Quick look: Strange Code

November 3, 2022

Strange Code looks at esoteric languages and also atypical languages, which are those that are not mainstream.

Introducing kids to programming via a spreadsheet sweet shop

September 15, 2021

Spreadsheets are dead, right? Wrong! Not only are they a great tool for teaching programming concepts, they can easily be addressed under the Computing programme of study.

Review of Scratch Programming in Easy Steps

December 31, 2020

The book starts with an introduction to the Scratch 3 environment, and in next to no time the reader is creating a program.

Coming soon in the Digital Education newsletter

September 6, 2019

The next edition of this esteemed newsletter has a cornucopia of links that will be of interest to teachers of computing and media literacy especially, and very little commentary! Read on to find out more.

Recent book reviews

Review: Teach Fast

The book contains some interesting ideas.

A question of leadership

I have somewhat dichotomous views of this question of whether leaders make a difference, or much of a difference. I think my views can be classified as macro and micro.

Review: Making Good Progress?

Daisy Christodoulou carefully picks apart the pitfalls of various kinds of assessment, drawing on different subject areas to do so.

principles and practice of assessment.jpg

Review: Principles and Practices of Assessment

There is plenty in this book to like.

Review: Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice

Although this is a few years old now (2018), it has stood the test of time.

Review: One for maths teachers

This wide-ranging book takes in probability, fractals, astronomy, Babbage, Lovelace and a host of other areas and people.

Reviews: Two for History teachers

Two books on the Nazi era.

Review: One for English teachers

No book about the craft of writing seems complete without a stern chapter on the importance of eschewing adverbs and adjectives - but what to put in their place?

Review: The Great Formal Machinery Works: Theories of Deduction and Computation at the Origins of the Digital Age

If you’re of a mathematical bent this could be just the book to delve into.

Review: How to lie with statistics

Although this book is over 60 years old, it is remarkably apposite for our times -- and especially in the fields of educational research and assessing pupils' understanding and progress.