Mission 2: How to talk to a computer
Getting Signed up to start Coding at Code.org
You will be taking the Accelerated Coding Course through Code.org. You will click the appropriate link below and use your email and any password to login (there is an option to have a display name and you can use your gamertag). By using the link provided you will automatically be enrolled in my course. It will take you most of the first quarter to work through this course so be sure to keep up on it.
1st hour click here!
3rd hour click here!
7th hour click here!
It will ultimately be worth 30 class points and up to 170 game points.
Jobs of the Future
First, think of a few jobs you would like to do in the future or if you can't think of any - then think about the jobs your parents have. Now you will look them up at Planet Monkey to see if they might be done by a computer! Uh-oh, did you ever think that the job you're dreaming of might not exist in the future? If you are interested in learning more about how the work force is changing, have a look at this article about the changing job trends or this article about why should you learn coding,.
Here is the schedule for the completion of the Accelerated Coding Course at Code.org.
August 2018 - Take the pretest and get signed up at Code.org.
Unplugged Lesson 1 - look jobs/careers up at Planet Monkey, Video introduction and Binary Strip Activity (5 pt)
Lesson 2 puzzles are all HW during August (15 pt) Video Introduction to Lesson 2
Unplugged Lesson 3 substitution - IF/THEN slideshow (5 pt)
September 2018 - Unplugged Lesson 4 -Video and Activity (5 pt)
Lesson 5 puzzles are HW during the first week of September (15 pt) Video Introduction to Lesson 5
Unplugged Lesson 6 substitution - Video and Activity: Make an Airplane Alogorithm (5 pt)
Lesson 7 puzzles are HW during the second week of September (15 pt) Video Introduction to Lesson 7
Unplugged Lesson 8 substitution Program a Dancer, Alogorithms & Repeat (5 pt)
Lesson 9 puzzles are HW during the third week of September (15 pt) Video Introduction to Lesson 9
Unplugged Lesson 10 - Video and Activity (5 pt)
Lesson 11 puzzles are HW during the fourth week of September (15 pt)
Youtube playlist to review prior information
October 2018 - Unplugged Lesson 12 - Activity (5 pt)
Lesson 13 puzzles are HW during the 1st week of October (15 pt)
Unplugged Lesson 14 - Activity (5 pt)
Lesson 15 puzzles are HW during the 2nd week of October (15 pt) Video Introduction to Lesson 15
We will skip Lessons 16 - 20.
Scratch Accounts
Now that you have a basic understanding of how to talk to (AKA program) computers, you are now ready to begin using a more a advanced program called Scratch. Scratch also uses block coding but requires that you choose the characters, backgrounds and functions. Don't worry - we will start small!
1st hour
5th hour
7th hour
2nd hour
6th hour
8th hour
Tutorial Videos to Get You Started with Scratch
Full Youtube Playlist (which includes the three videos below)
Get Started With Scratch
Scratch Make a Bobblehead Character
Embed your Scratch project at Google Sites
Animate My Name Project
Login to your scratch account and choose to Create (button in top left). Click on the question mark to the right to open up the tutorials. You will use Animate My Name and follow the instructions for doing so. You will post your project to our studio AND you will embed it at your ePortfolio coding site (I will show you how later but look at the tutorials above for video help).
SideQuest
Create an additional project of your choice (by using one of the tutorials). You can earn up to 10 BONUS TEST points on your ACTUAL GRADE by completing this project. When you are done, you will email me a link to your project. Your project needs these elements for the full 10 points:
1. A background
2. 2 animated sprites
3. A loop code (repeat block)
4. A conditional code (if....else)
5. An extra code of your choice
Blown To Bits Article
(10 minutes) Chapter 1, 1-4: Teacher reads introduction to class and gives examples of Zen Koans.
(30 minutes) Chapter 1, 5-13: 7 groups will each be assigned a koan to read, understand and then explain to the class.
(10 minutes) Chapter 1, 14-17: Each student will read this section on their own.
(10 minutes) Blog Post: Each student will complete their blog post in response to this prompt: What are the ways that you think technology and 'bits' can help and hurt humanity?
