Teacher guides

Notes, answers, solutions, slides and worksheets for each course.

AI robotsDrive a robot with a model you trained, on the computer or on your wrist. Turn labels into moves, keep the robot safe when the model is unsure or goes quiet, and make it more careful where a mistake costs more.
Arcade FoundationsMake games with blocks in the Arcade simulator. Sprites, movement, speed, overlaps, score and lives, timers, decisions and projectiles, ending in Space dodger, a game built in milestones.
Arcade advanced skillsGo further with Arcade. Every sprite of a kind, functions and parameters, gravity and jumping, levels from lists, and power-ups that run out, ending in a power-ups challenge and a game of your own. Each unit points to a MakeCode skillmap that practises it.
Pages with BootstrapRebuild the club page with Bootstrap's ready-made parts: buttons, a navbar, cards, a grid and a form, styled by class names instead of your own CSS. Then compare it with the hand-built page and make Bootstrap look like yours.
Console bridge: text in, text outinput(), print() and a text menu: the same logic as the turtle courses, as text in and text out. Every Python extension starts here.
Layout and componentsControl how a page is laid out, with boxes, Flexbox, Grid and components that repeat.
Data detectiveA real data set in Python: read a CSV, count, average and find the biggest, draw a bar chart, clean messy data and check it with test cases, then build a dashboard.
Deeper Python in the consoleOne idea at a time, in the console: text, lists, dictionaries and errors, then a text adventure built from all of them, saved to a file.
The DOM and the browser consoleMake a real web page react with JavaScript: find elements, change them, listen for clicks and typing, and keep a list and a score, ending in a quiz page you build.
Web apps with FlaskYour own HTML pages with Python behind them: routes, pages built from data, forms, saving to a file and JSON, ending with the same API in FastAPI.
Games with microStudioMake a real game in Python on microStudio, a free game engine in the browser: a game loop, keys, stars as objects, catching and scoring, then sprites, sound and sharing.
Apps with GradioTurn Python functions into apps with inputs and outputs: a greeter, a calculator with several inputs, and a quiz built from a list of questions, in an in-browser stand-in for Gradio that runs the same code as the real thing.
Structure and style a pageBuild web pages by typing HTML and CSS and watching the page change.
micro:bit FoundationsProgram a micro:bit with blocks in the simulator. Pictures, loops, buttons, variables, sensors, decisions and lists, ending in a pocket pet you build yourself.
micro:bit and the computerA web page and a micro:bit talk over USB and radio. Graph a micro:bit's sensors, send it commands, relay messages by radio, train models on photos and on movements, and finish with an AI sorter of your own.
micro:bit: talk and playName jobs as functions, send messages by radio and measure time, ending in a reaction game and a two-player radio duel.
Secret messagesRadio is a shared space, so how do you keep a message private, know it was not changed, and know who sent it? Build ciphers, a checksum and a challenge–response lock with micro:bits, then defend a radio door lock in a capture-the-flag finale.
Machine learning with GradioHow a computer learns from examples: rules by hand, a nearest-neighbour model written yourself, fair testing, then scikit-learn and a model behind a Gradio app, with what models get wrong.
Objects with turtlesBuild a falling-stars game with many turtles, and tidy it step by step: from separate variables to lists, dictionaries and classes.
Drawing and animation with p5.jsDraw and animate with JavaScript and p5.js: shapes, movement, decisions, lists, objects and functions, ending in a small game you build yourself.
Python Foundations with TurtleLearn Python by drawing with a turtle.
Python functions and eventsWrite your own functions, then use them to make a button and a game.
Robotics challengesDrive, sense and decide with a two-wheeled micro:bit robot. Each idea runs in the robot simulator first, then on a real robot.
Your site, for realBring any page you have made (hand-built, Bootstrap or Vue) and get it ready for real people: check it works for everyone, then put it online. No new framework: it works the same on every page.
Apps with VueBuild pages that keep up with their data by themselves: data shown with {{ }}, lists with v-for, choices with v-if, events and inputs, computed values and components, ending in a to-do app. An optional last lesson builds the same app in Vue, Preact and Svelte.
ArduinoThe same circuits on an Arduino Uno, now in C++: pins by number, setup() and loop(), variables and decisions, the serial monitor and PWM. Each sketch runs on a board in the lesson, and each lesson has a step to build it in Tinkercad Circuits. The last unit moves to a real breadboard and a project tested against a brief.
Design and printDesign parts that fit and print well: dimensions and walls, clearances between parts, which way up to print, and the slicer's trade-offs between time, plastic and strength. Each idea on a board first, then in Tinkercad and on the printer.
