Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN)

I was a bit suspicious about this, so I asked Gemini to "produce me an image of a correctly-wired UK 13A plug", and what it came up with was...

Can a program beatbox (using physics)? Image by Casey Budd from Pixabay Can a translation program make music? It turns out they potentially can – they can beatbox! In the future perhaps Artificial Intelligences will be able to do …

Can a program beatbox? ... using physics not just machine learning.
Part of our series on Music and AI research and creativity
cs4fn.blog/2026/02/07/c...

Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.

“Data steward” is just one of the missing 21st-century professions that universities could be creating At King's College London the Data Empowerment Clinic is building a new profession: the data steward. Sylvie Delacroix posits the example as a model for other "missing" professional roles

Interesting article by Sylvie Delacroix on @wonkhe.bsky.social: “Data steward” is just one of the missing 21st-century professions that universities could be creating wonkhe.com/blogs/data-s... <— important prominence on data governance and stewardship

Music and AI Composing, playing, preserving Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are changing the way everything is done and that includes music. Machines can now compose music, help invent new instruments, help …

Here's a new CS4FN Music & AI portal. We are collecting articles on research, history and development around the intersections between Music & AI. Lots more articles will be added over the coming months: thanks to our EPSRC funded project to encourage more into research careers
cs4fn.blog/music-ai/

You’ll be Bach! – create music with the Bach Google Doodle From Classical music image by Евгения from Pixabay The Bach Google Doodle is an AI musician which has learned the patterns in over 300 pieces of music from Johann Sebastian Bach, a famous 18th cent…

We are starting a season on Music AI (Funded by RCUK) with a primary school mini mag coming soon. To start:
You'll be Bach - the first Google Doodle Music AI which allows you to compose music in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach
cs4fn.blog/2026/02/03/y...

Defining Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: What I did on my sabbatical My planned activity during my sabbatical was to revise my 2015 book “Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education.” One of the fixes I wanted to make was a better definition of what “learner-cent…

Defining Learner-Centered Design of Computing Education: What I did on my sabbatical computinged.wordpress.com/2026/02/03/d...

Free in-person QMUL / Ri Masterclasses in Computer Science for Year 9 pupils QMUL’s School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science runs an annual series of free Saturday morning computing workshops, in partnership with the Royal Institution (of Ri Christmas Lec…

Teachers of Year 9 pupils interested in computer science might like to nominate them for the @qmuleecs.bsky.social / @rigb.org QMUL / Ri Masterclasses in Computer Science at our Mile End campus, look here ⬇️
(Parents of Y9, please tell your child's school)

teachinglondoncomputing.org/2026/01/27/f...

The friendliest, most supportive conference Ive ever been to...so worth submitting an abstract if you are using LCT

Cyber Security at the movies: Catwoman SPOILER ALERT Image by bess.hamiti@gmail.com from Pixabay The 2004 film Catwoman, starring Halle Berry as Patience Phillips (and Catwoman), has been voted as one of the worst films of all time, and…

The film Catwoman, voted a worst film of all time, certainly features some of the worst cyber-physical security ever. What can we learn about cyber-security from the film? That security is only as good as the weakest link and physical security can be the weak link....
cs4fn.blog/2026/01/27/c...

Promotional banner for a maths outreach event. Large text reads: “Bite-sized online outreach: engage school students with careers that use maths.” A logo says “I’m a Mathematician – Get me out of here.” A clock icon shows “30:00.” A sign-up button graphic appears on the left. Bottom text: “imamathematician.uk/signup/c/clf.” Right side text: “Big Day of Maths, 9 to 12 March.” Blue and yellow design with a faint background image of a student using a computer.

Use maths in your job? Engage school students for the Big Day of Maths with I’m a Mathematician!

Take part in live, online Chats with students on 9–12 March — answer their questions and share what maths looks like in the real world.

Sign up by 6 Feb: imamathematician.uk/signup/c/clf

...and turn taking in a game is also a way to learn about the concept of sequencing in computing, and then there is iteration too because you play rounds repeatedly with some stopping/ game end rule, and make decisions too within each iteration...so there is another fun lesson if the links are made.

The art of animatronics, or how to build a believable dinosaur Tyrannosaurus image by Eric Labayle from Pixabay How do you create a full-sized dinosaur without a hint of computer graphics? The answer is through the amazing art of animatronics. Animatronics is …

The art of animatronics, or how to build a believable dinosaur

How do you create a full-sized dinosaur without a hint of computer graphics?
cs4fn.blog/2026/01/26/t...
(from the archive)

Alexander Graham Bell: It’s good to talk The famous inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His story is a fascinating one, showing that like all great inventions, a combination of talent…

Happy Burns Night!
It gars me greet that I haven't found a computational link for Burns (yet), but to celebrate all the many people inspiring and Scottish, here is our article about Alexander Graham Bell born in Edinburgh ...
cs4fn.blog/2023/04/30/a...

