Summer SAVY 2017, Session 5/Day 1- Programming and Robotics (Rising 4th/5th)

Posted by morganr1 on Monday, July 17, 2017 in SAVY.

We had an exciting first day in programming and robotics! In the morning, students discussed the knowledge you need to start programming (reading, writing, and basic math), the qualities of a good programmer (discipline, determination, creativity, and resolve), and why they wanted to learn more about programming (to make the world a better place and for job opportunities).

Then, we talked about how computers process information very literally. Student practiced algorithmic thinking and problem decomposition by creating rules or steps that a person could follow to draw specific shapes or walk on a specific path. We used these plans to create shapes and pathways in the computer lab with scratch, and then back in the classroom with the sphero robots. In the process, kids explored computational thinking concepts like iteration (Repeat the same steps for a certain number of times: (walk forward & turn right 90 degrees) x 4, for example, makes a square), and conditional statements (if/else statements).

Tomorrow, we will create even more complex algorithms with sphero and in scratch as students build mazes for their robots and sprites to navigate!

Ms. Ashlyn Karan