so this first lesson we're going to do
is
using graphing in a very specific way
and there's two really important words
that we need to know for this lesson as
we start it
and they are conveniently up here
algorithm have you heard that word
before no will you say it with me then
algorithm
thank you
does anyone have an idea what could
algorithm mean
hint hint it's on the wall
sean
is a set of um
to solve a problem
right it's a set of steps to solve a
problem
do you think you guys have ever used an
algorithm before yeah like what what
what would it be what do you think axel
um eight steps or the steps
you read my mind i was thinking you guys
have all done algorithms because of
model drawing you're taking a big
problem and you're breaking it down into
little steps that are totally doable
and then you see the whole process of
getting there and you're doing algebra
and you don't even know it and then the
other word we need to know is program
have you guys heard that word before
it can mean a lot of different things
for this very specific lesson
cyan what do you think it means the
algorithm that has been put into
something
by a machine hey fantastic
you took it right out of my brain again
an algorithm that's been coded into
something
that can be run by a machine so an
algorithm is a list of steps great
you've got this list of steps
but if you want a machine to do that
list of steps for you
you have to
put it into code that the machine knows
how to read
it's like your dog needs commands
to sit and walk and roll over and all
that right
let's see anything about your computer
that way too your computer needs
specific commands to be able to follow a
list of steps
so before we get
deeper into giving computers commands
i am going to turn into a robot
saw okay
okay
and i only follow specific instructions
i have a very certain list of specific
instructions that i follow
and my goal as teacher robot
is to fill in this graph
so that it looks like a checkerboard
or another way to think of it is every
other square is filled in with blue pen
so it started
and then your job as a class is going to
give me instructions
and we'll do this together as a class
and then you'll practice with each other
so you all will become roblox too
but i'll be the robot first i'll be
teacher robot and then you'll be student
robots
so i've got a very specific set
of commands
voila that are right there
so those are the only things that i can
follow
and my job is to fill in this chart this
graph so that every other space is
colored in
so who can tell me what's this top one
lorenzo
move one square right
okay what's the next one harry move one
square left okay
next one scion blue one square up okay
next one
audrey
move one skip a square down okay and the
very last one arian
fill in square one's color okay so if i
start here this is my starting point
what would you tell me
to do next this one is done for us but
let's pretend it's not so let's pretend
if i was starting here
would you tell me
move one scare right would you say
move one square left
would you say move one square down
because i'm going to get here and then
fill this in so from starting what would
be the very first command
what do you guys think talk with your
table groups real quick and what would
the first command be
okay when you're ready to tell me put
your pinky's in the air yeah
like you're drinking tea
okay so
uh
raeanne's table group will you tell me
what's my first movement from the start
move one square right okay i'm gonna
write that down move
one
square
right
okay
i also can write and talk as a robot
okay so i moved one square right
what's my very next job robot command
robot command robot command anya what do
i do next
fill and square with color okay so this
is step two
okay fill and square with color okay did
that
what's my very next
what's my very next movement
very next movement
ethan
okay so now i'm here move one square
right
and
that's a lot of learning that's a lot of
writing my robot arm is so tired of
writing and making this pretty pattern
on our graph
i wonder what i could do
to make the writing
not so
laborious not so difficult could i draw
a symbol
to represent what if we did this move
one square right
is an arrow moving right how about that
okay how about move one square left left
an arrow moving left
okay
and then here's the really tricky one
move one square up
okay
and then what's the next one arrow
pointing down
okay and then what should i do for fill
in with color like draw a tone
with color i could can i do like
little scribbles and then maybe an arrow
that's kind of funny
meaning like
scribble this one that you're on
yeah does that make sense to you yeah so
then if i was going to do another one
with a different pattern
it would be a lot less writing of the
algorithm right
right so before we do that as a class
again i want you guys to practice
so sometimes it's really tricky for kids
to figure out
which direction they should read or
write instructions and for this age
group i found it's really easy for them
to just do it and figure it out together
as a group or with their partner
for younger ages though i would be
specific about if it's left to right if
you're making a column of instructions
and that takes out that frustration when
they're working together as a partner
so another thing that's confusing to
kids is the fill in square
symbol
because it's the fill-in symbol and then
there's a down arrow so kids sometimes
think they need to move down to do that
but what i explain to the kids is you're
staying on that square and filling it in
and the way i filled it on the board
looks a lot like the symbol so that
reinforces
what it's instructing them to do
so when we're thinking about that
activity that we just did
our commands are up here move right move
left move up move down fill in color
what if
that last command wasn't fill in color
but what if it was lay brick
what could you use that for
building
building have you used that before have
you guys ever played minecraft
isn't that don't you lay bricks in
minecraft yeah just click left i thought
you just run around that's that's
essentially what you're doing though too
right you're moving around and then
you're laying a brick down instead of
filling in color
so little did you know you were doing an
algorithm for minecraft does that make
sense do you guys have questions
jack how is it computer programming if
it's on a piece of paper right we're not
using a computer how does that work
so one of the biggest things of computer
programming is something called
computational thinking
and it's like where it's training your
brain
to pay attention to what you do every
day in your life you take big problems
and you break them down into small
pieces that you can solve
that's what computational thinking is
and it's figuring out ways that you can
solve
any kind of problem either with other
people or alone or for any kind of
reason
so if you're training your brain to
think that way
without a computer when you start
working on computer and working in
coding with computers
you're set up for anything you want to
do it's like the math you're learning in
fourth grade
you'll be amazing when you do
algebra and calculus in high school and
college because you've got that
foundation that's what the computational
thinking is that's what we're doing now