Lesson 4: Variables Make

This is the first official "Make" lesson in the EIPM model. Review the EIPM model in the EIPM One Pager.

Make Lessons:

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Overview: Students make a target app for which they are given the screen elements but little to no starter code.

• Students are provided high-level steps to break down the project
• Teacher supports students by directing them towards notes, previous work, and debugging strategies practiced in earlier lessons.

Goal: Students can independently decide when and how to use the new concept in the context of a larger project.

Watch the following videos:

• Guide to EIPM Lessons
• Guide to Make Lessons

For the past few days, we've learned a lot about storing and updating information in variables. Today you are going to have an opportunity to demonstrate your learning by making an app.

Short Intro: The Warm Up today is short and light. Students should spend the maximum amount of time working on their projects.

Group: Make a determination as to whether this project will be completed in pairs or individually. You may even choose to let students decide.

Do This: Have students explore the working Photo Maker App in Level 1.

If students are not working in pairs they should still discuss with a neighbor.

Discuss:

• What does this app do?
  • It lets a user "like" an image and add comments to it.
• What are the inputs?
  • The thumbs up and thumbs down button, the text input for adding a new comment, and the button to add the comment.
• What are the outputs?
  • The number showing how many thumbs up the image has.
• What's one piece of information that might be stored in a variable?
  • The number of likes and all the comments added so far.

Supporting Students: While students are working on their apps, circulate the room and check in with students who need a little help. Encourage students to collaborate and discuss bugs with each other.

Debugging: Review with students steps they can use to debug if they get stuck:

• Run the code on turtle mode
• Add the variables to the watcher
• Use console.log() to get output from the app
• Explain the code to a friend
• Read the code carefully line by line, trying to decide which one is causing the error.

Now let's build the this app. The screen has been set up for you - it's your job to add the code!

Distribute: Give students copies of CSP Variables Make - Photo Liker App - Activity Guide if you will be using it during the class.

Do This: Direct students to level three where they complete the Photo Liker App. Given this is students first Make project, it is highly recommended that students practice with this guide the first time. In future Make lessons they may opt not to use this guide. For students who need more detailed guidance once they've started programming, Step 3 includes step by step instructions that the student can follow.

Based on the needs of your classroom decide whether you will collectively go through the activity guide or have students complete it individually.

Submit: Encourage students to check the rubric on the last page of the Activity Guide before submitting.

Adapting Make Lessons - You may decide that you'd like to have your students write the code for a modified or entirely different app using the same skills. This might help you differentiate your instruction or provide you with a way to reassess students. Check out the [r customizemakelessons_how-to-guide/csp/2024] for guidance on how to get started with this.

Great work on your Photo Liker app today. Before wrapping up, we will practice writing for the style of questions that are asked as part of the Create performance task on the AP exam. Respond to the question in Step 5 in your activity guide, and submit it along with your project.

Do This: Complete the written response in Step 5 of the Activity Guide.

Each student, in every classroom, will come to the written response with a different level of comfort, ability, and familiarity with writing for these style of questions. As such, consider offering one or more of the following supports:

Writing Support: Provide students with these sentence starters for guiding their response.

App Interface Support: For students who did not fully complete their app, direct them to the completed app in Level 1 in order to respond to the question

Student responses can be used as a formative assessment to evaluate their understanding of connections between user interface features and functionality. Review their explanations for clarity, accuracy, and alignment with the AP exam’s expectations. The provided rubric can be used to guide this review, and to help provide students with feedback to guide their learning and improvement.

Awesome work today! Make sure to submit your project when you're done with it!

Maximize Work Time: The wrap up is short to allow the maximum amount of time for students to complete the activity.

Use the rubric provided with the project to assess student projects.