Lesson 4: Collecting Treasure with Laurel
Overview
In this series of puzzles, students will continue to develop their understanding of algorithms and debugging. With a new character, Laurel the Adventurer, students will create sequential algorithms to get Laurel to pick up treasure as she walks along a path.
Purpose
In this lesson, students will be practicing their programming skills using a new character, Laurel the Adventurer. When someone starts programming they piece together instructions in a specific order using something that a machine can read. Through the use of programming, students will develop an understanding of how a computer navigates instructions and order. Using a new character with a different puzzle objective will help students widen their scope of experience with sequencing and algorithms in programming.
Agenda
Warm Up (5 min)
Bridging Activity - Programming (10 min)
Main Activity (30 min)
Wrap Up (5 - 10 min)
View on Code Studio
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Order movement commands as sequential steps in a program.
- Represent an algorithm as a computer program.
- Develop problem solving and critical thinking skills by reviewing debugging practices.
Preparation
- Play through the lesson to find 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
- Think Spot Journal - Reflection Journal
Vocabulary
- Algorithm - A list of steps to finish a task.
- 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 (5 min)
Introduction
This lesson uses most of the same blocks from Programming in Maze and adds the ability to collect. Tell the students that this block will allow Laurel the Adventurer to pick up the treasure that she is standing over. This new block will be discussed more in the bridging activity.
Bridging Activity - Programming (10 min)
Previewing Online Puzzles as a Class
Pull a puzzle from the corresponding online stage. We recommend puzzle 7. Have students discuss a pattern that they think will get Laurel the Adventurer to collect all the treasure. Ask the students to share. See how many other students had the same answer!
Main Activity (30 min)
Online Puzzles
Laurel the Adventurer is looking to collect as much treasure as she can. Instruct the students to traverse the puzzle to collect whatever they can. Some levels will require you to only pick up one piece of treasure, but others will require you to pick up every piece of treasure. Pay attention to the instructions to know what to do!
Wrap Up (5 - 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 during today’s lesson?
- Draw a maze that you might solve with the blocks you used today.
Student Instructions
Free Play: This is Laurel the Adventurer! Move her around and get as much treasure as you can. Use the collect block to pick up the treasure!
Drag blocks into the workspace and try to figure out how to get treasure. Get at least one item to pass this level.
Student Instructions
Move Laurel to the treasure, then use the collect block to pick it up.
Student Instructions
"Sequence matters!"
The blocks you need are already in the workspace, but not connected.
Order these blocks to collect the treasure and solve the puzzle.
Student Instructions
"Sequence matters!"
The blocks you need are already in the workspace, but not connected.
Put these blocks in order to collect all of the treasure and solve the puzzle.
Student Instructions
"Help me collect each bit of treasure!"
These blocks are in the wrong order. Can you fix them?
Student Instructions
"Help me collect all of the treasure!"
These blocks are in the wrong order. Reorder them to collect all of the treasure.
Student Instructions
Challenge: "What is going on here?"
Even if we put these in the right order, there will still be some missing.
Use blocks from the toolbox to collect all of the treasure.
Student Instructions
"Keep up the good work! Help me collect all of the treasure."
Student Instructions
"Let's get all of the treasure!"
Student Instructions
Help Laurel collect all of the treasure.
Student Instructions
Look at this code carefully. What do you think will happen when the program runs?
Laurel will collect 4 pieces of treasure using this code.
Laurel will try to collect treasure where there is not any and it causes an error.
Laurel will collect all of the treasure.
I don't know.
Student Instructions
You're almost done!
Collect as many pieces of treasure as you can to finish the stage!
Student Instructions
Student Instructions
There are 20 pieces of treasure in this cave. Collect at least 10 to finish the challenge!
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.