This lesson will help illustrate how variables can make programs more powerful by allowing values to change while the code is running.
In this lesson, students will explore the creation of repetitive designs using variables in the Artist environment. Students will learn how variables can be used to make code easier to write and easier to read. After guided puzzles, students will end in a freeplay level to show what they have learned and create their own designs.
Featuring Bee, this lesson focuses on `for` loops and using an incrementing variable to solve more complicated puzzles. Students will begin by reviewing loops from previous lessons, then they'll walk through an introduction to `for` loops so they can more effectively solve complicated problems.
In this lesson, students continue to practice `for` loops, but this time with Artist. Students will complete puzzles combining the ideas of variables, loops, and `for` loops to create complex designs. At the end, they will have a chance to create their own art in a freeplay level.
In this lesson, students will learn about the two concepts at the heart of Sprite Lab: sprites and behaviors. Sprites are characters or objects on the screen that students can move, change, and manipulate. Behaviors are actions that sprites will take continuously until they are stopped.
This lesson features Sprite Lab, a platform where students can create their own alien dance party with interactions between characters and user input. Students will work with events to create game controls.
Here, students will use Sprite Lab to create their own customized behaviors.
In this lesson, students will create an interactive Virtual Pet that looks and behaves how they wish. Students will use Sprite Lab's "Costumes" tool to customize their pet's appearance. They will then use events, behaviors, and other concepts they have learned to give their pet a life of its own!
The next five lessons provide an opportunity for students to put their coding skills to use in a capstone project. This project will help individuals gain experience with coding and produce an exemplar to share with peers and loved ones. This is intended to be a multi-lesson or multi-week project where students spend time brainstorming, learning about the design process, building, and then presenting their final work.
In the "Explore" stage, students will play around with pre-built Artist and Sprite Lab programs for inspiration. Next, students will learn about the design process and how to implement it in their own projects. They will then be given the space to create their own project in Artist, Sprite Lab, or any other interface that you are comfortable providing. (This is likely the longest stage of the project.) Students will then revise their code after testing and peer review. Finally, students will be able to present their finished work to their classmates.
Using characters from the game Angry Birds, students will develop sequential algorithms to move a bird from one side of a maze to the pig at the other side. To do this they will stack code blocks together in a linear sequence, making them move straight, turn left, or turn right.
Debugging is an essential element of learning to program. In this lesson, students will encounter puzzles that have been solved incorrectly. They will need to step through the existing code to identify errors, including incorrect loops, missing blocks, extra blocks, and blocks that are out of order.
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.
In this lesson, students will take control of the Artist to complete drawings on the screen. This Artist stage will allow students to create images of increasing complexity using new blocks like `move forward by 100 pixels` and `turn right by 90 degrees`.
Building on the concept of repeating instructions from "Getting Loopy," this stage will have students using loops to help BB-8 traverse a maze more efficiently than before.
Watch student faces light up as they make their own gorgeous designs using a small number of blocks and digital stickers! This lesson builds on the understanding of loops from previous lessons and gives students a chance to be truly creative. This activity is fantastic for producing artifacts for portfolios or parent/teacher conferences.
In this online activity, students will have the opportunity to push their understanding of loops to a whole new level. Playing with the Bee and Plants vs Zombies, students will learn how to program a loop to be inside of another loop. They will also be encouraged to figure out how little changes in either loop will affect their program when they click `Run`.
Now that students know how to layer their loops, they can create so many beautiful things. This lesson will take students through a series of exercises to help them create their own portfolio-ready images using Anna and Elsa's excellent ice-skating skills!
Students will begin using Evaluation Blocks to explore the concept of math as a language, and more specifically, a programming language. By composing arithmetic expressions with Evaluation Blocks, students will be able to visualize how expressions follow the order of operations.
Using the Design Recipe, students will work through a series of word problems about calculating the height of a rocket after a given number of seconds from launch. The functions they write will be used to animate the rocket launch.
To compute more than just numbers, students will need to learn about two new data types, Strings (any string of alphanumeric characters) and Images. Using these new data types, we'll compose programs that produce and manipulate images.