Programming Concepts
is an integrative curriculum supplement for public awareness of software engineering

This project was funded by EPSRC (the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) as part of their Public Engagement activity and the materials were produced by staff and students from the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, with the assistance of many teachers and pupils from schools across Scotland.

Briefly: our goal is to improve public understanding of the fundamental intellectual activities that underpin Computer Science and Software Engineering, by demonstrating the widely used thinking skills that are at the heart of our discipline. We do this through a collection of linked activities none of which involve a computer. Instead, the different components are closely tied to other school subjects, such as English, Art and Science, and they are designed to support the curriculum for those other subjects. Our approach and rationale are explained in rather more detail in the background material below. Teachers using this material can do so in their own classroom, and will not require any specialist knowledge related to computers at all. Each activity has a small amount of additional background briefing, and they are designed to be usable with only a few minutes of preparation time.

The materials are designed for use with pupils aged 9-13, in a wide variety of settings. Although the focus is on use in UK primary schools, for primary-secondary transition and in the early stages of secondary school, the activities can also be used for science outreach activity or for home study. The component parts are linked to both the National Guidelines for Scotland and the English National Curriculum. Adapting them for use in Wales and Northern Ireland should be straightforward.