Interesting Links 18 March 2013

Posting this a bit late today. I had a very busy weekend which included some snowboarding. That means I was much too tired and sore yesterday to get this ready. But I do have a bunch of links to share so I guess we should get to it.

New on the CSTA blog (They’re on Twitter at @csteachersa BTW) K-8 Take Aways from SIGCSE if you are interested in K-8 computer science and missed SIGCSE like me this is worth a read. 

Teaching Coding: Where Do You Start? via @EdSurge promotes a return to a simpler and perhaps better proven time in teaching students to code. Think Logo. I like Turtle graphics a lot myself. These days there are a number of teaching tools that include it (Small Basic for one) including some versions of Logo that are modern and current.

Scaling Computer Science Education is a good article on the Google Research blog. Google is one of the companies that is doing the most (Microsoft being up there as well) to promote computer science education and they clearly see it as important.

My friend Edwin Guarin (I used to call Edwin my “work son”) has started a new series with  Get your app or game in the Windows Store– Part 1– Generation App and DreamSpark Account Creation This is a step by step set of directions for getting started with Windows Store development for students. BTW I have links to a number of series for student Windows Store developers here.

Martin Schray ‏@mschray had a new Imagine Cup related post last week.  - Imagine Cup: How do I register, pick a competition and form a team? It’s not too late (yet) to sign up for and enter this international software competition.

This new xkcd cartoon on sorts is something for all you APCS teachers teaching sorts. Great conversation starter and comedic break.

Have you taken part in the 2013 CSTA National Survey on High School Computer Science yet? Please help. Information is power.

If you are involved in FIRST Robotics and on Twitter this Twitter list of First Robotics Team Twitter accounts from @FRCTeams will be of interest to you. Send a tweet to @FRCTeams if your team is missing from their list.