Graph Paper Programming

This is a great activity to start thinking abstractly about what computers are doing with the code we put into them.

Print out enough Graph paper programming worksheets for participants
If you have time, you can extend this activity to start learning about procedures. Procedures are useful when you discover a pattern that you will need to repeat in your code.

Hand out one Graph paper programming worksheet and pencil/pen to each student.
Ask the students to pick one image from page 1 and write out the code on page 2.
When a student is done, they can raise their hand and look for another student who is also raising their hand to indicate they are done.
That pair of students should trade code only and then “run” the code they receive on page 3.
Take a pause to check in with students: How did they do? Was there a bug? Did they figure out what happened and how to fix it?
After the first image, they can pick another and repeat the process.
If there is time, they can come up with their own patterns to challenge each other.

An algorithm is a list of steps to solve a problem. What every day tasks to do you do using an algorithm?
Debugging is troubleshooting a problem with your program. What are some strategies you can use you debug your program?

Read this: Debugging Recipes for help on troubleshooting your program.
Try this: use this activity as an intro to Code with Anna & Elsa, LightBot, or Kodable