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ComputationalThinkingLessontime:25MinutesBasiclessontimeincludesactivityonly.IntroductoryandWrap-Upsuggestionscanbeusedtodelvedeeperwhentimeallows.

LESSONOVERVIEWForthisactivity,noinstructionsareprovided.Instead,studentswilluseexamplesofwhatimaginaryplayershavedonetofigureouthowtoplaythegame.Thislessongivesstudentstheopportunitytopracticethefourartsofcomputationalthinking(decomposition,patternmatching,abstraction,andalgorithms)inonecohesiveactivity.

TEACHINGSUMMARY

GettingStarted-15minutes1)Vocabulary2)FiguringitOut

Activity:ComputationalThinking-25minutes3)ComputationalThinking

Wrap-up-10minutes4)FlashChat-Whatdidwelearn?5)VocabShmocab

Assessment-5minutes6)ComputationalThinkingAssessment

LESSONOBJECTIVESStudentswill:

AnalyzeinformationtodrawconclusionsMatchidenticalportionsofsimilarphrasestomatchpatternsIdentifydifferencesinsimilarphrasesandabstractthemout

TEACHINGGUIDE

MATERIALS,RESOURCESANDPREPFortheStudent

OnediepergroupOneComputationalThinkingKitpergroupPens,Pencils,&ScissorsComputationalThinkingAssessmentforeachstudent

FortheTeacher

LessonVideoThisTeacherLessonGuidePrintoneComputationalThinkingKitpergroupPrintoneComputationalThinkingAssessmentforeachstudent

GETTINGSTARTED(15MIN)1)VocabularyThislessonhasfournewandimportantwords:

Algorithm-Sayitwithme:Al-go-ri-thmAlistofstepsthatyoucanfollowtofinishatask

Decompose-Sayitwithme:De-com-poseBreakaproblemdownintosmallerpieces

Abstraction-Sayitwithme:Ab-strac-shunPullingoutspecificdifferencestomakeonesolutionworkformultipleproblems

PatternMatching-Sayitwithme:Pat-ernMatchingFindingsimilaritiesbetweenthings

2)FiguringitOutTellyourstudentsthatyouwantthemtosumupallofthenumbersbetween1&200.

Useyourbodylanguagetoindicatethatthisisnota"serious"orgradedexercise.Now,letthemknowthattheymustdoitallintheirheads.Addthetimeconstraintofthirtyseconds.Theymayfeeloverwhelmed.Thisisintentional.Youcanindicatewithyourtoneanddemeanorthatyoumightbecrazyaskingthisofthem,butbegintimingwitharesounding:"StartingNOW".

Watchtheclassasyoukeeptime.Howmanyarelostinthought?Whentimeisup,askifanyonewasabletogetthetotal.Askifthereisanyonewhothoughttheproblemwassohardthattheydidn'tevenattemptit.Didanyoneattemptitandjustnotfinish?

Whatdidtheytry?Guidestudentstowardthinkingalittlesmaller.

Ifwebreaktheproblemupintosmallerpieces,itbecomeseasiertomanage.Let'sstartatthetwoends.Whatis200+1?Whatis199+2?Whatis198+3?Seeapattern?Howmanyofthesepairswillwehave?

Whatisthelastpairwewillfind?100+101Thatmeansthatwehave100totalpairs.

Ifwehave100totalpairsofsumsof201,howdowefindthefinaltotal?Whatis100*201?

Now,whatifwewantedtofindthetricktodothiswithothernumbers?Canwedoiteasilywith2,000?Howabout20,000?Whatstaysthesame?Whatisdifferent?Ifweuseabstractionstomakeourendgoalsomethingthatcanchange(saywenameit"blank")thenwecanmakeanalgorithmthatwillworkforanynumber

Workthroughtheproblemuntilyouultimatelyget?=("blank"/2)*("blank"+1)Doafewsimpleexamplestoshowthatthealgorithmiscorrectforblanks=2,3,4,&5.

"ThisisalltoshowthatifyouusethetoolsofComputationalThinking(decomposition,patternmatching,abstraction,andalgorithms),thenyoucanfigureouthowtosolveproblemsthatnoonehasalreadytaughtyouhowtosolve...justlikewedidhere!Thiswillbeanextremelypowerfulskillfortherestofyourlife!"

ACTIVITIES:(25MIN)3)ComputationalThinkingThislessonisallabouta"GamewithNoInstructions."Studentswillbechargedwithfiguringouthowtoplaythegameasasmallgroup.Thesmalldetailsoftheirfinalalgorithmareunimportant.Whatisimportantisthattheywereabletotakeahugetasklike"figuringouthowtoplayagameontheirown"andtakesmallstepstowardachievingthegoal.

Studentswillbeguidedtowarddiscoveringtherulesusingthestepsofcomputationalthinking.Resistthetemptationtopointthestudentstoward"doingitright"andallowthemjusttodoitontheirown.Iftheyfeelstumpedorconfused,encouragethestudentstolookattheinformationthathasbeengiventothem,oriftheymust,askaclassmate.

Directions:

1)Dividestudentsintogroupsof2-4.

2)Havethegroupsreadoveruserexperiencestogetanideaofhowotherstudentshaveplayedthe“GamewithNoInstructions.”

3)Encouragethemtopatternmatchbetweeneachexperiencebycirclingthesectionsofwordsthatareidenticalfromplayertoplayer.

4)Next,havethemabstractawaydifferencesfromeachexperiencebyunderliningwordsthatchangefromplayertoplayer.

5)Usingpatternmatchingandabstraction,havethemmakeascripttemplateforgameplaybywritingupthecircledpartsoftheotherstudents’experiences,andleavingtheunderlinedsectionsasblanks.

Forexample:

6)Givestudentsablanksheetofpapertowritealistofinstructionsforhowtheythinkthisgameshouldbeplayedbasedontheuserexperiencesthattheyjustread.Thiswillbetheiralgorithm.

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7)Havestudentsplaythegameusingthealgorithmthattheyjustmade.Eachplayershouldgetatleasttwoturns.

WRAP-UP(5MIN)4)FlashChat:Whatdidwelearn?

Whatshouldyoutrytodowhenyou'reaskedtodosomethingandyoudon'tknowhow?Ifaproblemistoohard,whatshouldyoutrytodo?Ifyoufindsimilaritiesinlotsofsolutionstodifferentproblems,whatdoesthatprobablytellyou?Ifyouhaveaproblemthatisjustalittledifferentfromaproblemthatyouhaveasolutionfor,whatwouldyoudo?

5)VocabShmocabWhichoneofthesedefinitionsdidwelearnawordfortoday?

"Bringingtwopiecestogether""Breakingaproblemdownintosmallerpieces""Aneducatedguess"

...andwhatisthewordthatwelearned?

ASSESSMENT(5MIN)6)ComputationalThinkingAssessment

Handouttheassessmentworksheetandallowstudentstocompletetheactivityindependentlyaftertheinstructionshavebeenwellexplained.Thisshouldfeelfamiliar,thankstothepreviousactivities.

LESSONTIPFlashChatquestionsareintendedtosparkbig-picturethinkingabouthowthelessonrelatestothegreaterworldandthestudents'greaterfuture.Useyourknowledgeofyourclassroomtodecideifyouwanttodiscusstheseasaclass,ingroups,orwithanelbowpartner.