Circuits with the micro:bitWire parts to a micro:bit's pins: a complete loop, a resistor to protect an LED, a button as an input, and a sensor that gives a number. Each idea is tried on a board first, then built for real in Tinkercad Circuits. Builds on micro:bit Foundations.
Linkages and camsMachines rarely want the motion a motor gives them. A crank and slider turns rotation into back and forth, a cam's shape becomes a follower's path, and four bars turn a crank into a rocking arm, if their lengths allow it.
MechanismsHow mechanisms trade one thing for another. Gears trade speed for turning force; levers and pulleys trade distance for force, by the same factor; a design brief decides which trade is right.
Parametric designDesign with dimensions that are linked, so changing one number updates the model; then cut flat parts on a laser and allow for the kerf. Years 9–10, after Design and print.
Your own boardFrom a working breadboard to a printed circuit board: place the parts, route the copper on one or two layers, and meet the design rules before ordering. Then design a real one in KiCad or EasyEDA in the Capstone projects.
Power and motorsMake things move. Why a pin can't run a motor, motor drivers and the H-bridge, two supplies with one ground, and choosing a battery, then LiPo safety before any LiPo is used. Years 9–10, after Arduino.
Capstone projectsDesign projects that bring the Engineering pathways together. Pick one: each follows the design cycle (Inquire, Develop, Create, Test, Evaluate), starts from a brief with criteria and constraints, prototypes the logic on a board where it can, builds in a simulator and then for real, and is evaluated against the brief with test evidence.
StructuresHow frames and beams hold loads up: members that pull or push, triangles that keep their shape, long pushed members that buckle, and beams whose shape matters more than their weight. It ends with a bridge to a budget, tested to failure.
Algebra FoundationsExpressions and equations, three ways to solve them, each checked, then brackets, formulas, harder equations and inequalities.
Angles and shapesAngles at parallel lines, then angle sums, then naming shapes. Corresponding and alternate angles are equal and co-interior angles add to 180°; a triangle's angles add to 180°, and any polygon's to 180° for each triangle it splits into; triangles, quadrilaterals and polygons are classified by their sides and angles.
Data and chanceCollect and display data, find its centre and spread, and compare data sets; then list what can happen, give it a probability, and test it with experiments.
Linear relationsStraight-line graphs. What the numbers in a rule do to its line, solving equations with graphs, and modelling with lines.
Area, volume, circles and PythagorasWhy the area formulas work (cut and move, halve and double), then area problems; volume as layers of the base; the parts of a circle, π, and the circumference; then Pythagoras' theorem for right-angled triangles; for Year 8, composite and irregular shapes, capacity and prism problems, the area of a circle, and time zones.
Number FoundationsIntegers, squares and powers, fractions, decimals and percentages, place value, rounding and estimating, ratios, rates and modelling (with Year 8 rates, percentage change and money models). Compare and calculate with integers; squares, roots, prime factors, HCF and LCM; equivalent fractions and conversions; the four operations with fractions and percentages; then negative fractions and decimals.
Irrational numbers and index lawsWhich fractions make decimals that stop and which repeat, numbers whose digits never stop or repeat (square roots and π), and the laws for multiplying and dividing powers.
Year 10 BiologyInheritance and evolution. DNA, genes and chromosomes; how meiosis makes every gamete different; predicting offspring with Punnett squares; then variation in a population and natural selection. Concept tutorials with a zoom from body to gene, a live cross board and a beetle population that evolves.
Year 7 BiologySorting the living world into groups and identifying organisms with dichotomous keys, then food webs, the energy that flows through them, and what happens when a species disappears. Concept tutorials with an interactive key and food web.
Year 8 BiologyCells as the building blocks of every living thing, the parts every cell shares, how cells specialise, and how tissues build organs. Concept tutorials with clickable cell and tissue diagrams.
Year 9 BiologyHow the nervous and endocrine systems detect and respond to change and keep the body's internal conditions steady, then how reproduction makes offspring. Concept tutorials with a live response-pathway and body-temperature board.
Year 7 ChemistryThe particle model of matter, then pure substances, mixtures and separating them. Concept tutorials for introducing or revising each idea, with particle simulations.
Year 8 ChemistryThe particle model gets an upgrade. Particles are atoms of different types, atoms join into compounds, and a chemical change makes new substances. Concept tutorials with atom-level simulations.
