August 2018 Learn More Links

Ames Illusion

About the Ames Room

https://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/optical-illusion-ames-room/

SketchUp Resources

www.my.sketchup.com
https://mastersketchup.com/sketchup-tutorials/
http://www.thesketchupessentials.com/sketchup-tutorials/

Command Line Interface (CLI) Part II

Examples of the “find” command

https://www.tecmint.com/35-practical-examples-of-linux-find-command/

A long-form tutorial on bash scripting

http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

Another longer guide to bash scripting

https://guide.bash.academy/

An alternative to bash

https://rootnroll.com/d/fish-shell/

Project SNOWstorm

Project SNOWstorm

https://www.projectsnowstorm.org/tracking-snowy-owls/

Cellular Tracking Technologies

https://www.celltracktech.com/

Cronch the Cats

About rogue-like games

https://www.lifewire.com/what-are-roguelikes-4117411
http://roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

Scratch Resources

Video tutorials for beginners
https://scratch.mit.edu/help/videos/
Scratch community and resources
http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/

Hieroglyphs and Reverse Engineering

About Egyptian hieroglyphs

https://discoveringegypt.com/egyptian-hieroglyphic-writing/egyptian-hieroglyphic-alphabet/

How the Rosetta stone helped us decipher hieroglyphs

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/archaeology/rosetta-stone4.htm
https://www.archaeology.org/issues/273-1711/sidebars/5999-egypt-translating-rosetta-stone

Hieroglyph code breaker activity

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/hieroglyphics-code-breaker-6095089

Details on cracking the code

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_01.shtml#five

Edublocks

Edublocks

http://edublocks.org/
https://microbit.edublocks.org/

About Joshua Lowe and the creation of Edublocks

https://www.tech4goodawards.com/finalist/edublocks/

Introduction to Python

http://introtopython.org/
https://www.kidscodecs.com/python-for-kids/

Random Dessert Generator

Introduction to Python

https://www.w3schools.com/python/python_intro.asp
https://www.python.org/about/gettingstarted/

Khan Academy video tutorial about lists in Python

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEyEC34MY1A

Lists in Python

https://www.w3schools.com/python/python_lists.asp
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/python/python_lists.htm

Python random module

http://www.pythonforbeginners.com/random/python-random-module
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzqSDvzOFNA

Image Filters

Computerphile: video about Digital Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06OHflWNCOE

Computerphile: video about How Blurs & Filters Work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zFhWdM4ic

Illustration of the HSB system

http://www.tomjewett.com/colors/hsb.html

RGB and HSV / HSB Color Spaces

http://colorizer.org/

Image Manipulation: Filters and Convolutions (class slides)

https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~theshark/courses/cs324e/lectures/cs324e-6.pdf

From Drawing to 3D

Microsoft 3D Builder

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/3d-builder/9wzdncrfj3t6?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

Shapeways

https://www.shapeways.com/creator
https://www.shapeways.com/creator/pendant

Tinkercad

https://blog.tinkercad.com/2018/04/26/introducing-scribble-the-ultimate-tinkercad-personalization-tool/
https://www.tinkercad.com

Robot Motors

What is a Robot

https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-a-robot/

Guide to Motors

https://www.circuito.io/blog/arduino-motor-guide/

Stepper Motor Tutorial

https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/400

How to use a Stepper Motor

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-use-a-Stepper-Motor/

DC Motor Control Tutorial

https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/arduino-dc-motor-control-tutorial-l298n-pwm-h-bridge/

Servos Explained

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/references/introduction-to-servo-motors

Stepper Elevator Example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UgeeRa5jX0

My Best Computer Science Lesson

Turtle Graphics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_graphics

Introducing Turtle Graphics for Python

https://repl.it/site/blog/python-turtle

Turtle Graphics for tk Docs (used by Repl.it)

https://docs.python.org/2/library/turtle.html

Catching a Gravitational Wave

How LIGO detected gravitational waves

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/physics/advanced-ligo/

Caltech news release about LIGO wave detection

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20170927

Facts about LIGO

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/facts

Lua

Programming in Lua, the official book by the creators of the language

https://www.lua.org/pil/

The official Lua reference manual

http://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/

Description of Lua in a Backus-Naur Form (BNF)

