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Lesson 8: Programming in Star Wars

Overview

In this lesson, students will use their newfound programming skills in more complicated ways to navigate a tricky course with BB-8.

Purpose

With transfer of knowledge in mind, this lesson gives students a new environment to practice the skills that they have been cultivating. Star Wars fans will jump for joy when they see these puzzles. Each puzzle in this series has been added to provide a deeper understanding of the basic concepts that they will be using throughout the rest of this course.

Agenda

Warm Up (15 min)

Main Activity (30 min)

Wrap Up (15 min)

View on Code Studio

Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Sequence commands in a logical order.
  • Recognize problems or "bugs" in a program and develop a plan to resolve the issues.

Preparation

Links

Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.

For the Teachers

For the Students

Vocabulary

  • Algorithm - A list of steps to finish a task.
  • Bug - Part of a program that does not work correctly.
  • Debugging - Finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program.
  • Program - An algorithm that has been coded into something that can be run by a machine.
  • Programming - The art of creating a program.

Support

Report a Bug

Teaching Guide

Warm Up (15 min)

Introduction

Ask the students how they felt about the last lesson.

  • Which puzzles were too hard or too easy?
  • Which puzzles were frustrating or a lot of fun?
  • If they were to teach the lesson to a friend, which part of the lesson would they want to review?

Use these questions to form a brief review of programming and debugging. If you think the class could benefit from it, you can go over the vocabulary words and definitions from the last lesson.

If you feel comfortable, also give a brief introduction to BB-8 from Star Wars. Many students may already be familiar with the lovable robot, but the introduction will surely build excitement.

Main Activity (30 min)

Course B Online Puzzles - Website

As we mentioned in the last lesson, we highly recommend viewing and using Pair Programming - Student Video as a class. Pair programming stimulates a discussion that can answer questions, review basic concepts, and build confidence with the subject.

Wrap Up (15 min)

Journaling

Having students write about what they learned, why it’s useful, and how they feel about it can help solidify any knowledge they obtained today and build a review sheet for them to look to in the future.

Journal Prompts:

  • What was today’s lesson about?
  • Draw one of the Feeling Faces - Emotion Images that shows how you felt about today's lesson in the corner of your journal page.
  • Draw a picture of BB-8 you guided through the maze today and add a list of the commands that you used.

Standards Alignment

View full course alignment

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)

AP - Algorithms & Programming
  • 1A-AP-09 - Model the way programs store and manipulate data by using numbers or other symbols to represent information.
  • 1A-AP-11 - Decompose (break down) the steps needed to solve a problem into a precise sequence of instructions.

Cross-curricular Opportunities

This list represents opportunities in this lesson to support standards in other content areas.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards

L - Language
  • 1.L.6 - Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
SL - Speaking & Listening
  • 1.SL.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
  • 1.SL.1.a - Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
  • 1.SL.1.b - Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
  • 1.SL.1.c - Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.

Common Core Math Standards

MP - Math Practices
  • MP.1 - Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively
  • MP.5 - Use appropriate tools strategically
  • MP.6 - Attend to precision
  • MP.7 - Look for and make use of structure
OA - Operations And Algebraic Thinking
  • 1.OA.5 - Relate counting to addition and subtraction (e.g., by counting on 2 to add 2).
  • 1.OA.6 - Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9

Next Generation Science Standards

ETS - Engineering in the Sciences
ETS1 - Engineering Design
  • K-2-ETS1-1 - Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.