Years 9 and 10 ChemistryInside the atom and through reactions. The nuclear atom and its electron shells explain the periodic table; atoms rearrange and are never lost, which is why mass is conserved and equations balance; and reactions happen when particles collide hard enough.
Year 10 Earth and spaceThe universe from the big bang to today and the evidence that it is expanding, then Earth's energy balance: sunlight absorbed and reflected, energy flowing between the spheres, and the greenhouse effect. Concept tutorials with a timeline of the universe, expanding space, and a live energy-balance model.
Year 7 Earth and spaceThe Earth, sun and moon as one system of cycles: spinning and orbiting, seasons from a tilted axis, the moon's phases, eclipses, and tides. Concept tutorials with a live model seen from above and from the side.
Year 8 Earth and spaceReading rocks, Earth's layers and moving plates. Crystal size records how fast a rock cooled; a rigid outer shell rests on slowly flowing hot rock, and currents in the mantle carry the plates. Concept tutorials with a cross-section of the Earth and simulations of cooling magma and mantle convection.
Year 9 Earth and spaceEarth's four spheres and the carbon that moves between them: photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition and burning fossil fuels. Concept tutorials with a landscape of the spheres and a live carbon cycle you can run for decades.
Year 10 PhysicsNewton's laws of motion. Why moving things don't need a push to keep moving, what acceleration means exactly, and how force, mass and acceleration are linked by F = ma. Concept tutorials with a live force and motion board.
Year 7 PhysicsForces as arrows, balanced forces, what unbalanced forces change, and the difference between mass and weight. Concept tutorials with a live force diagram that can also run the motion.
Year 8 PhysicsEnergy that is moving and energy that is stored, how it moves from place to place and changes type, and following it through a whole system. Concept tutorials with a roller coaster and energy flow diagrams.
Year 9 PhysicsEnergy on the move. The particle model explains how heat travels through solids and fluids; then energy is followed through whole systems, where it is never lost but not all of it is useful. Concept tutorials with particle simulations, a roller coaster and Sankey diagrams.
Making data smallerCompression for Years 9–10: why it matters, run-length encoding (store how many of each colour in turn, and get back exactly the same picture), and lossy compression, which throws away what we won't notice, for good.
Capture the flagYears 8–10. Two skills a defender needs, then a capture the flag that uses everything: encoding is not encryption (binary, hex and base64 are public rules anyone can undo), and what your own web page gives away (comments, hidden fields, scripts and photo details reach every visitor). Then the old club archive: five flags found with decoding, page source, the command line, a tiny processor and a key word, and the leaks fixed before it closes. Defensive and fictional throughout.
Cyber safety and privacyYou are the security officer for the Coding Club's new app. Years 7–8: why passwords fail, how a second factor protects an account, spotting phishing, and keeping a digital footprint small. Years 9–10: a threat model of the app, the three kinds of weakness, and the Australian Privacy Principles. Then a security review: find and fix every weakness to earn the flags. Everything is defensive and fictional.
Data representationEverything a computer stores is numbers: text as character codes, pictures as pixels, sound as samples. Then how those numbers are stored with only 0s and 1s: binary place value, how many numbers a few bits can hold, logic gates, and the chain from any data down to bytes.
Inside a computerFor Years 7–8: what a computer's specifications measure (processor, RAM, storage, network, graphics), how each one affects how fast a job runs, finding the bottleneck, and choosing hardware for a job within a budget.
From gates to a processorFor Years 9–10, after Data representation's logic gates lesson: combine gates into circuits, add binary numbers with full adders, store a bit in a latch, then run programs on a tiny processor clock tick by clock tick.
NetworksHow data travels between computers and how it is kept safe: wired and wireless links, packets and the TCP protocol, why data needs encrypting on the way, and the whole journey of a message across the internet. Then a capture the flag on the club's own network.
Security and privacyFor Years 9–10: how the operating system manages hardware and access, how names and addresses get data to the right computer, how sign-in and permissions decide who may do what, and how hashes and public keys protect passwords and messages. Then a capture-the-flag finale: find the weaknesses in a school portal and fix them.
The command lineFor Years 8–10: use a computer by typing commands, as people do on servers, Raspberry Pis and Linux and Mac computers. Move around folders, read and search files, change them, chain commands with pipes, and control who can read what. Everything runs on a pretend computer in the browser; a Raspberry Pi is the real thing.
How a web page is madeFor Years 9–10: a web document is three layers, content, structure (HTML) and presentation (CSS). See each layer on its own, change one without touching the others, and find out why keeping them apart matters for whole sites, phones and screen readers. No coding needed; the HTML & CSS course puts it to work.