Lesson Overview
Building on the concept of repeating instructions from Getting Loopy, this stage will have students using loops to more efficiently traverse the maze.
Teaching Summary
Getting Started
Activity: Maze Loops
Extended Learning
Lesson Objectives
Students will:
- Identify the benefits of using a loop structure instead of manual repetition
- Create a program for a given task which loops a single command
- Break down a long sequence of instructions into the smallest repeatable sequence possible
- Create a program for a given task which loops a sequence of commands
- Employ a combination of sequential and looped commands to reach the end of a maze
Getting Started
Introduction
Review with students the Getting Loopy activity:
- What are loops?
- Why do we use them?
Activity
Maze: Loops
As students work through the puzzles, see if they can figure out how many fewer blocks they use with a loop vs. not using a loop.
Extended Learning
Use these activities to enhance student learning. They can be used as outside of class activities or other enrichment.
So Moving
- Give the students pictures of actions or dance moves that they can do.
- Have students arrange moves and add loops to choreograph their own dance.
- Share the dances with the rest of the class.
Connect It Back
- Find some YouTube videos of popular dances that repeat themselves.
- Can your class find the loops?
- Try the same thing with songs!
Connections and Background Information
PARCC / Smarter Balanced Assessment Skills
- Click / tap
- Drag and drop
- Select and drag / slide
- Select object
- Use video player
ISTE Standards (formerly NETS)
- 1.a - Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
- 1.c - Use models and simulation to explore complex systems and issues.
- 4.b - Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
- 6.a - Understand and use technology systems.
- 6.c - Troubleshoot systems and applications.
- 6.d - Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.
CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards
- CL.L1:3-02. Work cooperatively and collaboratively with peers teachers, and others using technology.
- CT.L1:3-01. Use technology resources (e.g., puzzles, logical thinking programs) to solve age appropriate problems.
- CPP.L1:6-05. Construct a program as a set of step-by-step instructions to be acted out.
- CPP.L1:6-06. Implement problem solutions using a block-based visual programming language.
- CT.L2-01. Use the basic steps in algorithmic problem solving to design solutions.
- CT.L2-06. Describe and analyze a sequence of instructions being followed.
- CT.L2-08. Use visual representations of problem states, structures, and data.
- CT.L2-12. Use abstraction to decompose a problem into sub problems.
Next-Gen Science Standards
- K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
- K-2-PS3-2. Use tools and materials provided to design and build a device that solves a specific problem or a solution to a specific problem.
Common Core Mathematical Practices
- 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- 4. Model with mathematics
- 5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
- 6. Attend to precision.
- 7. Look for and make use of structure.
- 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Common Core Math Standards
- K.CC.B.4 - Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
- K.OA.A.3 - Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).
- K.OA.A.5 - Fluently add and subtract within 5.
- K.G.A.1 - Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
- 1.OA.A.1 - Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
- 2.OA.A.1 - Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
- 2.G.A.2 - Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of same-size squares and count to find the total number of them.
Common Core Language Arts Standards
- SL.K.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- L.K.6 - Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.
- SL.1.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- L.1.6 - Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
- SL.2.1 - Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- L.2.6 - Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
