So This is CS!

Welcome to So this is CS!

About Me

• Husband to Jill and Father to Joy (11), Bruce (6), and Rose (18m)
• Freelance designer, builder, teacher
• 10 years in NYC public schools
• Founding computer science teacher of the Academy for Software Engineering

The Big picture

Particpants will…

• engage in hands-on learning through a variety of computing tools and classroom activities adaptable for a range of ages,
• form connections between CS ed curricula and core academic subjects,
• and solve school-based problems with spreadsheet data engineering.

The Plan

Part 1

• Computing in the News
• Computers
• The Internet
• Portfolio Sites
• Email

Part 2

• Algebra
• Spreadsheets
• Data Science
• Programming

Anchor Doc + parking lot

anchor doc

Roles

Roles

Roles describe areas of focus during team or group activities.

A person can focus on more than one role or a role can be divided between multiple people.

More roles can be added but the core roles should always be present.

Roles

• Reporter
• Time keeper
• Facilitator

• Global roles
  
• Reporter
  
  • maintain parking lot,
  • record and report back,
  • monitor chat
• Time keeper
  
  • monitor lecture length
  • monitor break length
  • call out timing alerts, convey pacing consensus
• Facilitator
  
• Local Roles
  
• Reporter
  
  • record and report team conversation
  • special focus on parking lot questions
• Time keeper
  
  • keep us honest
  • special focus on timing of activities and balanced group participation
• Facilitator
  
  • know what "we are supposed to be doing right now"
  • special focus on tasks, deliverables/goals/objectives, and flow

Notice & Wonder

Notice means what do you see. Call out the obvious. Make simple observations. Go for quantity.

Wonder means begin an idea and consider possibilities. Wonderings are questions with their possible answers.

Computing in the news

Resources

ACM Technews

Resources

An artificial intelligence (AI) software solution developed by Intel and Classroom Technologies to identify students' emotional states is generating controversy in the context of ethics and privacy.

Intel Develops AI to Detect Emotional States of Students - Tom's Hardware 2022-04-27

Resources

University of California, San Diego (UCSD) computer scientists have developed algorithms to keep offensive speech from being generated by online chatbots.

Cleaning Up Online Bots' Act—and Speech - UC San Diego News Center 2022-04-25

Resources

Robots are socialize with nursing home residents, telling them jokes and leading their yoga classes. Can Robots Save Nursing Homes?

Nursing Home Robots- The New York Times 2022-04-25

Resources

The app-analytics firm Sensor Tower Inc. found that 1 out of 10 mobile games used bots at the beginning of 2016, a figure that has risen to 7 of the 10 most-played mobile games. 

Friend or Bot? Phony Gamers Leave Players Feeling Betrayed - The Wall Street Journal 2022-04-25

Resources

University of Georgia researchers created a model to help identify locations best suited for conservation. Improving Georgia Land

Conservation Through Algorithms - UGA Today

Connections

Let's talk about computers

Computers

• consume data (which includes instructions),
• transform it using instructions, and
• return some useful result.

From person to machine

The history of math and science, of celestial navigation, understanding the cosmos, and exploring the world around us,

Progress was made by taking large numbers of observations and searching for patterns;

All examples of data analysis and computations –

Long before what we now think of as a computer.

From person to machine

Mechanical aids like the abacus and rote algorithms add mechanical memory to the computation process.

From person to machine

First accomplished by human number crunchers later by electronic computers

Switches

Flashlights, Telegraph, Boolean Algebra

On/Off languages, binary languages, binary algebra

Electronic and photonic switches are fast.

Translate computational problems into binary problems and give it to the machine

Structure

Programming a computer means working with the structural precision required by computers. Computers consume data, apply instructions to transform that data, and produce results in some form that we can use.

Turing

In 1936 Alan Turing described a machine that the could take an infinite list of data (memory) and a finite list of instructions to implement any algorithm.

