Progress Outcome 3 for Year 4-5
Learning Outcomes for PO3
To be able to facilitate students' learning in PO3, you need to be able to do the following things yourself:
- Explain and illustrate relevant terminology for this progress outcome (e.g. What does binary mean?).
- Identify authentic task contexts, with suitable end-users (e.g. students of a similar age or younger than your students).
- Provide computerised problems, which allow for students to decompose these problems into step-by-step instructions to create algorithms for computer programs.
- Use logical thinking to predict the behaviour of programs, and understand that there can be more than one algorithm for the same problem.
- Develop and debug simple programs that use inputs, outputs, sequence and iteration (repeating part of the algorithm with a loop).
- Understand that digital devices store data using just two states represented by binary digits (bits).
As you work through the tasks, take time to think about how they might be reproduced, adapted, or re-purposed for your own learners.
To complete all tasks in this module should take around 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Task 1: Familiarise yourself with the terminology for PO3
To explain and illustrate the relevant terminology for PO3 to your students, you will first need to understand it yourself and then reformulate the explanations using language appropriate to the age and stage of your students.
- Watch the Interactive Video explaining the key terminology in PO3.
- Follow the links below to learn and practise the terminology on Quizlet and in the crossword puzzle. These steps are optional if you are able to confidently convey the concepts behind the terminology in the video.
- Reflect on your learning so far and continue adding to your own terminology video as appropriate.
Make a note of key vocabulary as you watch the video below. Feel free to pause, rewind or skip as necessary!
Task 1 should take about 10 minutes.
Click on the Quizlet logo above to review the terminology in PO3.
Click on the logo above to do the crossword.
Task 2: Represent numbers using the binary system
Students need to be able to convert base-10 numbers to binary numbers, to develop an understanding of how digital devices store data, using just two states represented by the binary digits 0 and 1 (bits).
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to complete a conversion table. Use the converted numbers in the table to help you. You can submit the task up to three times and will receive instant feedback.
- Watch the YouTube video as an introduction to the Binary System (and other related systems).
- Fill in the missing gaps in the following table.
Click the video tutorial below. Feel free to pause, rewind or skip as necessary!
Task 2 should take about 15 minutes.
Task 3: Represent letters using the binary system
Students need to be able to convert UTF-8 letters to binary numbers as well.
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to complete a conversion table. Use the converted numbers in the table to help you. You can submit the task up to three times and will receive instant feedback.
- Watch the YouTube video as an introduction to the Binary System (and other related systems).
- Fill in the missing gaps in the following table.
Click the video tutorial below. Feel free to pause, rewind or skip as necessary!
Task 3 should take about 15 minutes.
Task 4: Represent colours using the binary system
Students need to be able to use RGB Color Values (always spell 'colour' as 'color' when coding), in coding languages like Python. We will learn more about these in PO5.
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to complete a conversion table. Use the converted numbers in the table to help you. You can submit the task up to three times and will receive instant feedback.
- Watch the YouTube video as an introduction to how binary relates to images, pixels and RGB.
- Complete the Google Form below based on what you have learnt.
Click the video tutorial below. Feel free to pause, rewind or skip as necessary!
Task 4 should take about 15 minutes.
Task 5: Build an animated dance sequence
Students need to be able to use a loop function to make their code more efficient. Using a loop means that algorithms can be much shorter and more efficient (fewer lines of code needed) to run the exact same program
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to build an animated dance sequence in Scratch.
- Click here or on Part 1 below to be taken through examples of how the loop function can be utilised in Scratch.
- Click here on Part 2 below to be taken to a video tutorial that explains how to use Loops and Conditional statements in Scratch.
- Start a new project on Scratch (by clicking on Part 3a below). Follow the instructions to complete the first three activities on this Scratch Dance Card (Dance Sequence, Dance Loop, Play Music) (Click Part 3b below).
Make sure that you post a link to your completed project or any other project that uses loops on the Google+ page for others to engage with!
Click the video tutorial below. Feel free to pause, rewind or skip as necessary!
Task 5 should take about 30 minutes.
Task 6: Evaluate the efficiency of different algorithms
Students need to be able to compare and contrast two algorithms, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each. Both algorithms function correctly, so the differences between them are based on efficiency of the resulting program.
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to inspect two Scratch algorithms that function correctly, and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Read this Scratch Wiki (by clicking the link or clicking on Part 1 below) entry about ‘Efficient Programming’. Note the difference between the Scratch blocks - even though the two algorithms perform the same function.
- Load this Scratch Project (by clicking the link or clicking on Part 2 below) that will show you two algorithms that complete the same task - but using different coding blocks. Watch the task being carried out and look at the code to identify the differences.
- Identify the differences between the algorithms. You might like to consider things like: if the code is easy to understand, if the algorithm is performed quickly or slowly, if the code is easily editable to perform a different function etc. Put your answers in the Google Form below.
Make sure that you post a link to your completed project or any other project that uses loops on the Google+ page for others to engage with!
Task 6 should take about 20 minutes.
Task 7: Identify and fix errors in a program
Students need to be able to identify errors in a computerised algorithm and accurately communicate the error, make corrections, and communicate the correction.
To become familiar with this yourself, you are going to inspect (look through each line of text) a Scratch algorithm with two critical errors, identify the errors, fix the errors and communicate how the errors were fixed.
- Load the Scratch project: Greeting Card Remix. Run this project and you will notice that it doesn’t work the way it is intended. Look through the code to identify two critical errors (Hint: Think about speed and position!).
- ‘Remix’ the project and then make changes to it in a way that fixes these errors (you will know you have succeeded because the greeting card will both look good and will be completed in a reasonable amount of time).
- On the Google Form below, explain clearly and succinctly what the errors were, where they were, and what you did to fix them. If someone else was to load the faulty algorithm, they should be able to follow your instructions to fix it themselves.
Make sure that you post a link to your completed project or any other project that uses loops on the Google+ Community for others to engage with!
Task 7 should take about 20 minutes.
Task 8: Contribute ideas to the Google+ Community
One of the key 21st Century skills is the ability to work collaboratively with others, using good communication skills and cultural awareness. Students need to be able to identify errors in a computerised algorithm and accurately communicate the error, make corrections, and communicate the correction.
Throughout this module, you have engaged with tasks, videos, Scratch projects and more. Take some time to search for other activities and resources that you think would be useful for Year 4-5 students. Post these resources on the Google+ Community and have a look at other teachers' ideas!
Self-Assessment for PO3
Complete the quiz to check your learning in PO3. Note down the common words in the 'correct answer' memes and tick ALL the words needed to complete the statement on the Google form below, to receive your certificate for PO3.
Just in case you did not get a wide enough variety of memes or they disappeared a bit fast to find the answer, here is the Meme-Library for this game.
Click on the Quizizz icon below and type in the game-code: 803574, to join the game
This self-assessment should take about 10 minutes to complete.