LCD screen works
Success with if/else statements. A good way of getting kids an understanding of structures are for them to tweak them or drop them into another sketch altogether. Figuring out the code gets dropped in (initialization, void setup, void loop) is part of it.
I want the kids to get outside some this week and play with the xbees and sensors (they deserve it), but I also want them to get to where they instinctively know where to add the tweaks in simple stuff. I think I"m going to try a day where they figure out what to insert into an existing sketch and where to insert it. Scratch is a good program that allows beginners to click and drag code lines, and if we had more time together, I would have started my kids with it. I highly recommend it for teachers who have a good bit of time to play.
In an ideal schedule, I would also have:
- Troubleshoot day. Have a sketch shown with various mistakes. When the sketch won't upload, kids brainstorm how to fix the mistake and use the error bar at the bottom of the screen to help them troubleshoot. Kids could even write down their own list of common error messages and "dejargon" them.
- Sketch mashup. Goes a bit beyond the tweak. Take two seemingly unrelated sketches and mash them together.
- Sketch repurpose. Take a mundane demo sketch and repurpose it to something useful at home.
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