BNF is like a compact cheatsheet for the syntax of a programming language
http://www.lua.org/manual/5.3/manual.html#9

Backus-Naur Form tutorial

http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/text/bnf.html

Fantasy Computers and TIC-80

TIC-80 home page

https://tic.computer/

TIC-80 github

https://github.com/nesbox/TIC-80

In-browser TIC-80

https://tic.computer/create

TIC-80 tutorials and documentation

https://github.com/nesbox/TIC-80/wiki

LIKO-12: Another up-and-coming open source fantasy computer

https://github.com/RamiLego4Game/LIKO-12

PICO-8: The big one that started the trend

https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

Staying Safe Online

Minecraft: a Parent’s Guide

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/minecraft-a-parents-guide/

Tips from Minecraft for staying safe online

https://minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-multiplayer-server-safety

Safety Net Kids: Staying Safe Online

http://www.safetynetkids.org.uk/personal-safety/staying-safe-online/

Geocaching

Geocaching.com

https://www.geocaching.com/
https://www.geocaching.com/guide/
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoGeocaching#cat=cat:newbies&vid=1YTqitVK-Ts

Geocaching with Kids

https://www.washingtonparent.com/articles/1205/geocaching-with-kids.php
https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/geocaching-kids.html
http://familysponge.com/play/family-adventures/geocaching-with-kids/

5 Tricks of the Trade for Geocaching with Kids

Advice from a middle school teacher who takes her classes out geocaching.
https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2014/04/5-tricks-of-the-trade-for-geocaching-with-kids/

Spatial Orientation and the Brain: The Effects of Map Reading and Navigation

https://www.gislounge.com/spatial-orientation-and-the-brain-the-effects-of-map-reading-and-navigation/

STEM Star: Michelle Barboza-Ramirez

Femmes of STEM

https://www.femmesofstem.com/

About Paleontology

https://kidsdinos.com/paleontology/
http://www.dinosaursforkids.com/paleontology.html

Parenting Science: Paleontology and dinosaurs for kids

https://www.parentingscience.com/paleontology-for-kids-reviews.html
https://www.parentingscience.com/dinosaurs-for-kids.html

Author

  • Tim Slavin

    Tim is an award-winning writer and technologist who enjoys teaching tech to non-technical people. He has many years experience with web sites and applications in business, technical, and creative roles. He and his wife have two kids, now teenagers, who are mad about video games.

Also In The August 2018 Issue

Use SketchUp to recreate the famous optical illusion that grows and shrinks people around the room.

Learn what makes a good rogue-like game and how to make one yourself.

Unleash your inner digital chef through this simple (but mouth-watering) Python activity.

Dinosaur fossils, STEM podcasts, and a day in the life of a paleontologist.

A fun introduction to programming games with fantasy computers. The 70s and 80s are back in style!

Real life treasure hunts are a way to get outdoors, learn map skills, and have fun finding hidden caches near you.

Tips & trips to help you have a great time on the Internet, even when others don’t behave well.

How scientists finally cracked the code behind the mysterious language of Ancient Egypt.

Two small projects introducing you to Edublocks, a language that bridges the gap between Scratch and Python.

Take your CLI skills to the next level as you combine, redirect, and script commands.

It looks like JavaScript, has a Python aesthetic, and integrates easily with C/C++. Meet Lua: a scripting language for fantasy computers.

How the high-tech LIGO made a huge discovery and won its three founders a Nobel Prize.

An introduction to the devices that’ll make your robots zoom, skitter, and spin.

Learn the secrets behind pixels, image blurs, and all your favourite Instagram filters!

Links from the bottom of all the August 2018 articles, collected in one place for you to print, share, or bookmark.

Interesting stories about computer science, software programming, and technology for August 2018.

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