Students are introduced to CodeHS and how Karel the Dog can be given a set of instructions to perform a simple task.
Introduce students to Karel and explain the commands she can be given.
Students will learn about Karel’s ‘World’ and the ways that Karel can interact with it.
To introduce students to Karel’s world and more of the commands that we can teach Karel
Karel can learn new words or commands through the use of functions. This is called defining a functions. Defining functions has syntax rules.
Use Karel and commands to introduce students to functions.
When was the first computer made? What did it look like, and what was it used for? In this lesson, students will learn about the creation and evolution of computing machines that now permeate our day-to-day life.
Students will be able to…
* Discuss the question “What is a Computer?” with their peers
* Identify important historical events in the development of modern computers
* Describe the role computers play in their lives
Functions are used to teach Karel a word or command. Using functions allow us to break down our program into smaller pieces and make it easier to understand.
Help students understand what functions are for and how using them improves programs.
Functions are used to teach Karel a word or command. Using functions allow us to break down our program into smaller pieces and make it easier to understand.
Students will be able to…
* Create their own functions
* Utilize functions to create higher order programs that go beyond the basic toolbox of Karel commands
* Debug programs that use functions incorrectly
All programs start by ?calling? the start function.
Students gain a deeper understanding of functions. Students can explain the importance of writing readable code, and can analyze and compare the readability of different programs. Students can use the start function to make their programs more readable.
Top down design and Decomposition are the processes of breaking down a program into functions into smaller parts to avoid repeated code and make our program more readable.
Students will be able to…
* Break a large problem down into smaller pieces
* Write methods to solve each smaller problem
* Solve a complicated problem using Top Down Design
* Identify good and poor decomposition
Comments give notes to the reader to explain what your code is doing. Two types of comments that can utilized are preconditions and postconditions. Preconditions are assumptions we make about what is true before a function is called in our program. Postconditions are what should be true after a function is called in our program.
Students will be able to…
* Explain the preconditions and postconditions of a function
* Create clear and readable comments in their code that help the reader understand the code
* Explain the purpose of comments
Introducing Super Karel! Since commands like turnRight() and turnAround() are so commonly used, we shouldn’t have to define them in every single program. They should come prepackaged with the Karel library. This is where SuperKarel comes in. SuperKarel is just like Karel, except SuperKarel already knows how to turnRight and turnAround, so we don’t have to define those methods ourselves anymore.
Students will be able to…
* Write programs that use SuperKarel instead of Karel
* Utilize the new toolbox of commands that SuperKarel provides over Karel
* Read documentation to understand how to use a library (SuperKarel is an example of this)
This lesson teaches students how to use for loops in their programs. The for loop allows you to repeat a specific part of code a fixed number of times.
We write for loops like this:
for(var i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
// Code to be repeated 4 times
}
Students will be able to…
* Create for loops to repeat code a fixed number of times
* Explain when a for loop would be a useful tool
* Utilize for loops to write programs that would be difficult / impossible without loops
This lesson gives students more practice creating and debugging for loops. The for loop allows you to repeat a specific part of code a fixed number of times.
Students will be able to…
* Create for loops to repeat code a fixed number of times
* Debug programs with incorrect for loop usage
* Explain when a for loop should be used
Students will be able to…
* Use conditions to gather information about Karel’s world (is the front clear, is Karel facing north, etc)
* Create if statements to only execute code if a certain condition is true
In this lesson we take a look at more conditional statements, more specifically if/else statements. If/else statements let us do one thing if a condition is true, and something else otherwise.
We write if/else statements like this:
if(frontIsClear()) {
// code to execute if front is clear
} else {
// code to execute otherwise
}
Students will be able to…
* Explain the purpose of an If/Else statement
* Create If/Else statements to solve new types of problems
* Identify when an If/Else statement is appropriate to be used
This lesson is more practice with if statements and if / else statements.
In this lesson we take a look at more conditional statements, more specifically if/else statements. If/else statements let us do one thing if a condition is true, and something else otherwise.
We write if/else statements like this:
if(frontIsClear()) {
// code to execute if front is clear
} else {
// code to execute otherwise
}
Students will be able to…
* Explain the purpose of an If/Else statement
* Create If/Else statements to solve new types of problems
* Identify when an If/Else statement is appropriate to be used
In this lesson we introduce a new type of loop: while loops. While loops allow Karel to repeat code while a certain condition is true. While loops allow us to create general solutions to problems that will work on multiple Karel worlds, rather than just one.
Students will be able to…
* Explain the purpose of a while loop
* Create while loops to repeat code while a condition is true
* Utilize while loops to solve new types of problems
* Test their solutions on different Karel worlds
In this lesson we’ll practice solving more problems with while loops.
While loops allow Karel to repeat code while a certain condition is true. While loops allow us to create general solutions to problems that will work on multiple Karel worlds, rather than just one.
Students will be able to…
* Explain the purpose of a while loop
* Create while loops to repeat code while a condition is true
* Utilize while loops to solve new types of problems
* Test their solutions on different Karel worlds
In this lesson we take a look at control structures. Some control structures allow us to ask questions: if, if / else statements. Other control structures allow us to repeat code like for loops and while loops. Basically, control structures allow us to control the way the commands execute.
Students will be able to…
* Identify the different control structures we can use to modify the flow of control through a program
* Combine control structures to solve complicated problems
* Choose the proper control structure for a given problem
Control structures (like loops and if statements) are useful in building programs that can be applied in various Karel worlds. This lesson is designed to test students? knowledge of control structures in preparation for the upcoming Karel challenges.
Students will be able to…
* Analyze a solution to a problem and explain why it works
* Use control structures to create general solutions that work on all Karel worlds
Indentation is especially important when using multiple loops, functions, and if statements to show the structure of the code. The indentation gives you a good visual way to see what commands are inside vs. outside of a loop or if statement.
Students will be able to…
* Explain why it is important to indent code
* Identify proper indentation
* Modify a program to have proper indentation
* Write programs with proper indentation
It’s time to put it all together! Students have learned all of Karel’s abilities, and have practiced writing programs to solve Karel problems. In this lesson, students will synthesize all of the skills and concepts learned in the Karel unit to solve increasingly challenging Karel puzzles.
Students will be able to…
* Define a problem in their own words and plan out a solution to the problem
* Break a large problem down into smaller pieces and solve each of the pieces, then use these solutions as building blocks to solve the larger problem
* Utilize the proper control structures to create general solutions that solve multiple Karel worlds
* Write clear and readable code using control structures, functions, decomposition, and comments
In this unit, you’ll get to combine all of the new skills you’ve learned to create your own project from scratch!
Students will synthesize concepts and skills learned in the course to create their own final project.
Students will scope their project (eliminate features that aren’t necessary) so that it fits in the timeframe allotted.
Students will present their project to their classmates and talk about how the project was developed.
Sign up for a free teacher account to get access to curriculum, teacher tools and teacher resources.
Teacher SignupSign up as a student if you are in a school and have a class code given to you by your teacher.
Student Signup