Ei607 getting started with programming

Computational thinking and programmingkey stage 2

Subject content for KS2

Pupils should be taught to:

• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific

goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems;

solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts

• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work

with variables and various forms of input and output

• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple

algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in

algorithms and programs

Decomposing problems

“solve problems by decomposing them into smaller

parts” - Subject content KS2

Decomposition is the process of breaking a problem

down into smaller problems so that ultimately the

bigger problem can be solved (and explained clearly to

someone else or to a computer).

Sequence, repetition &

selection“use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs” - Subject

content KS2

Sequence: putting instructions in an order where each one is

executed one after the other

Repetition: one or more instructions are repeated a number of

times or until a condition is met or the program is stopped

Selection: instructions are executed depending on whether a

particular condition is met

Selection lies at the heart of the ‘intelligence’ of a computer

program.

Activity #1 Hour of Code

Working in pairs, follow the Hour of Code beginners

tutorial. Your challenge is to complete this in 30 mins!

http://learn.code.org/hoc/1

NB: This tutorial introduces the key programming

concepts of sequence, repetition and selection

http://learn.code.org/hoc/1

Debugging at KS2

“design, write and debug programs that accomplish

specific goals” - Subject content KS2

This builds upon children’s experience of debugging at

KS1. As their programs become more sophisticated

the debugging becomes more challenging.

Activity #2 Scratch Roamer

View the Simple Roamer project at

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/33560452/. Click the

green flag to make the Roamer move.

Can you write a program to make the Roamer draw an

equilateral triangle? Click the ‘See inside’ button to get

started.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/33560452/

Hungry Monkey

View the Hungry Monkey project at

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/21416773/. Click the

green flag to play the game.

We’re now going to decompose this game into smaller

problems and you will learn how to program each

element.


Activity #3 Hungry Monkey 1


Can you make the monkey sprite move left and right

when the left and right arrow keys are pressed?

Hint: you need to use a ‘forever’ block.




Can you make the monkey jump when the ‘up’ arrow

key is pressed?

Hint: you’ll need to use a ‘wait’ block.




Can you hide the bananas when the monkey grabs

them?

Hint: you’ll need to copy the code from Sprite1 to the

other banana sprites. To do this, drag the code stack

from Sprite1 onto each of the other banana sprites.


Variables

“work with variables” - Subject content KS2

Variables are containers for data. They enable us to

store, retrieve or change data. A variable could be

used in a game to keep track of a user’s score or to

remember a player’s name.



Can you make the score board work so it keeps track

of the number of bananas the monkey has caught?


Subject content for KS2

Pupils should be taught to:

• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific

goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems;

solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts

• use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work

with variables and various forms of input and output

• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple

algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in

algorithms and programs

Follow up from today:

Turvey K. et al. (2014) ‘Programming and

computational thinking’ in Primary Computing and ICT,

Knowledge, Understanding and Practice, London:

Sage.

Education

Ei607 getting started with programming