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UNPLUGGED
GraphPaperProgramming
Lessontime:20MinutesBasiclessontimeincludesactivityonly.IntroductoryandWrap-Upsuggestionscanbeused
todelvedeeperwhentimeallows.
LESSONOVERVIEW
By"programming"oneanothertodrawpictures,studentswillbegintounderstandwhatprogrammingisreally
about.Theclasswillbeginbyhavingstudentsinstructeachothertocolorsquaresinongraphpaperinaneffortto
reproduceanexistingpicture.Ifthere’stime,thelessoncanconcludewithimagesthatthestudentscreate
themselves.
TEACHINGSUMMARY
GettingStarted-15minutes
1)Vocabulary
2)IntroduceGraphPaperProgramming
3)PracticeTogether
Activity:GraphPaperProgramming-20minutes
4)Four-by-Fours
Wrap-up-5minutes
5)FlashChat:Whatdidwelearn?
6)VocabShmocab
Assessment-10minutes
7)GraphPaperProgrammingAssessment
LESSONOBJECTIVES
Studentswill:
Understandthedifficultyoftranslatingrealproblemsintoprograms
Learnthatideasmayfeelclearandyetstillbemisinterpretedbyacomputer
Practicecommunicatingideasthroughcodesandsymbols
TEACHINGGUIDE
MATERIALS,RESOURCESANDPREP
FortheStudent
Four-by-FoursActivityWorksheet
GraphPaperProgrammingAssessment
Sheetsof4x4papergridsforthestudentstouseaspractice(TheseareprovidedaspartoftheFour-by-Fours
ActivityWorksheet,butifyouhavethestudentscreatetheirown,youcanincludeCommonCoreMathstandard
2.G.2.)
Blankpaperorindexcardsforprograms
Markers,pens,orpencils
FortheTeacher
LessonVideo
PrintoutoneFour-by-FoursActivityWorksheetforeachgroup
PrintoneGraphPaperProgrammingAssessmentforeachstudent
Supplyeachgroupwithseveraldrawinggrids,paper,andpens/pencils
GETTINGSTARTED(15MIN)
1)Vocabulary
Thislessonhastwonewandimportantwords:
Algorithm-Sayitwithme:Al-go-ri-thm
Alistofstepsthatyoucanfollowtofinishatask
Program-Sayitwithme:Pro-gram
Analgorithmthathasbeencodedintosomethingthatcanberunbyamachine
2)IntroduceGraphPaperProgramming
Inthisactivity,wearegoingtoguideeachothertowardmakingdrawings,withoutlettingtheotherpeopleinour
groupseetheoriginalimage.
Forthisexercise,wewillusesheetsof4x4graphpaper.Startingattheupperleft-handcorner,we’llguideour
teammates’AutomaticRealizationMachine(ARM)withsimpleinstructions.Thoseinstructionsinclude:
MoveOneSquareRight
MoveOneSquareLeft
MoveOneSquareUp
MoveOneSquareDown
Fill-InSquarewithcolor
Forexample,here’showwewouldwriteanalgorithmtoinstructafriend(whoispretendingtobeadrawing
machine)tocolortheirblankgridsothatitlooksliketheimagebelow:
That’ssimpleenough,butitwouldtakealotofwritingtoprovideinstructionsforasquarelikethis:
Withonelittlesubstitution,wecandothismuchmoreeasily!Insteadofhavingtowriteoutanentirephrasefor
eachinstruction,wecanusearrows.
Inthisinstance,thearrowsymbolsarethe“program”codeandthewordsarethe“algorithm”piece.Thismeans
thatwecouldwritethealgorithm:
“Moveonesquareright,Moveonesquareright,Fill-insquarewithcolor”
andthatwouldcorrespondtotheprogram:
Usingarrows,wecanredothecodefromthepreviousimagemuchmoreeasily!
3)PracticeTogether
Startyourclassoffintheworldofprogrammingbydrawingorprojectingtheprovidedkeyontotheboard.
Selectasimpledrawing,suchasthisonetouseasanexample.
Thisisagoodwaytointroduceallofthesymbolsinthekey.Tobegin,fillinthegraphfortheclass--squareby
square--thenaskthemtohelpdescribewhatyou’vejustdone.First,youcanspeakthealgorithmoutloud,then
youcanturnyourverbalinstructionsintoaprogram.
Asamplealgorithm:
“MoveRight,Fill-InSquare,MoveRight,MoveDown
Fill-InSquare,MoveLeft,MoveLeft,Fill-InSquare
MoveDown,MoveRight,Fill-InSquare,MoveRight”
Someofyourclassmaynoticethatthereisanunnecessarystep,butholdthemoffuntilaftertheprogramming
stage.
Walktheclassthroughtranslatingthealgorithmintotheprogram:
Theclassroommaybebuzzingwithsuggestionsbythispoint.Iftheclassgetsthegistoftheexercise,thisisa
goodplacetodiscussalternatewaysoffillingoutthesamegrid.Ifthereisstillconfusion,savethatpiecefor
anotherdayandworkwithanotherexample.
Iftheclasscanshoutoutthealgorithmanddefinethecorrectsymbolstouseforeachstep,they’rereadytomove
on.Dependingonyourclassandtheirage,youcaneithertrydoingamorecomplicatedgridtogetherorskip
straighttohavingthemworkingroupsontheirFour-by-FoursActivityWorksheet.
LESSONTIP
HavetheclassimaginethatyourarmisanAutomaticRealizationMachine(ARM).Theideaof
"algorithms"and"programs"willbebroughttolifeevenfurtherifstudentsfeellikethey'reactuallyin
controlofyourmovements.
ACTIVITY:GRAPHPAPERPROGRAMMING(20MIN)
4)Four-by-FoursActivityWorksheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Dividestudentsintopairs.
Haveeachpairchooseanimagefromtheworksheet.
Discussthealgorithmtodrawthatimagewithpartner.
Convertalgorithmintoaprogramusingsymbols.
Tradeprogramswithanotherpairanddrawoneanother'simage.
Chooseanotherimageandgoagain!
WRAP-UP(5MIN)
5)FlashChat:Whatdidwelearn?
Whatdidwelearntoday?
Whatifweusedthesamearrows,butreplaced"Fill-InSquare"with"LayBrick"?Whatmightwebeabletodo?
Whatelsecouldweprogramifwejustchangedwhatthearrowsmeant?
6)VocabShmocab
Whichoneofthesedefinitionsdidwelearnawordfortoday?
"Alargetropicalparrotwithaverylongtailandbeautifulfeathers"
"Alistofstepsthatyoucanfollowtofinishatask"
"Anincrediblystinkyflowerthatbloomsonlyonceayear"
...andwhatisthewordthatwelearned?
Whichoneoftheseisthemostlikea"program"?
*Ashoeboxfullofprettyrocks
*Twelvepinkflowersinavase
*Sheetmusicforyourfavoritesong
Explainwhyyouchoseyouranswer.
ASSESSMENT(10MIN)
7)GraphPaperProgrammingAssessment
EXTENDEDLEARNING
Usetheseactivitiestoenhancestudentlearning.Theycanbeusedasoutsideofclassactivitiesorother
enrichment.
BetterandBetter
Haveyourclasstrymakinguptheirownimages.
Cantheyfigureouthowtoprogramtheimagesthattheycreate?
ClassChallenge
Astheteacher,drawanimageona5x5grid.
Cantheclasscodethatupalongwithyou?
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