Session 2: Algorithms
Overview
The second activity of the club is structured in a way that allows students to understand how
search and sorting algorithms work. This will be done by giving the middle school students
the opportunity to participate on engaging activities that will allow them to work in groups.
Volunteer Focus:
 Ensure that all students have a positive experience doing the sorting and searching activities
 Ensure that all students are participating and if you see someone who is not encourage them to do
so
Pre-Preparation Day three days before the session:
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Have the all the materials ready such as paper cups, Legos, Weights, Balance Scales
Each mentor will need to practice his/her script
Buy the snacks, for the students, count the number of snacks per student
Order the quantity of food a day before the session
Have pencils ready for each student
Create a sign-in sheet and print it out
Preparation Period (TBD): Set Up
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Have food, snacks, and drinks ready to distribute.
Mentors will ensure every computer monitor is powered off as we will not be using them.
Have the projector and presentation ready.
Have all the materials placed in one side of the class room so that they are ready to use
Choose a station where each balance and weights will be place for the students to do quicksort
activity
6. Have the cups and table ready for the binary search activity
Materials
● Passport (Students personalized ID that contains their login information. Will be handed at the
beginning and returned at the end of each session.) Do we make ourselves?
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Sign-in Sheet
Food/Snacks/Drinks for each student
Napkins/Paper plates
30 Paper Cups
Legos per child
3 bags of Candy (binary search activity)
Agenda:
4:00pm - 4:10pm: Welcome to Session 2 of IgniteCS
Name of volunteer:_____KEVIN
1. Greet members at the door as they arrive.
“Welcome to our second session of IgniteCS!”
2. Students will sign in before picking up their snacks and drinks.
“Please, go ahead and sign in. After that, make a line and come pick up
snacks.”
Ensure all trash is thrown away before continuing with the activities
4:10pm - 4:15pm: Introduction to Agenda
Name of volunteer: ___KEVIN________
1. Mentors will describe the agenda
“Today, we are going to learn about the different types of algorithms for
searching and sorting. First of all, you may be thinking what is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a step by step procedure to solve a problem. For example, a
recipe to do a cheese cake, that is a good example of an algorithm because it
shows you the step by step procedure to make a cake. In computer science,
there are several algorithms that are used to search and sort elements such
as Binary Search and Quick Sort. In a moment, we will use cups and some
activities to show how these algorithms work and we will discover which one
is more efficient, meaning it takes less time”
4:15pm - 4:25pm: Binary Search
Name of volunteer: _____RUBI
This activity is to teach them binary search using the paper cup by having the students trying to find the
quickest solution of finding an item. This will give them an understanding of divide and conquer algorithm.
Mentors are going to set up a table with cups upside down in a line. A candy will be placed in one of the
cups.
1. Mentors will describe the first activity (Binary Search) to students (3 minutes)
“In this activity, students will need to find the cup that has the candy. Every time you
select a cup and there is no candy in it, you will need to give a candy away. The trick
here is to find the cup, that has the candy, with the fewest tries as possible that way
you will be left with a lot of candy.”
2. Mentors will encourage the students to participate on finding the candy and will ask who wants to
participate (10 minutes)
“Who wants to come try to find the candy? Prizes will be awarded to everyone who
participates. Please come up to the front if you want to try it. ”
3. Mentor will give a brief summary of the activity does and will ask questions to students
” Does anybody know why this binary search algorithm search is efficient? It is
efficient because each time you select a cup you are reducing the quantity of
elements in your search. This way it takes less time to find the cup with the candy.”
4:25pm - 4:35pm: Algorithm with Legos
Name of volunteer: __CARMINA
1. Mentors will describe the activity (2 minutes)
“Moving on, now we are going to learn about how to do an algorithm. As mention
before, an algorithm is a step by step procedure to do a task or solve a problem.
Algorithms are made up of instructions. In this activity you will discover how
algorithms are created. Students will be paired into groups of two. Each student will
be given an equal amount of the same type of legos. One of the students will built
something with the legos and give the other students directions on how to create
what they build without showing them their project.”
2. Mentors will instruct the students to form a group of two (1 minute)
“With that being said, let’s get into groups of two.”
3. Mentors will instruct the students to choose who is going to start building the Lego (1 minute)
“Now, that you are in pairs of two, each of the groups will decide who is going to start
building the Lego.”
Mentors will go and place a poster between the two students so that one does not see what the other is
constructing.
4. Mentors will instruct the groups to start building the Lego (10 minutes)
“Now that each group has decided who will be the first one building the Lego, go
ahead and start building it. You will have 5 minutes to do it, then you are going to tell
your partner the steps to be able to build your Lego without looking at yours.”
At this time one student from each group will start building the Lego. Mentors will be going around to see if
anyone has questions. After 5 minutes, mentors will make sure that the students are giving the instructions
to the other student on how to build their Lego. At the end the mentor conducting the activity will give a
summary explaining how computer science is about giving instructions to a computer in order to perform a
task.
5. Mentors will explain the meaning of how computer science is related to procedures (3 minutes)
“The purpose of this activity is to show you what computer science is about. It is
about giving instructions to a computer just like you did when you were giving
instructions to your partner in order to build your Lego. This instructions are also
called Algorithms. We use this algorithms to solve problems as well as to perform
tasks”
4:35pm - 5:45pm: Merge Sort and Bubble Sort
Name of volunteer: __Aaron and Janette
Aaron: Merge Sort
Make the students do the merge sort and at the end explain why this sort is efficient or
inefficient.
Janette: Bubble Sort
Make the students do the bubble sort and at the end explain why this sort is efficient or
inefficient.
4:45pm - 5:00pm: Mentorship
1. What are your favorite subjects?
2. Where do you see yourself?
3. What are your short goals?
4. How do you want to accomplish your goals?
Volunteers should relate with the students and encourage them to continue
higher education.