Friday, May 26, 2017

Week of May 29th - June 2nd, 2017

Monday:
Memorial Day.  Take a minute to thank a vet.

Tuesday:
Color wars begins!  Today is Babies & Geriatrics Day.  Grade 10 dresses as geriatrics -- your costume must include at least 3 items.

Continue with interactions with Processing
Start working on Pong game

Wednesday:

Surf & Turf Day.  Dress as a land animal of your choice.  No amphibians.   Penguins (Pittsburgh or otherwise), ducks, and pelicans are off limits, but other birds are considered to be land animals.

Everyone working on Pong game

Thursday:
Alien day.  Alien means "not from earth", not "non-US citizen".
First Processing sketch due by the end of lunchtime

Last class time to finish up Pong game - 15-20 minutes.  It will be due next Tuesday at the end of lunch.
Introduce final Processing project (Don't panic! . . . it should be fun. )
Introduce translate, rotate, scale.
Introduce working with pixels.

Friday:
Team color day.  Go Gray!
Wrap up working with pixels.


Robotics and AI presentations will begin Monday, June 5th. Everyone must have shared their presentation with me by 5:00 AM on June 5th -- either email me a powerpoint file or share a Google Slides presentation by then.

Important - name your presentation or powerpoint file "lastname period", like "Jones per2". I will deduct 1 point if it is not correctly named.

You must be ready to present on Monday, even though you may not actually present until Tuesday or even Wednesday. Presenters will be chosen at random by a computer program.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Week of May 22nd - 26th, 2017

Monday:
Everyone working on Arduino worksheet

Tuesday:
Flip day - 2-1-4-3 for PARCC
Review Arduino worksheet - hand in afterwards

Intro to computer algorithms:
Algorithm: "a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer." "In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a self-contained step-by-step set of operations to be performed." In other words, an algorithm is a very specific recipe.
Video: What is an Algorithm and Why Should You Care?
Video: The Smartest Elevators
Demonstrate Conway's Game of Life:

  • Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies 
  • Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies 
  • Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell 
Demonstrate selection sort vs merge sort

Wednesday:

Introduce Processing.py
Begin drawing project


Thursday:
Flip day - 2-1-4-3 for PARCC
Continue to work on drawing project
(drawing project due by the end of lunch next Tuesday)

Friday:
First period, enjoy your bagel breakfast!

30 minutes to work on Processing drawing.  The project is due by the end of lunchtime next Thursday, June 1st.
Introduce interactive programming with Processing.py

Friday, May 12, 2017

Week of May 15th - 19th, 2017

Monday:
Read "How Operating Systems Work", do OS vocab for today
Give out Robotics/AI presentation assignment
Hand out review sheet for Thursday test on computer hardware, history, operating systems, basic electronics

Introduce operating systems: two roles, five jobs of an OS: processor management, memory and storage management, device management, application interface, and user interface.
Try System Information and Activity Monitor apps.
Do hands-on OS with terminal window

Tuesday:
(flip day, 2-1-4-3)

Signup for Robotics/AI presentation topics begins at 7:30 AM.
Introduce file names and paths.

User interface videos:
Wednesday:
Review for test on computer hardware, history, operating systems
Introduce Arduino, begin working on Sparkfun Inventor's Kit exercises

Thursday:
Test on computer hardware, history, operating systems, basic electronics

Friday:
Continue with Arduino worksheet

Friday, May 5, 2017

Week of May 8th - 12th, 2017

Monday:
Personal day for Mr. J
Turn in hardware vocab at beginning of class
Students will work on Machine Learning paper (due Thursday)

Tuesday:
Finish reading "Cartoon Guide" for today
Complete history of computers up through the 50s: Colossus, SAGE
Videos: SAGE (optional: Getting Busted in NJ with Core Memory)

Introduce Soldering: How To Solder video, in-class worksheet
Discuss basic electronics - circuits, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, transistors

Wednesday:

Soldering lab

Thursday:
Machine Learning paper due at beginning of class, on paper and via turnitin
Introduce computer bus and bus services
Experiment with the Visible Computer - Class handout
Discuss computer chips, Moore's Law

Optional reading:
  Moore's Law Is Dead. Now What?
  Vanishing Point: the Rise of the Invisible Computer
Videos:
  How do they make computer chips?
  Zoom into a microchip
  (also: Photolithography)
Discuss modern computer history: 1960s to today.

Give out operating system reading, vocab, due Monday

Friday:
Complete computer hardware discussion: how a disk drive works

Begin discussing operating systems