Lesson Overview
In this series of puzzles students will build on the understanding of algorithms learned in the Graph Paper Programming and Real-Life Algorithms Unplugged activities. Featuring characters from the game Angry Birds, students will develop sequential algorithms to move a bird from one side of the maze to the pig at the other side. To do this they will stack blocks together in a linear sequence to move straight or turn left and right.
Teaching Summary
Getting Started
Activity: Maze: Sequence
Extended Learning
Lesson Objectives
Students will:
- Express movement as a series of commands
- Order movement commands as sequential steps in a program
- Represent an algorithm as a computer program
- Count the number of times an action should be executed and represent it as instructions in a program
- Recall and apply the rules of pair programming
- Use pair programming to complete collaborative tasks with or without a computer
- Identify situations when the rules of pair programming are not followed
Getting Started
Introduction
Ask your students if they are familiar with the game Angry Birds. Explain that they will be writing programs to help an Angry Bird locate a Pig.
- Getting the bird to the pig will require putting your directions in a very specific order or sequence.
- Can you solve the puzzles using the fewest blocks possible?
Lesson Tip
Some students may struggle with turning their bird in the correct direction, particularly when the bird isn't facing up. Remind students that when we say turn left or right, we're talking about it from the bird's point of view.
Activity
Maze: Sequence
As your students work through the puzzles, observe how they plan the path for the bird. Identify different strategies used and ask students to share with the whole class. This helps students to recognize that there are many ways to approach these problems. You may want to go through a few puzzles on the projector. While doing this you can ask one student to trace the path on the screen while another writes the directions on a whiteboard.
Extended Learning
Use these activities to enhance student learning. They can be used as outside of class activities or other enrichment.
Create Your Own
In small groups, let students design their own mazes and challenge each other to write programs to solve them. For added fun, make life-size mazes with students as the pig and bird.
Connections and Background Information
PARCC / Smarter Balanced Assessment Skills
- Click / tap
- Drag and drop
- 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
- CD.L1:3-01. Use standard input and output devices to successfully operate computer and related technologies.
- CT.L1:3-01. Use technology resources (e.g., puzzles, logical thinking programs) to solve age appropriate problems.
- CL.L1:3-02. Work cooperatively and collaboratively with peers teachers, and others using technology.
- 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-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.
- 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Common Core Mathematical Practices
- 1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- 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
- 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.
- 3.OA.3 - Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities.
Common Core Language Arts Standards
- 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.
- 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.
- SL.3.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
- L.3.6 - Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.