(30 minutes - 1 hour) Chapter 2, 19-42: Optional side quest for 150 game points. Read the section and respond in 1 - 2 double spaced pages using a minimum of 3 references from the text: How has society given up their privacy without even knowing it and how could this affect their lives, either positively or negatively?
December 2017 -
using scratch to create bobblehead characters
You will be creating a Scratch New Year's Card that has a background, your head on a cartoon body and both move in unison across the screen, asks for a name, responds with a new year's message and reacts to being touched (mouse click).
You should get logged in to Scratch and click the Create button in the top left corner. Now you are ready to begin designing your program!
Here is a video with the instructions for creating a bobble head character.
Creating a Bobble Head Text Instructions
1. In the Sprite section of Scratch, choose to upload or take picture.
2. Click on your picture, then click on 'costumes' near the top of the page.
3. Click on the eraser and adjust the size to erase all but your oval head.
4. Change to vector mode (button is near the bottom of the costume screen).
5. Click 'Add' to get a cartoon body or prop (this will take you into the sprite library).
6. Adjust your sprite or props in terms of size and location until you are happy.
7. Click on 'Scripts' to begin adding code to your sprite.
Here are two sets of code that will allow you to ask for and respond to a name, and a set of code for responding to being touched (mouse clicked). These codes are very basic and you can add additional commands.
You will need to embed your project at your ePortfolio AND share the url here.
To get the url for your project, you will need to click on share and/or see project page (both buttons are in the top right of the screen). Once the project page opens, you will click on the embed tab at the bottom. You will see the url for your project in a box in the bottom right of the screen. Copy and paste that url for your assignment.
You will also be required to complete 4 peer reviews which will be assigned to you AFTER the due date. Be on the lookout for that!
To share the project at your ePortfolio/Google site, please follow the instructions below or watch the video that follows.
Using scratch for book reports
You will create a new Scratch project to summarize a science article. You can import any pictures (no citations needed for our purposes) to use as backgrounds if you want. There are a few coding requirements to get full credit on this assignment.
Part 1: You will choose one of these articles from your textbook and read it.
Pg. 226 Locating Land Mines
Pg. 298 Vanished
Pg. 392 Shining New Light on an Old Text
Pg. 454 Detecting Dark Matter
Pg. 636 The Atom Bomb
Part 2: You will create a Scratch project to summarize the article.
Here is a sample project that would meet all requirements for full credit.
Requirements
You should ask for the user's name and respond to that name.
Your program should start with the green flag.
You need two (or more) Sprites.
One (or more) sprite needs to 'fly' or walk across the screen AND return to the starting position at some point (either when the program restarts or using a loop).
One (or more) sprite needs to talk or tell the story, one piece at a time OR you can create your own text sprite.
Instructions
1. Login to Scratch and choose Create in the top left corner.
2. FYI, there is a question mark in the top right corner which is useful for learning coding tricks.
3. Choose your background (bottom left) and your Sprites (under the stage where your program runs).
4. Click on a Sprite to program it. Here are sample codes for making your sprite move and stay on the screen.
5. One of your sprites need to interact with the user. Here is a sample conversation code using a conditional code.
6. In order to give the summary of the article you read, you could have a sprite talk about it. I'm going to show how to do something more complex. I am going to create textboxes using the create sprite function. Watch the gif below to see how.
a. Click the pencil button under the stage, AKA create your own sprite.
b. Click on the text button and type the title and your name. It is difficult to edit the text later so try not to make mistakes.
c. While under that costume tab, click the pencil at the top, AKA create a new costume for this sprite.
d. Click on the text button and type a few sentences about the article.
e. Repeat this step using as many costumes as you want.
7. Once you are done, click on the Scripts tab so you can write the code for this sprite. Here is a sample code to have your text boxes displayed in order.
8. Click Share in the top right and copy the url for this project. Share that here in Canvas and click Submit!
Coding Post Test
Take the post test for Coding. You can earn extra gamer points for doing this but it is not part of your grade. If everyone present for today's lesson takes the post test you will earn 10 BONUS class challenge points.