Lesson 4: Hello World
45 minutes
Overview
In this skill-building lesson, students will learn to create and animate sprites and make them interactive using events.
Purpose
This lesson is intended to prepare students to create simple programming projects in Sprite Lab. Students will learn how to make sprites say things, which is a skill they will use in the following About Me lesson.
Standards
AP - Algorithms & Programming
- 1A-AP-11 - Decompose (break down) the steps needed to solve a problem into a precise sequence of instructions.
- 1B-AP-10 - Create programs that include sequences, events, loops, and conditionals.
- 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.
IC - Impacts of Computing
- 1A-IC-17 - Work respectfully and responsibly with others online.
Agenda
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Create an interactive animation using sprites and events.
- Create new sprites and assign them costumes and locations.
Preparation
- Play through the puzzles to find any potential problem areas for your class.
- [Optional] Use the resources at CS Connections to make a plan for more computer science learning after the initial tutorial.
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)
Teaching Guide
Warm Up (10 minutes)
Setting the Stage
Welcome students to class and very briefly introduce the day’s activity.
Display: Show “Reflect” slide
Reflect: How do we use sprites in our programs?
A Series of Events
Display: Show “A Series of Events” slide
Let’s see if we can find a pattern here:
- When you flip a switch, the lights turn on.
- When you tap on a device, an app starts.
- When the alarm goes off, you get out of bed.
- When (event), (action).
In computer science, events cause other actions to happen. Our new vocabulary word today is event. Normally when we hear “event” we think of:
- Field trip
- Competition
- Birthday Party
Vocabulary
Display: Show “Vocabulary” slide
In Computer Science, events cause other actions to happen.
- Event - An action that causes something to happen
Remarks
We’re learning a new meaning for the word "event" today. Let's focus on events that cause other actions to happen like when flipping a switch causes the lights to turn on or pressing a button to make a character in a game move.
Today, students will work in Sprite Lab, but the events they will be working on will be more like the video games they are used to playing. Events will take the form of actions, such as clicking the screen or two characters running into each other.
Remarks
In this activity, you’re going to have fun making an interactive world with fun characters called sprites. You’ll be able to make the sprites say things with speech bubbles as you’d see in a comic or graphic novel, and you’ll learn to make them respond automatically when you or someone else clicks on them.
Today you’ll be writing "code", which just means a set of instructions that a computer can understand. When you write a story, you need to think carefully about the words you use. When you write code, you’ll need to think carefully about the instructions you are giving to your computer.
Main Activity (25 minutes)
General Support
Here are a few tips that should help students regardless of the level they're working on
-
Collaborate with Neighbors: Encourage students to check in with a neighbor when they're getting stuck. Depending on the age and ability of your students, you might consider formally breaking your class into pairs to complete the tutorial using pair programming.
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Read the Instructions: The instructions usually provide helpful tips on how to complete the level. Before giving students the answer, ensure they've carefully looked at the instructions, hints, videos, and any starter code carefully.
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Stuck? Look for hints: Each level includes a hint with advice for how to pass a level, including which blocks of code to try out.
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Take your time and experiment. The instructions tell students generally what to do, but they should also feel free to try out their own ideas.
Display: Show “Level 2-5 - Skill Building” slide
Display: Show “Programming with Events” video
Display: Show “Level 7-12 - Skill Building” slide
Display: Show “Do What You Want” video
If a group or individual finishes early, encourage them to continue building a project in the last level. If students aren’t sure what else to do, you can prompt them with questions:
- What other sprites could you add to your project?
- Have you looked through the costume library or tried drawing your own sprite costume?
- What else could you have your sprites say?
- What should your sprites do when they are clicked?
- Invite students to share ideas and to learn from each other. They can also attempt another tutorial by visiting code.org/learn.
Wrap Up (10 minutes)
Reflection
Display: Show “Reflect” slide
Reflect:
- What did you learn today about sprites?
- How do events work in your code?
Extended Learning
With skills learned in this Hello World lesson, students are able to create projects on any topic, such as another school topic or something personally relevant to them. Visit CS Connections for ideas about how to integrate computer science into other subjects.
This work is available under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
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