Unplugged programming: learning programming without computers

Aimed at Computing teachers this free workshop is part of a series of evening talks by Prof Paul Curzon and Teaching London Computing whic take place at Queen Mary University of London (QML).

It’s easy to assume that programming is something you have to learn at a computer but if you want your students to deeply understand programming concepts, rather than blindly getting programs to work then unplugged techniques can work really well to get students started. We will see how to program a robot face that is made of students, look at a simple way to give a deep understanding of how variables work by making them physical, and see how to compile programs onto your class instead of onto a computer.

This session will cover:

• Inspiring ways to introduce programming away from computers.
• What is a variable?
• How does assignment work?
• Programming simple objects
• Introducing flow of control and if statements