Connections

Resources

• Code: The hidden language of computing machines
• Nand2Tetris
• Mouse
• ACM TechNews
• How I discovered six pioneering women who helped create modern computers and why we should never forget them

See speaker notes for additional context

Let's talk about the internet

How am I Connected Boggel

How to play

Set a 1 minute timer Record all of the means/purposes you used to connect to the internet. Earn 1 point for anything not listed by other players

Code.org internet simulator

Internet Simulator Overview

Activity Explore the Simulator

Simulator

First Simulator

Context

Whole group

Setup

Connect to your partner via our first simulator

Groups

anchor doc groups heading

Activity Explore the Simulator

• Instructions
  

  Two group members connect to each other in the simulator

  One of those connected members should share their screen

  The additional group member assumes Reporter/Time keeper/Facilitator while the connected members discuss what they notice about the simulator.

Activity Send/Receive a Bit

Simulator

Second Simulator

Context

Teams

Setup

Choose two team members to connect. Share screen of one connected member.

Groups

anchor doc groups heading

Activity Send/Receive a Bit

• Instructions
  

  Develop a protocol that allows one bit to be sent back and forth using a metronome

Activity Send/Receive a Word

Activity Send/Receive/Confirm a Word

Protocols and Abstraction Layers

Do one job and don't repeat yourself!

Packets and Redundancy

So how do messages get from one place to another?

Redundancy

Undersea cables

Passwords

Connections

Resources

• https://www.submarinecablemap.com/
• Code.org How the Internet Works playlist
• Tubes: Journey to the center of the internet

Let's talk about web creation and portfolio sites

Choosing tools

• Google Docs
• Google Sites
• W3schools
• Glitch
• GitHub

Motivating Web Creation

Google docs rule the academic lives of many students.

Preformatted docs are often used to scaffold learning products.

Freedom with structure offers ownership of digital creations.

Integration Tips

• Offer web creation skills to other teachers as an alternate work product format.
• Work with students to create a home for all of their work products.
• Simplify assignment submissions by having students create pages to on their site for different assignments to simplify submission and develop a portfolio.

Structure documents

Can be read by a computer

Describe the meaning of different parts rather than show

Markup languages

• A lighter introduction to structured text
• HTML is a markup language, not a programming language
• Markup means using structure to tell a computer what things mean
• Markup is an alternative means of editing documents to wysiwyg editors like Word, Docs, Pages, etc.

HTML isn't the only option

• Lightweight markup languages
  
  • AsciiDoc, Markdown, Org-mode
• Heavier markup languages
  
  • Latex, HTML

Symbols and Syntax

Computers need data to have structure.

Structures are repeated patterns in data that a computer can be told how to process.

HTML is a language that uses a system of tags to describe the role of different posts of a document.

Hyper text

HTML Tags

Activities

Create a webpage from a google doc

• 
• Walk through video

Try markdown

• https://markdownlivepreview.com/

Host a website on github pages

• Follow a tutorial to create a GitHub Pages site
• http://jmcglone.com/guides/github-pages/

Examples

SY18-19 Learning Blogs

Let's talk about email

Locations: labels, tags, folders

Folders remind us of putting a piece of paper in a filing cabinet.

Files are an idea. Another idea is to put one or more label on each item and to collect together items with the same label when we need them.

In a labeling system items can exist in more than one location.

Archive, Star, Delete

Archive

remove the inbox label

Star

add a star

Label

like star but with a custom name

Delete

remove all labels and add a "Trash" label

Analyze

What kind of messages are you receiving?

Students were getting ten messages per day alerting them to various activity on the platforms we set up for them: digital classroom, communication blasts, attendance

Process

Inbox -> Starred -> Archive g i s e

Inbox -> Trash

Inbox -> Reply r

Stars and flags

• Starred is the activity section
• Multiple stars can represent different kinds of action

Filters

Inbox is a filter. A filter catches some values and let's others through. Inbox shows us messages that contain the metadata "Inbox".

Starred or flagged is a filter for all messages containing a metadata star or flag.

Rules

Notifications

Connections

Let's talk about running a computer lab

Room layout

Monitoring and Circulation

Structure

Rapport

Software

Debugging

Seating Charts and Pair Programming

Work products: analog and digital

Assessment: cultivating success

Computing in the news REDUX

Find the computer

Recall: computers consume data, transform data based on some instructions, and return a useful result

In each of these stories there is a computer. Find the computer by finding the data.

Articles

Articles

traffic model algorithm

Articles

Articles

Computing innovation contracts

• Find the data in your computing innovation story.
• What data is consumed by the computer?
• How is the data transformed?
• What is result is produced by the computation?
• What concerns regarding data storage, data security, or data privacy are raised by this innovation?
• What potential benefit does this innovation promise?
• What potential harm might this innovation cause?

