Cracking the Code WHAT WORKS WHEN TEACHING STUDENTS TO CODE?

Correction:  Firstly, this is more than just code.  Coders can write code  Programmers understand the underlying concepts. They understand the process and concepts of logic which – when implemented via code – bring digital services to life.  This is what we want our students to do.

Rationale  Computing is now a foundation subject in the UK and all students must be offered a course which offers them the opportunity “to study aspects of information technology and computer science at sufficient depth to allow them to progress to higher levels of study or to a professional career.”

Programming Experiment Fail Learn Repeat

MSW Logo

Why?  Why Logo?  Peels everything else away  You can deliver complex concepts in an easy to digest manner  Easy to see the progression  Easy for a non-specialist to deliver  Free download  Why let them fail?  Build resilience  Learning by discovery  Allows them to discover for themselves  Empower the students

Broad Aims  To get students thinking logically:  Step by step  Seeing patterns  Breaking down problems into smaller parts (Decomposition)  To demonstrate why it is useful to write more efficient code.  To show that writing code can be fun, frustrating and rewarding!

Logo Unit Overview:  Lesson 1:  Write code line by line  Lesson 2:  Use repeats to write more efficient code  Lesson 3:  Create subroutines  Combine subroutines to create shapes  Lesson 4:  Create a cityscape – breaking down a problem into its component parts  Lesson 5:  Assessment

Today:  Today I am going to deliver a condensed version of what I teach to the students.  Usually I would ensure you have time to play and experiment!

Skill 1 WRITING SIMPLE CODE

 How many degrees are in these angles? Math Lesson 90˚ 270˚

 What do all 3 internal angles in a triangle add up to?  Why do we need to know the external angles? Math Lesson: External Angles 60°120°

 Figuring out internal angles of a polygon.  (no of sides – 2) * 180  E.g.:  (5-2) * 180 = 540  (4-2) * 180 = 360 Polygons External Angle: 72° External Angle: 90°

Task  Calculating the Angles in polygons:  Have a go at calculating some of the angles.

Think:  You can use the following code:  FD  BK  RT  LT  FD 100  BK 20  RT 90  LT 120 What do you think these instructions might do? Examples of how the code can be used:

Logo Example

Writing Your First Code  Task:  Using the worksheet complete the code for as many shapes as you can.  You can use the following commands:  FD  BK  RT  LT Remember: Your turtle always starts pointing North.

Pattern Recognition  Instructions for a square: fd 100 rt 90  Wouldn’t it be useful if we could just write that repeated line once? Can you see a pattern?

Task  Try writing the step by step instructions for some of the shapes:

Skill 2 USING REPEATS

Repeats  Old Way: fd 100 rt 90  New Way  Repeat 4[fd 100 rt 90] Can you think of any reasons why the new way might be better?

Task  Try writing the efficient instructions for some of the shapes using a repeat:

Skill 3 SUBROUTINES

 How did we draw a square of side 100? repeat 4 [fd 100 rt 90]  Wouldn’t it be useful if every time we wanted to draw a square we could just write the word square.  Good news, we can!! Subroutines

 Can you see a repeating shape in this pattern?  (Hint: It is repeated 6 times) Get Thinking

Creating Shapes  repeat 10 [square rt 36 ]  repeat 36 [circle rt 10 ]

Task  Try and write efficient code to create the patterns:

What Do Students Say?  The got to be creative  Understood the concepts – efficiency  Liked having time to “play”  Thought it was cool – had the “wow” moment!