Computer Science and Programming - Dragonflies are predators!

Took three students to Berea College (http://www.berea.edu/)  and EKU  (http://www.eku.edu/)  this past week.  Lots of incoming freshmen and their parents to orientation at EKU.  We were able to meet with the biology department head and took a guided tour of the facility.  At Berea we saw one of freshly minted grads doing an orientation class.  I still like the mission of Berea ... if you can get in.

I am continuing to work on the MOOC (University of Alabama) I am taking with Advanced Kentucky for a Science Principles class.  My AP workshop of AP Computer Science A (JAVA) is next week.

Still working on the farm, trying to catch up from Spring Break.

Yesterday, I saw a dragonfly carrying something large when it landed on a nearby milkweed plant.  I could see then that it was eating a swallowtail butterfly.  Food chain in action ...

School's Out but Programming begins ...

Hoping you (our students) are having a great summer.  Get outside and become one with nature ... less Facebook/social media and more wildflowers, butterflies and wildlife ... get out there!

Some picts from our farm so far this summer ...

Great Spangled Fritillaries below on common milkweed ... and the Monarchs are back on common milkweed ...

First generation bumblebee workers are everywhere ... below on butterfly weed (orange) and common milkweed ...  These are Common Eastern Bumblebees ... they nest underground.

 

Below, the geometric designs of flowers/seeds ... rattlesnake master (a prairie plant, green), the yellow center of an ox-eye daisy with its fibonacci number design, and a yellow coneflower (also with a fibonacci pattern).

 

This summer is also dedicated to computer science/programming.  The MOOC / U-Alabama in computer science I'm taking this summer is coming along okay ... I am not too happy about sharing so, I don't.  I am participating in preparation to launch our AP Computer Science Principles class in 2016.  Also, I am joining 10 other Kentucky teachers with the Advance Kentucky program later in the summer to brainstorm how this new AP course will be rolled out in the classroom (all these KY teachers are taking the same MOOC).  

Also, this summer I am particpating in a AP Computer Science A (Java) workshop at WKU later in June.  We are using Eclipse for our IDE.  It has been over 10 years since I have taught JAVA using BlueJ ... I have written/compiled some simple programs and so far so good.  We will have a textbook for this class ... Java Methods - Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures, Litvin and Litvin.

I am looking at putting these courses together as an Ultimus Opus...