Lesson 3: Swimming Fish with Sprite Lab
55 minutes
Overview
Students will program a simple animated underwater scene in this skill-building lesson.
Purpose
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the core vocabulary of Sprite Lab, and allow them to apply concepts they learned in other environments to this tool. By creating a fish tank, students will begin to form an understanding of the programming model of this tool, and explore ways they can use it to express themselves.
Standards
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 1B-AP-12 - Modify, remix or incorporate portions of an existing program into one's own work, to develop something new or add more advanced features.
Agenda
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Create new sprites and assign them costumes and behaviors.
- Define “sprite” as a character or object on the screen that can be moved and changed.
Preparation
- Play through the puzzles to find any potential problem areas for your class.
- Make sure every student has a reflection journal.
Links
Heads Up! Please make a copy of any documents you plan to share with students.
For the teachers
- CSF - Course E - Slides 2022-2023 - Slides (Download)
- Swimming Fish Teacher Sandbox - Programming Level
For the students
- Sprite Lab Documentation - Resource
Vocabulary
- Behavior - An action that a sprite performs continuously until it’s told to stop.
- Sprite - A graphic on the screen with a location, size, and appearance.
Teaching Guide
Warm Up (10 minutes)
Introduction
Display: Show "Reflect" slide
Reflect: How can we safely present ourselves online?
Do this: Ask students to reflect on previous two lessons. Students should know the difference between personal and private information. Students should also understand how to be an upstander.
Reflection prompts like these can be completed in a variety of styles. Journaling or discussion (with groups or partners) are great options!
Vocabulary
Display: Show "Vocabulary" slide
Before heading into the Main Activity, introduce or review today's lesson vocabulary.
-
Behavior - An action that a sprite performs continuously until it’s told to stop.
-
Sprite - A graphic on the screen with a location, size, and appearance.
Bridging Activity (10 minutes)
Today students will learn how to work with sprites in Sprite Lab.
Display: Show “Bridging Activity” slide
Discuss: Let the students know that this character on the screen is a sprite. It is a graphic that is controlled by a program. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to choose their own sprites to control.
Swimming Fish Teacher Sandbox
Using a projector, show the sandbox level to your students. The goal is to make connections to the previous lesson and show them some of the unique ways that Sprite Lab works. Model writing a few programs and ask students to share their observations.
Sprite Lab works differently in some ways from the other online tools in the course. Most importantly, all code runs in order and immediately unless attached to an event block. This is different from tools where one line of code runs at a time with an observable wait in between.
- What blocks would we need to connect to make the tumbleweed spin?
- What would happen if we told the sprite to begin two behaviors at once?
- Will the sprite ever stop these behaviors on its own?
- If we want the sprite to stop a behavior when we click it, how might we do that?
Main Activity (20 minutes)
Swimming Fish with Sprite Lab
Goal: Today, students will be programming their own Fish Tank. They’ll begin by learning how to put some sprites on the screen, then they will make them move. Finally, they’ll customize their fish tank to add whatever creatures and objects they want.
Display: Show “Introducing Sprite Lab” video
Transition: Move students to their computers. Encourage students to follow the instructions for each puzzle. Help them realize that this is a creative activity, intended to help them learn Sprite Lab. It is not an assessment activity of any sort.
Encourage students with questions/challenges to start by asking their partner. Unanswered questions can be escalated to a nearby group, who might already know the solution. Have students describe the problem that they’re seeing:
- What is it supposed to do?
- What does it do?
- What does that tell you?
Display: Show “Level 2 - Predict” slide
Display: Show “Level 3-5 - Skill Building” slide
Display: Show “How to Make a Sprite” video
Display: Show “Level 7-8 - Practice” slide
Wrap Up (15 minutes)
Reflection
Display: Show “Reflect” slide
Reflect:
- What was today's lesson about?
- Was it difficult to finish a lesson where there was no clear "right" and "wrong"?
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