Let's talk about algebra

Equations

Computer science can help us use precision in our mathematical language.

What is an equation?

Have you ever refered to an equation as containing the answer?

Expressions

2 + 2 is an expression, it's value is 4 The answer is 4

2+2=4 is an expression that evaluated to true.

Solution checking and whether a given value turns an expression to a true statement.

Functions

Repeatable computational abstractions. The target of elementary and middle school mathematics is modeling and reasoning and expressions and equations standards are functions.

Equations are a catch all phrase in mathematics education that often includes what we mean by functions in algebra.

Notice what changes, collect and plot data, predict/interpolate values

Operators

Binary operators are given two arguments +, ×, ÷, -

Unary operators are given one argument \(a^b\), $sqrt{2}

Functions express operations as name and some any number of arguments

When we use name such as sum, difference, product, and quotient we are invoking the function.

A formula is a function

In math class we often refer to "formulas" like the formula for the volume of a cone.

Students "plug" numbers into the formula. Formulas are functions!

Plugging-in is applying a function forming an expression (or what excel calls a formula :/

Examples

A right circular cone has a height of 11 centimeters and a diameter of 7 centimeters. What is the approximate volume, in cubic centimeters, of the cone?

• What skill is being assessed?
• What is given (context)?

Let's talk about spreadsheets

Fundamentals

• Introduction to tables
• Categorical and quantitative data
• Viewing and creating filter views
• Conditions in filter views

Warm Up

Choose a question that speaks to you. Be prepared to say why you chose that question

Objectives

Participants will be able to…

• name and describe the parts of given tables,
• and distinguish between types of data and data representations in a given table.

Data

• often means information about the world around us represented in a structure that can be read by computer
• data can often be represented as a table
• a spreadsheet is a program for interacting with tabular data
• programming languages can also manipulate tabular data

Data Rows and Columns

Tables are made up of data rows and columns

• Data Rows :: values relating to an entity (nouns)
  
  • a person, thing, or event
  • represented horizontally across the table
• Columns :: properties or atributes about the entity (adjectives)
  
  • shared by other entities
  • each column has a name that identifies the attribute
  • represented vertically down the table

Tables

Data rows begin under the header, which contains the names of each column

Check for understanding

How many data rows does this table contain?

Activity

• Draw a circle around a column
• Draw an line through a row
• Draw an x over a column header

Imagine data entities

Data entities are elements of our world that we might want to track as data.

Students in a school are often represented as a data point with a number of dimensions. Some of the dimensions (or attributes) associated with a student are attendance, credits, biographicals.

Brainstorm data entities from your own life.

Types of Tables

Tables for Computers

data collection tables

• often many rows
• not human readable
• one row per event

Tables for Humans

created from computer tables for humans

• summary (pivot) tables
• one row per category

Example computer table

Submitting attendance is an example of a table for computers

Checck for understanding

Describe the data entity in an attendance collection table.

Example of table for humans

A student level report for a parent conference is an example of a table for humans.

Check for understanding

Categorical and Quantitative Data

Categorical data

describe attributes that represent categories to which the entity belongs

• cannot be used for arthimetics
• adding, subtracting, multipyling, and dividing don't make sense

Quantitative data

describe attributes that count or measure part of the entity

• can be used to for arithmetics
• adding, subtracting, etc. produce meaningful results

Categorical or Quantitative?

• Who is the oldest in a particular grade?
• Which students need attendance outreach?
• How many students have below 65% attendance in the 9th grade?
• Which cohort of students has the highest average assessment scores?
• Which zip code has students with the lowest attendance?
• Which advisor has the most students in need of attendance outreach?
• What is the average number of student logins to the online gradebook?

Subgroups

• Large amounts of data are more useful when broken up into different subgroups
• If I am a principal, I might want to see data relating to only certain classrooms.
• If I am a parent, I only want data about a particular student.

Breakout

• What are some examples of subgroups of your students?
• How are those students described in meetings?
• What data is used to identify these sub-groups?

Activity Overview

Filter Views Filter views represent subgroups of data.

• On the next slide you will recieve a link to some data about students.
• Find "Filter Views" in the Data menu
• You will see several saved views.
• Each filter view represents a subgroup of students
• You can edit, duplicate, and create your own filter views.

