Lesson 17: Functions with Harvester
Overview
Students have practiced creating impressive designs in Artist and navigating mazes in Bee, but today they will use functions to harvest crops in Harvester. This lesson will push students to use functions in the new ways by combining them with while loops and if / else statements.
Purpose
This lesson is meant to further push students to use functions in more creative ways. By also using conditionals and loops, students will learn there are many ways to approach a problem, but some are more efficient than others. These puzzles are intended to increase problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Agenda
Warm Up (10 min)
Main Activity (30 min)
Wrap Up (15 min)
View on Code Studio
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Recognize when a function could help to simplify a program.
- Use pre-determined functions to complete commonly repeated tasks.
Preparation
- Play through the lesson to find any potential problem areas for your class.
- Make sure every student has a Think Spot Journal - Reflection Journal.
Links
Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.
For the Students
- Think Spot Journal - Reflection Journal
Vocabulary
- Function - A piece of code that you can easily call over and over again.
Support
Report a Bug
Teaching Guide
Warm Up (10 min)
Introduction
At this point, your students should already be introduced to functions. Take this time to have them discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using functions in a program. Either have them pair share or discuss as a class. Try using examples of hard or easy puzzles in either Artist or Bee.
Ask the class:
- When would you use a function?
- Why does a function help to simplify your program?
- Do you think functions make programming easier or harder? Why?
Main Activity (30 min)
Online Puzzles
Some puzzles will have a function pre-declared for the students to fill in. It may be helpful for the students to write the entire program without a function first, then determine where a function would be useful in the program.
It's important to make sure that every student is completing each puzzle with a dark green dot. If some of your students are struggling to simplify code and use functions, set up teams of expert students within your class to go around and answer questions.
Don't forget to provide pencils and paper to help students sketch out possible solutions.
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?
- How did you feel about today's lesson?
- What makes you realize a function could help your program?
- How do
whileloops andif / elsestatements help your program?
Student Instructions
"Have we met before? I'm the harvester!"
Help the harvester get to the pumpkin and pick it.
Student Instructions
"Oooh, veggies are cropping up everywhere!"
Now help the harvester pick all of the corn on the way to the pumpkin at the end.
Note: Every square on the way to the pumpkin either has 1 corn or nothing at all. Use the provided check for corn function to make sure you get everything.
Student Instructions
Use the function to help the harvester pick the corn and pumpkins.
Each sprout will either grow one corn or nothing.
Student Instructions
"I feel so functional!"
Now there are multiple pumpkins in each patch! Look carefully at the function definitions below to figure out how to use each one.
Each sprout will either grow one corn or nothing.
Student Instructions
Great! Try your functions out on a longer path.
Student Instructions
Did you notice that there was a lot of repeated code in that last puzzle? We can save space by calling that code pick along path and using a new function to call the other functions!
Use pick along path to solve this puzzle again using fewer blocks.
Student Instructions
"Functions lettuce do more with less work!"
Create a function that sends the harvester down a square path to pick a single head of lettuce from the middle of each row.
Student Instructions
Try writing your function again. Is it still helpful? How can you make it work for this puzzle?
Student Instructions
This puzzle is a-MAZE-ing!
Is your function still helpful for this puzzle?
Student Instructions
Challenge: Use everything that you've learned so far to solve this puzzle in 19 blocks or less!
Student Instructions
Solve this puzzle in 23 blocks or less.
Each sprout will either grow one corn or nothing. To find the best solution, you will need to edit the functions directly.
Student Instructions
Look at the functions defined below. What will the harvester pick?
The harvester will pick two pumpkins.
The harvester will pick all of the pumpkins.
The harvester will pick the lettuce.
The harvester will pick the corn.
Standards Alignment
View full course alignment
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards (2017)
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 1B-AP-08 - Compare and refine multiple algorithms for the same task and determine which is the most appropriate.
- 1B-AP-11 - Decompose (break down) problems into smaller, manageable subproblems to facilitate the program development process.