An introduction to ConquerComputing
A very warm welcome to ConquerComputing, the online learning package that we believe is the best way for young children to start their journey into Computing and Coding. If you are a parent/guardian, a teacher or a home-educator who is a little anxious about your own computing skills, then you need not be at all concerned because ConquerComputing requires no prior knowledge whatsoever – it is designed for complete beginners.
ConquerComputing is aligned to the UK Primary National Curriculum and enables children, families and classes to explore and develop skills through a range of creative, colourful activities, including coding, Scratch, graphic design, internet safety, word processing, Logo, spreadsheets, binary and associated maths concepts. Perfect for young children, the language is simple and child-friendly. The whole package is very easy to use and enables teachers or parents to learn alongside the children.
Structure
ConquerComputing is organised in Stages of increasing challenge:
Stages: There are currently 5 Stages. For maximum flexibility these have not been specifically aligned to School Year-groups but could be introduced at any point during the Primary phase. Projects: Every Stage is divided into Projects, each focusing on a different topic. Lessons: Projects are broken down into Lessons which gradually explain the steps required to reach full understanding and a completed Project. Assets: Each Lesson has a number of Assets. These include:
Video: A short teaching video, narrated in an appealing manner, with beautiful explanations to guide children step by step through the topic. Worksheets: Colourful Worksheets support the concepts learned, providing practice to consolidate understanding and helping children to build up their own coding projects.
Play Activities: Around 1,500 online ‘Play’ activities will engage youngsters with instant feedback. These include drag-and-drop coding, word searches, card sorting, binary challenges, multiple choice questions, input/outputs to make words, creating their own Pizza or dressing Mrs Pineapple Head!
Supporting Features
Parent Guides: These are short, friendly summaries of each Project, ideal for Parents who want a simple overview of the contents and a list of the Lesson videos. Teacher Lesson Plans: For teachers who prefer a bit more structure, these provide a suggested plan with full detail for the conduct of each Lesson. Home-educators and parents can also access these. Captions: The CC button below each Video will switch on English subtitles for all of the narrations. This can be particularly useful for children or adults whose first language may not be English. Downloads: Some of the Projects and Worksheets require additional assets, which are mostly Scratch files. These are always clearly indicated and can be downloaded by a simple button click. Explainers: Where there are concepts needed that children may not have covered at school, you will find short ‘Explainers’ as a natural part of the teaching videos. These might be, for example, to explain what a Square is, how a Variable works, or the logic of an ‘if-then’ test. The Animals: A team of friendly Animal characters feature in many of the videos and Worksheets. Children will quickly get to know Poppy Parrot, Muggins the Monkey, Dippy the Dot, Captain Tiger, Ally the Antdroid and others. Inclusion: Throughout the learning we have tried to include girls and boys, with names and features representing different cultures. The language has been kept as clear and simple as possible to make the package accessible to children of all abilities.
Administration
A number of features are designed to support teachers and parents. For schools, these include the facility to create Classes, to add students to them and to edit or delete. Parents can also set up a number of sub-accounts for their children.
For effective monitoring of progress, simple Reports are available, by student or by class, with full detail of topic, date, time spent and scores. The Homepage dashboard will also display a brief summary of some of this information.
Also within the Admin section, parents and teachers can see an Overview of the structure with brief descriptions or Projects and Lessons, plus any related Attachments.
What’s in Conquer Computing?
| Computers in our lives | Files and Folders; Tree structures |
| Algorithms, sequence, order and steps | Word Processors |
| Motion: distance | Inputs, steps, outputs |
| Motion: turning | Numeric and String variables |
| Online safety | True and False |
| Social media and Digital Footprints | Graphic design |
| Size and order | Graphical effects |
| Compass directions: N, S, E, W | Editing images |
| Start and End points | Using layers |
| Simple journeys, turning relative to direction | Simple Binary Search |
| Optimising and shortening routines | Binary representations |
| Debugging | Binary addition |
| Creating digital Letters and Numbers | Spreadsheets |
| Search Engines |
Coding in SCRATCH
| A new project | Broadcasting and Receiving messages |
| Screen areas | Conditions using If-then-else |
| Sprites, Costumes, Blocks, Backdrops | Creating and editing Lists |
| Saving and importing | Creating buttons |
| Coding Events and Looks | Using Loops for repeated actions |
| Control | Drawing polygons and patterns |
| Changing costumes to simulate movement | Using colours |
| Action triggers | Coordinates for motion |
| Sound | Using Variables for score |
| Inputs | A real Ping Pong game |
| Sizing objects; using percentage | A moving, bouncing ball |
| Using random numbers | Sensing contact |
| Location and coordinates | Operators |
| Negative numbers | Variables |
| Motion across the stage; bouncing | Inputs from keyboard keys |
| Displaying messages | No-go areas |
Coding in LOGO
| The Turtle; the Commander area | Making colourful patterns |
| Using coordinates | Lines and thickness |
| Drawing polygons | Colours and filling with colour |
| Circles and ellipses | Creating pictures |
| Using Repeat |
Associated concepts
| Rectangles and Squares | Coordinates, axes, negative numbers |
| Regular Polygons | Bearings |
| Angles | Patterns |
| Percentages | Circles and ellipses |
| Binary | Variables |
| Random numbers | Reflection |