Student Data

Make a copy of student dataset The link about allows you to copy a one semester summary of student data.

Find "Filter Views" in the Data menu

Try these actions:

• Open a filter view for a saved subgroup
• Duplicate a filter view -> rename the copy
• Change a filter view by sorting a column -> verify that your change is saved
• Create a new filter view

Pivot Tables

• Pivot tables are summaries of large tables
• By grouping data together we can make a new table where each row entity is a summary of some part of the larger table.

Create a pivot table

Find "Pivot Table" in the Data menu

Choose a range to summarize (the default is the entire tab you are currently viewing"

You can create a new sheet or add multiple pivot tables to one sheet.

Choose Rows

Choose your columns to be some categorical data that represents a subgroup of the data.

Choose columns

For each row what attributes to want to investigate

Choose value

For each attribute how would you like to summarize it?

Cell References

Each cell is named by the absolute reference using the column letters first found at the top and row numbers second found along the side.

=A1 means get me the value from column A, row 1

Functions and Expressions (Formulas)

=function(values)

• An expression is when you apply a function to a value. The function does its job and gives back the result.
• Expressions are like a sentence with verbs and nouns.
  • Verbs in a expression are called Functions
  • Nouns in a expression are called Values

Function Contracts (protocols)

A contract is an agreement with the function. If we follow the contract, the function will do work for us. We need to give the function what is expected in its contract in order for it to do its work. Type =concatenate Click ? to see the function contract What does concatenate expect to be given? What will concatenate give back if you follow the contract?

Copy down formulas for an entire column

Most spreadsheet functions work on single values One way to apply a function to a range of values, such as all of the values in a column of data, you can copy down the formula by…

• CTRL+↓ or CTRL+↑ jumps to the top or bottom of a column
• Add SHIFT, CTRL+SHIFT+↓ to select all cells below
• Ctrl+D to copy down formula
• Formulas in spreadsheets are made to be copied down. Cell references will change unless you tell them not too.

Import Data

Student data csv download Download the file above or use a csv of your own student data

• Open or create a sheet.
• Find "Import" from the File menu.
• Choose the csv file for your data.
• Select an import option.
• Choose replace current sheet in most cases.
• Choose detect seperator automatically in most cases.
• Click import.

Named ranges

• Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
• Select the cells you want to name.
• Click Data and then Named ranges. A menu will open on the right.
• Tip: To quickly open this menu, in the range box on the top left, click the drop down menu Down arrow > Manage named ranges.
• Type the range name you want.
• To change the range, click Spreadsheet Grid.
• Select a range in the spreadsheet or type the new range into the text box, then click Ok.
• Click Done.

Named ranges example

Assume you have the names first_column and second_column in your named ranges. =arrayformula(concatenate(first_column, second_column)

Array BuilderNotation

Creating custom arrays You can also create your own arrays in a formula in your spreadsheet by using brackets { }. The brackets allow you to group values, which can be a single number, string or boolean, or a rangeof values.

Horizontal and Vertical Stacking

Use the following punctuation to arrange values in an array:

• Commas: Separate columns with a comma to arrange data horizontally. For example, ={1, 2} would place the number 1 in the first cell and the number 2 in the cell to the right in a new column.
• Semicolons: Separate rows with a semicolon to arrange data vertically. For example, ={1; 2} would place the number 1 in the first cell and the number 2 in the cell below in a new row.

Try on your own.

Arrayformula

Example: Operators vs Function

Recall the distributive property

\(a(b+c) = ab + ac\)

Compare the results of

=arrayformula(a:b&b:b) to =arrayformula(concatenate(a:a,b:b)

Filter and sort functions

=FILTER(data, boolean-mask-to-apply-over-that-data)

Formulas in filters expand like an array formula

Match an index

Concatenate text with map

Let's talk about data science

Using a programming language to produce meaningful results with data

Pyret Starter File

Student Data Starter File Open the link above. You will see a Pyret program that loads data from our student google sheets example. This starter file uses a libray from the Bootsrap:DataScience curriculum to simplify some of the table and charting operations. Consult the curriculum workbook for a full list of the contracts available.

Tables and Row Accessors

Visualizations

Pie-chart

pie-chart(students-table, "iep)

Bar chart

WGOITG? NY Times