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Celebrate Women in History Month with this coding activity connected to Ada Lovelace!
Celebrate Women in History Month with this coding activity connected to Ada Lovelace!
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace
Did you know that Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer program almost 200 years ago?!
Ada Lovelace was dreaming of the modern-day computer almost 200 years ago. Ada loved math and became the world's first computer programmer by writing a punch-card algorithm (or set of rules) that would teach a machine how to calculate some numbers. With this idea, Ada had just written the first computer program ever!
Your Challenge: Can you create an algorithm (or set of rules) to teach someone to travel a treasure obstacle course?
Your Challenge: Can you create an algorithm (or set of rules) to teach someone to travel a treasure obstacle course?
Here's What You'll Need:
Here's What You'll Need:
Paper
Pencil
A Treasure!
Directions:
Directions:
Step 1:
Step 1:
One person hides a piece of “treasure” (this could be anything!) in an indoor or outdoor space.
Step 2:
Step 2:
The treasure hider writes out the instructions explaining how to find the hidden object. The instructions need to be very clear so the finder knows exactly what to do – otherwise, they won’t get to the treasure!
Step 2 example:
Step 2 example:
The Starting point is the front door steps
Take 10 steps STRAIGHT
Turn RIGHT and take 5 big hops
Turn LEFT and crawl 8 times
Dig 2 inches down to find the treasure!
Step 3:
Step 3:
Once the instructions are written, the finder follows them exactly.
Step 4:
Step 4:
If instructions aren’t clear enough, the hider may need to find the bug (mistake) and fix it so the finder can successfully reach the treasure.
Step 5:
Step 5:
Switch places when finished.
Coding Connection: The treasure finder needs very clear instructions for how to find the treasure, just like computers need very clear and concrete algorithms to execute their tasks.
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