Lesson 10: Mini-Project - Captioned Scenes
Overview
Question of the Day: How can we use Game Lab to express our creativity?
After a quick review of the code they have learned so far, students are introduced to their first creative project of the unit. Using the problem-solving process as a model, students define the scene that they want to create, prepare by thinking of the different code they will need, try their plan in Game Lab, then reflect on what they have created. They also have a chance to share their creations with their peers.
Purpose
This lesson is a chance for students to get more creative with what they have learned. Some students may spend more time in the animation tab drawing than programming. Encourage students to spend time on parts of the activity that interest them, as long as they meet the requirements of the assignment.
The open-ended nature of this lesson also provides flexibility for the teacher to decide how long students should spend on their work, depending on the scheduling demands of the particular course implementation.
Agenda
Lesson Modifications
Warm Up (5 min)
Activity (35 min)
Wrap up (5 min)
View on Code Studio
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Use a structured process to plan and develop a program.
Links
Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.
For the Teachers
- Mini Project - Captioned Scenes - Exemplar
- Mini-Project: Captioned Scenes - Slides
For the Students
- Captioned Scenes - Rubric
- Sprite Scene Planning - Activity Guide
Teaching Guide
Lesson Modifications
Attention, teachers! If you are teaching virtually or in a socially-distanced classroom, please see these modifications for Unit 3.
Warm Up (5 min)
Discussion Goal
The goal of this discussion is to review the different blocks and skills that students have learned. As students talk about the different blocks, try to steer the conversation into how they can be used creatively, to link into the main topic of the day.
Review
Prompt: Write down as many blocks as you can remember from Game Lab. Make sure you know what each one does, especially the inputs, or parameters, for each of the blocks.
Share: Allow students to share out what they remember as a group review.
Remarks
You've already learned how to do some really great things in Game Lab. Today you'll have a chance to put them all together to make an interesting scene to share with the world. That means instead of trying to recreate someone else's idea, you're going to get to come up with an idea of your own, so it's time to get creative!
Question of the Day: How can we use Game Lab to express our creativity?
Activity (35 min)
Distribute: (Optional) pass out copies of the activity guide. Students can use this sheet to plan out the scene they create at the end of this lesson, but the planning can also be completed on scratch paper.
Transition Send students to Code Studio.
Teaching Tip
You may choose to formalize this process by having each student write down one positive quality of each project, or having students "draw names" to comment on one particular classmate's work.
Gallery Walk
Allow students to walk around the room and see the pictures that each of their classmates has coded. Celebrate all of the different ideas that students were able to implement with the same basic code.
Wrap up (5 min)
Discussion Goal
This discussion should serve as a celebration of what the students have accomplished. As students share out what they have seen, encourage them to learn from each other and ask questions if they were not sure how to do something. Highlight how students were able to do very different things with the same tool.
Journal
Question of the Day: How can we use Game Lab to express our creativity?
Prompt: What was one especially creative way you saw someone else use the blocks today?
Share: Have students share out what they appreciated about their classmates' projects. You may want to do this "popcorn" style, with each student who responds choosing the next person to share.
- Lesson Overview
- 1
Teaching Tip
- Sprite Scene Planning - Activity Guide Exemplar (PDF | DOCX)
Student Instructions
- Sprite Scenes
- 2
Student Instructions
Sprite Scenes
It's time to put everything together and make a fun scene. Take a look at this example and think about what you'd like to make.
Sketch It Out
Before moving on, take a second to sketch out a scene that you'd like to make at the end of this lesson. Consider the simple shapes that you've used in the past, sprites for your characters, and any text that you'd like on the screen. Once you've sketched out an idea, you'll learn about how to compose a scene.
Is there anything else that you still need to learn how to do?
Are there any skills that you'd like to review?
- Create a Background
- 3
Student Instructions
Create Your Scene - Background
First, make the background of your scene, either with shape commands or sprites.
Do This
- Use a
background()command to fill the screen with a color. - Add any necessary shape commands or sprites to draw the background of your scene.
- Add Sprites
- 4
Student Instructions
Create Your Scene - Sprites
With your background in place, it's time to add your sprites.
Do This
- Add or create all of your sprite animations in the Animation Tab.
- Create each sprite and assign it an animation.
- Set the value for any sprite properties you'd like to use.
- Draw all of your sprites to the screen.
- Add Text
- 5
Student Instructions
Create Your Scene - Text
The final piece of your scene is to add text.
Do This
- Add a text to your project.
- Use any other commands to change the appearance of your text.
- Review Your Scene
- 6
Student Instructions
Review Your Scene
Check over your scene one last time to make sure you have included everything that you want.
Do this
- Compare the scene that you drew to your plan.
- Make any last changes.
- What are you most proud of?
Standards Alignment
View full course alignment
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 2-AP-11 - Create clearly named variables that represent different data types and perform operations on their values.
- 2-AP-13 - Decompose problems and subproblems into parts to facilitate the design, implementation, and review of programs.
- 2-AP-17 - Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases.
- 2-AP-19 - Document programs in order to make them easier to follow, test, and debug.