Warm up
Have learners think of a playground games they may have played when they were younger. Now, have them think if there were any that they regularly won (because they figured out something) or that they often saw others win at, which was frustrating. Ask if learners ever thought this was like cheating. Was there something that the winning players always seemed to do which led to a win? Below are some ideas:
- Simon Says
- Duck, Duck, Goose
- Capture the Flag
- Dodgeball
- Three-legged Race
- Hide and Seek
- Four Square
Click to expand for talking points for Duck, Duck, Goose or look at slide 4 in the presentation, which includes a video
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if I were sitting, I would be watching the person going around the circle,
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as they approached me, I would prepare myself to get up - hands on the ground ready to push,
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legs not cross and relaxed but feet planted and knees bent, ready to push
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if I were walking around the circle, I would be watching for people talking
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I would avoid people watching me
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I would prepare to move quickly before touching a person
Inform learners that this game has two main functions for winning, one function is for the person walking around the circle, one function is for people sitting in the circle. These are two very different parts of the game because they are for distinct roles in the game. In programming, we separate these parts by creating functions. In this case, we could have the program duckDuckGoose and one function could be sitting and the other could be walking.
Slide 5 from the presentation has a suggested flowchart that could be used to illustrate a function for Duck, Duck, Goose. Learners will need access to the internet to research the old-school game they have chosen to write about. The minimum they will need to research is if there is a point system, if there are teams and what decides a winner.
Get learning
Learners will need to take one of the games researched and decide on a tactic they think would be most beneficial for winning. The group will need time to discuss the ideas in order to reach consensus.
Once they have decided, learners will use pseudocode to describe the routine they are going to use and give it a name. Then, they will need to place it in the ‘program’ of the game. Groups will present their ideas to the class describing how their tactic can be used repeatedly through the game to improve the chances of success.
Show slide 7 on the presentation to display the function block, in Martyblocks, the section is called My Blocks. There are notes on slide 7 to support discussion.
Following the idea sharing, display Marty standing with legs side by side, and press the walk forward block on your device (alternatively, use slide 8 from the presentation, which shows a slowly walking Marty. There are notes on the page that describe how you can use this slide). This will cause Marty to take two steps forward, by default. Have learners look carefully as you press the button again. What different movement do you see Marty make to carry out that command?
If necessary, run the Marty Controller, where you can more easily control the speed of the walk block, which will enable learners to see individual movements more clearly.
Have one learner in each group be the Marty. Have the other learners develop a function so that that Marty can walk. Encourage learners to look at MartyBlocks for the single commands they could use to build their function. Allow for sufficient time for trial and error to allow learners the most chance to successfully build a walk function. This needn't be recorded in the workbook, it is more a chance to get a feel for how the individual commands come together to make a function. Allow for lots of discussion within and between groups, also be sure to walk around the class asking questions and making comments.
Specific angles are not a requirement for the human-Marty walk function as that is challenging to estimate but adjectives of some kind would be good.
There is a description of how to code a walk function in the teacher guide and slide 9 shows the blocks in MartyBlocks if you wanted to showcase Marty doing it in real life. Take time to talk through the sequence, timing and angles used in the function. Preparing this on the class device to demonstrate the function would support the learning.
Time for practice
Suggest that learners investigate the kick block:
- have the class Marty in a central location
- open either MartyBlocks or the Marty Controller
- have a loop on the workspace with kick so that the action will repeat several times, or, have the Marty Controller open and press it several times, the speed slider will let you control how quickly Marty moves
The teacher guide has the code that is needed to carry out this action. For learners, they could choose a different learner to be Marty for this function and group members can experiment with the different code blocks until there is a suitable function; while building their function, groups should record their planning and ideas in their workbooks. Take time to walk around listening to discussion and asking questions to promote more thinking.
If there is time, either link devices to the class Marty or quickly create the code blocks on the teacher device from different group ideas to display Marty in action.
Cool Down
Bring learners back together to discuss the challenges they faced and overcame. Have groups model their creations and explain what is happening, when. Encourage other groups to ask questions to deepen the understanding of the processes.
Suggested questions you might ask:
- Would you expect to use a function every time you sit down to code? Why or why not?
- How many reasons can you think of to consider using functions in code?
- If you encountered a bug in your code, do you think it would be quicker to find and fix if you had or didn't have functions? Why do you think this?
Carry out any end of lesson routines.
Log off devices and clear everything away.
