Lesson 2: Introduction to Online Puzzles
Overview
In this set of puzzles, students will begin with an introduction (or review depending on the experience of your class) of Code.org's online workspace. There will be videos pointing out the basic functionality of the workspace including the Run, Reset, and Step buttons. Also discussed in these videos: dragging Blockly blocks, deleting Blockly blocks, and connecting Blockly blocks. Next, students will practice their sequencing and debugging skills in maze. From there, students will see new types of puzzles like Collector, Artist, and Harvester when they learn the very basics of loops.
Purpose
We recognize that every classroom has a spectrum of understanding for every subject. Some students in your class may be computer wizards, while others haven't had much experience at all. In order to create an equal playing (and learning) field, we have developed this "Ramp Up Stage" for Course D. This can be used as either an introduction or a review of how to use Code.org and basic computer science concepts. This stage covers all prerequisites needed to start Course D.
Agenda
Warm Up (10 min)
Bridging Activities - Programming (10 min)
Main Activity (30 min)
Wrap Up (10 min)
View on Code Studio
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Order movement commands as sequential steps in a program.
- Modify an existing program to solve errors.
- Break down a long sequence of instructions into the largest repeatable sequence.
Preparation
- Play through the puzzles to find any potential problem areas for your class.
- Make sure every student has a journal.
Links
Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.
For the Students
- Pair Programming - Student Video
Vocabulary
- Bug - Part of a program that does not work correctly.
- Debugging - Finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program.
- Loop - The action of doing something over and over again.
- 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 (10 min)
Introduction
Students will either be learning a lot of new concepts or reviewing a lot of basic concepts. Based on your class's experience, you can cover the following vocabulary or move on to a bridging activity. We recommend using the following words in sentences if the definitions aren't explicitly covered.
Vocabulary
This lesson has four new and important vocabulary words:
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Program - Say it with me: Pro - Gram An algorithm that has been coded into something that can be run by a machine.
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Programming - Say it with me: Pro - Gramm - ing The art of creating a program.
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Bug - Say it with me: Bug An error in a program that prevents the program from running as expected.
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Debugging - Say it with me: De - Bugg - ing Finding and fixing errors in programs.
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Loop - Say it with me: Loo-p The action of doing something over and over again
Bridging Activities - Programming (10 min)
This activity will help bring the unplugged concepts from "Graph Paper Programming" into the online world that the students are moving into.
Preview of Online Puzzles as a Class
Pull up a puzzle from the lesson. We recommend puzzle 6 for this activity. Break up the students into groups of three or four. Have them "program" Red, the angry bird, to get to the pig using arrows from "Graph Paper Programming."
The class will not need to use the last arrow.
Once all the groups have an answer, discuss the path as a class.
Main Activity (30 min)
Online Puzzles
Teacher Tip:
Show the students the right way to help classmates:
- Don’t sit in the classmate’s chair
- Don’t use the classmate’s keyboard
- Don’t touch the classmate’s mouse
- Make sure the classmate can describe the solution to you out loud before you walk away
Teachers play a vital role in computer science education and supporting a collaborative and vibrant classroom environment. During online activities, the role of the teacher is primarily one of encouragement and support. Online lessons are meant to be student-centered, so teachers should avoid stepping in when students get stuck. Some ideas on how to do this are:
- Utilize Pair Programming - Student Video whenever possible during the activity.
- Encourage students with questions/challenges to start by asking their partner.
- Unanswered questions can be escalated to a nearby group, who might already know the solution.
- Have students describe the problem that they’re seeing. What is it supposed to do? What does it do? What does that tell you?
- Remind frustrated students that frustration is a step on the path to learning, and that persistence will pay off.
- If a student is still stuck after all of this, ask leading questions to get the student to spot an error on their own.
Wrap Up (10 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?
- How did you feel about today's lesson?
- List some of the bugs you found in your programs today.
- What was your favorite puzzle to complete? Draw your favorite character completing a puzzle.
- Maze Intro: Programming with Blocks
- 1
Student Instructions
For this puzzle, snap all of the blocks together and click "Run" to watch it go!
Student Instructions
Drag an extra move forward block out of the toolbox, then attach all blocks to when run to finish your code.
Student Instructions
Help the bird get to the pig. There is one extra blue move forward block.
Throw away the extra block by removing it from the other blocks and dragging it back to the toolbox.
Student Instructions
"Trace the path and lead me to the pig."
Student Instructions
"Follow this path to get me to the pig!"
Avoid the TNT.
Student Instructions
Count the spaces on the grid carefully!
- Challenge
- 8
Student Instructions
Challenge: Navigate this maze to help the bird find the pig!
Student Instructions
Watch out for TNT! Help Red get to the pig.
Student Instructions
Get the bird to the pig.
Standards Alignment
View full course alignment
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 1B-AP-11 - Decompose (break down) problems into smaller, manageable subproblems to facilitate the program development process.
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
- 3.L.6 - Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).
SL - Speaking & Listening
- 3.SL.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- 3.SL.3 - Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
- 3.SL.6 - Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.
Common Core Math Standards
G - Geometry
- 3.G.2 - Partition shapes into parts with equal areas. Express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole. For example, partition a shape into 4 parts with equal area, and describe the area of each part as 1/4 of the area of the shape.
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
- MP.8 - Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
Next Generation Science Standards
ETS - Engineering in the Sciences
ETS1 - Engineering Design
- 3-5-ETS1-1 - Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
- 3-5-ETS1-2 - Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.