Beginning General Purpose Coding in JavaScript

PLEASE NOTE: This event has been postponed until later in 2019, with a date still to be determined. Registration is not available at this time.

Participants at this event will be given a hands-on introduction to using JavaScript in the classroom, with an emphasis on transitioning from drag-and-drop coding to general purpose programming.

Fundamental concepts such as branching (if-else statements), iteration (loops) and variables will be introduced and applied to solve computational thinking problems. 

In addition, participants will briefly explore how this language can be used to code for some popular electronics or robotics tools, such as the BBC micro:bit and Sphero.

The workshop is targeted at teachers of Years 7-10 but may also be relevant for upper primary or tertiary. 

Why is this important?

Secondary students are expected to begin using General Purpose Programming languages as they transition away from visual drag-and-drop coding environments such as Scratch and Blockly.

One of the most popular typed languages in schools is JavaScript.

Outcomes:

By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

• Describe and illustrate key concepts like data types, variables, loops and if statements,
• Apply loops and if statements to create programs that draw shapes as well as programs that do mathematical computations (times tables and factorisation),
• Use string functions to manipulate text and perform capitalisation, concatenation and various other string formatting operations,
• Use functions to generate random numbers for dice games and guessing games.

About the presenter

Nathan Alison taught Digital Technologies, VCE Computing and Software Development in Victoria for 11 years before beginning work for DLTV. 

He brings a background in Computer Systems Engineering and years of hobby coding, as well as a keen desire to help teachers with more complex Computer Science concepts through clear explanations and relevant activities.