According to an obituary I just read, gladys West herself preferred physical maps!

Gladys West: Where’s my satellite? Where’s my child? Gladys West solved the maths problems behind the positioning of satellites. She worked closely with programmers to write the code to do calculations based on her maths.

Just saw one of my CS/Maths heroes, Gladys West, died last week. Her work on Satellite based earth measurement is behind GPS (and think how many ways that is useful) as well as helping us better understand what is happening to the planet. Read our article here
cs4fn.blog/2022/10/10/g...

Supporting autistic pupils in primary computing - Teach Computing Plan and teach an effective computing curriculum for autistic pupils working at primary level.

Free online course for computing teachers from NCCE / STEM Learning - Supporting autistic pupils in primary computing
teachcomputing.org/courses/CO29...

Pseudocode Poems Image by AdelinaZw from Pixabay Pseudocode poems are poems that work both as a poem and as an algorithm so can be read or executed. They incorporate sequencing, selection or repetition constructs a…

Can you write a pseudocodepoem that works as a poem that can also be executed? Here are some examples using sequencing, selection and iteration. Valentine Day is coming soon so start composing your valentine an executable pseudocode love poem now.
cs4fn.blog/2026/01/21/p...

Victorian volunteers needed – the start of citizen science Barnacles image by Mark Martins from Pixabay What was Ada Lovelace thinking about when she wrote:“If amateurs of either sex would amuse their idle hours with experiments on this subject, and would …

Ada Lovelace and VIctorian Citizen Science cs4fn.blog/2026/01/19/v...

Headteacher Update Podcast: SEND staffing in primary schools - Headteacher Update Discover how primary schools can maximise the impact of the teaching team to deliver excellent SEND provision

Headteacher Update Podcast: In a new episode, we discuss ideas for how primary #schools can maximise the impact of the #teaching team to deliver excellent SEND provision, with our panel dissecting a range of innovative approaches: buff.ly/Rkxj5SV #inclusion #teachers #education #edusky

If: a computational literary criticism Image by Andrys Stienstra from Pixabay If, by Rudyard Kipling is an inspirational poem that was voted the UKs favourite poem in the 1990s. It consists of a series of lines that start with If.&…

If, by Rudyard Kipling and What If, by Benjamin Zephaniah consist of a series of lines that start with If. Does that make them algorithms? And what would an If poem look like if it was? That is where a CS4FN computational literary criticism comes in.
cs4fn.blog/2026/01/18/i...

1/2 Turing Inst has six internships for eligible PhD students. Four with Ministry of Justice (use of AI in prison service), one to do with maritime data sharing (not a programming tech role) and one on interpretability of AI for research engineering. £40k pro rata www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/...

The logic piano Image by Elisa from Pixabay Victorian, William Stanley Jevons was born in Liverpool in 1835. He was famous in his day as an economist and his smash hit book ‘The Coal Question’ drew the nation’s at…

Make a Victorian Logic Piano out of card (the original was wooden) and do play some logical reasoning.
cs4fn.blog/2024/12/25/t...

Theory, Logic and Deduction Primary Puzzles 1 UK Schools order print copies of our Primary Puzzles magazines and booklets here (while stocks last). Logic for life Logic and deduction are core thinking skills but also an impor…

Oops. missed world Logic Day due to marking so posting on catch up... Find out about theory and logic at cs4fn.blog/logic-and-de...
through games, magic, history and research projects from wooden logic machines to quantum computing

According to the government Keith has not been in the top 100 names since at least 1996 in the UK (shocking)
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...
so nearer 1 than 4 billion & hardly any children! Though wikipedia lists a couple of hundred famous ones (some historical so maybe at least 100 still alive.

Sounds like a good sort of question to introduce student centred maths: the maths of estimation (& bounds) NOT ask AI.
So I want to know...You can easily give bounds of at least 1 (as I know one) and at most 4.2 billion assuming we mean boys called Keith...then how do you narrow it down...

baa-rely anything
(I would imagine)

I'd love to know what electric sheep dream of...

models and analogies for teaching electricity

Models and Analogies For Teaching Electricity www.sciencefix.co.uk/2023/07/mode...
#edusky #eduskyprimary

" a tiny data centre, the size of a washing machine, ... being operated in Devon, UK... the heat it was releasing was warming a public swimming pool."

a man and woman are ice skating in front of a crowd ALT: a man and woman are ice skating in front of a crowd

The highlight of my day was dancing around the gym hall with my class to Bolero pretending to be Torvill and Dean.

We’ve been doing dance inspired by winter sports. 4 man bob sleigh dance also very fun.

This is quality PE. (That’s what I tell myself)🤣 #EduSkyPrimary