BEST TEAM MEETING EXPERIENCE Meeting Owl Pro is the top 1080p resolution 360° smart video conferencing camera It automatically highlights and shifts focus to different people in the room when they speak so you know what's happening as if you're there
• Device Simulator Express - Visual Studio Marketplace — Make without limit! Device Simulator Express, a Microsoft Garage project, allows you to code microcontrollers without the hardware on hand! You can program your Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPX), your BBC micro:bit or the Adafruit CLUE! Test and debug your code on the device simulator and see the same result when you plug in your actual microcontroller. Curious about the output of the device, the serial monitor allows you to observe the device output.

A lunchtime livestream with Kelly and Sean talking about setting up learning environments for students, coaching and setting high expectations for students, and the new tools we're using this year for teaching code.

• Replit Teams for Education
• Daily Challenges for formative assessment
• Physical classroom layouts
• Google Colab Choice Boards
• High expectations teaching

Note: Kelly's audio track has a bit of echo that we can't eliminate. We'll get it fixed for next time.

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This week, we're discussing how to use a very old programming tool to teach modern concepts. That's right, it's the return of the Turtle tool! Kelly and Sean will explore why this Python 2-era library based on a 53-year old concept still works so well to teach fundamental programming concepts.

Want to learn how we use Turtle in the classroom? Kelly and Sean will go through our best practices, preferred starting points, helpful resources we've used, and desired outcomes for this tool.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• MarineLab: Marine Science Education in the Florida Keys — MarineLab is the education arm of Marine Resources Development Foundation (MRDF), a 501(c)3 organization founded in 1970 in the US Virgin Islands. After years of conducting research and developing underwater research stations and the technology for living and working in the sea, MRDF's founder Ian Koblick turned his eyes towards Florida and expanding MRDF's activities to include education.
• Math Adventures with Python: An Illustrated Guide to Exploring Math with Code, Peter Farrell, eBook - Amazon.com — Math Adventures with Python will show you how to harness the power of programming to keep math relevant and fun. With the aid of the Python programming language, you'll learn how to visualize solutions to a range of math problems as you use code to explore key mathematical concepts like algebra, trigonometry, matrices, and cellular automata. Turtle section starts on Page 3 and evolves into Processing, a program for visualization that can leverage Python.
• Amazon.com: Teach Your Kids to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming (9781593276140): Bryson Payne: Books — Computer programming, or coding, is a crucial skill every child should be learning. From 3D printers, to mobile apps, to robots, to drones that deliver pizza, the world around us relies on code more than ever before. Coders get to solve problems and do interesting, fulfilling work, and the time to start learning to code is now!
• Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction To Programming: Jason R. Briggs: 9781593274078: Amazon.com: Books — Python for Kids brings Python to life and brings you (and your parents) into the world of programming. The ever-patient Jason R. Briggs will guide you through the basics as you experiment with unique (and often hilarious) example programs that feature ravenous monsters, secret agents, thieving ravens, and more.
• Grok Learning | Learn to code from your browser — Learn Python through self-paced lessons
• 2D Shapes using Python Turtle | 101 Computing
• 3. Hello, little turtles! — How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python
• Code! .. Draw! .. Stitch! / TurtleStitch - Coded Embroidery — not python but Snap! is a visual, drag-and-drop programming language that allows students to create interactive stories, animations, games, and more, while learning about mathematical and computational ideas. Snap! was inspired by Scratch, but also targets both novice and more advanced students by including and expanding Scratch's features.

Continuing our Education IDE series, Kelly and Sean meet with Brigit Murtaugh and Sana Ajani from the VS Code team for education. We'll talk about everything from remote teaching to accelerating the setup of a learning environment with VS Code and development containers.

You may have used Visual Studio Code for your own projects or tinkered around with the vast number of settings and extensions. But have you thought about how to use it as a teaching tool?

Thankfully, Brigit and Sana are here to talk us through all of the resources and new features being added to VS code for education.

Special Guests: Brigit Murtaugh and Sana Ajani.

Support Teaching Python

Links:

• Microsoft Learn | Microsoft Docs — Whether you're just starting or an experienced professional, our hands-on approach helps you arrive at your goals faster, with more confidence and at your own pace.
• Development Containers in Education with Visual Studio Code — Development containers with Visual Studio Code can serve as a fantastic tool in education to ensure students have a consistent coding environment. They take care of setup so that students and instructors can quickly move past configuration, and instead focus on what's truly important: learning and coding something great!
• Coding and learning with VS Code on Chromebooks — For the last few years, Chromebooks running Google Chrome OS have been providing an alternative to "traditional" laptops. Thanks to lots of choices, from very affordable models to high-end ones, Chromebooks are especially popular among students, who can use them for learning, completing assignments, and attending classes virtually. While Chromebooks and Chrome OS are typically centered around the web browser, you can also enable a Linux environment that allows installing native desktop applications, including Visual Studio Code!
• Using DevContainers to Standardize Student Development Environments: An Experience Report — In computer science classes it can be a challenge to ensure every student has a functioning development environment. Running preconfigured servers that provide students with remote access can help mitigate most of these setup issues, however they can also introduce new limitations of their own. We propose using DevContainers to overcome the local machine setup difficulties for the students. DevContainers allow the instructional staff to provision a development environment (a Docker image) with all the correct software versions pre-configured. This development environment can be used on any major OS through Docker. Moreover, through this DevContainer configuration, Microsoft Visual Studio Code can integrate seamlessly with the Docker container to provide an experience for the user that is practically the same as working on the native OS. This work examines the value of employing a DevContainer setup in an Advanced Data Structures course and provides details for those interested in using DevContainers in their courses.
• Learn to code with materials inspired by "Space Jam: A New Legacy" | Microsoft EDU — Space Jam: A New Legacy is inspiring unique learning opportunities for students of all ages! Basketball and coding have more in common than you might think; they both require practice, creativity, and coaching. That’s why we’ve teamed up to bring educators and students learning materials inspired by the film. Research shows learners are more likely to retain and explore based on culturally relevant areas of passion, and our lessons guide learners through authentically solving real problems.1
• Visual Studio Code - Code Editing. Redefined — Code editing. Redefined. Free. Built on open source. Runs everywhere.
• microsoft/vscode: Visual Studio Code — This repository ("Code - OSS") is where we (Microsoft) develop the Visual Studio Code product together with the...