Algorithms, scratch and recommended activities

Programming sounds cool and is a very nice addition to the educational curriculum, but if you don’t know anything about programming, like me, or your kids don’t know anything about it, start from the basics.

Remember the joke that I posted some weeks ago?

A programmer is going to the supermarket and is told: “Buy a pint of milk, and if there are eggs, buy a dozen.” The programmer goes to the supermarket, buys everything, and drives back to his house. Upon arrival, he is angrily asked “Why did you get 12 pints of milk?” The programmer says, “Because they had eggs!”

So, let’s see why it’ s kind of funny! The first question to ask yourself is “what is an algorithm”? Algorithm is a set of instructions that can be followed to accomplish a task. These instructions should be formulated and ordered very precisely. Give the algorithm to a computer in a language it understands, so that it can perform the task we give it. This procedure is known as coding. Programming is a combination of algorithm and coding. In other words, a list of instructions that tells a computer exactly what to do. If you’ re a pre-school or primary school teacher I recommend scratch language. Scratch uses graphical blocks, which makes programming easier and fun for beginners! Moreover, is free and there is a big scratch community that kids may interact via sharing their games or comment others’ tasks!

But, I suggest that before going to scratch, play with algorithms in your every – day environment! Young learners understand better when they do something by themselves with things that they already use. For example, tell a child to create something with lego. Then, encourage the kid to explain to their partner how they would make the same lego design. Can they follow the algorithm? Is the algorithm right? Or they have to debug it? It is harder than it seems. I created a dialogue on scratch and I had to break down an actual dialogue. Even, the smallest things in life need quite a programming from us. And we never thing about it. Lucky kids, they will think about it very early in their lives!

Another activity could be the following: give precise orders to the kids until they notice them and then discuss how more complicated are our actions than we think. After that, organize an activity that one kid gives directions and the other kid follows the exact directions. Expand this activity (after 1 week or more) by encourage kids to give as much as less directions in order to accomplish a task. After some weeks, symbolize the steps that are needed to solve a problem (like tidy up) and then put these pictures in correct order. Work in groups and at the end try to tidy up according to every groups instructions. Time the whole procedure and find out the most efficient instructions. These kind of activities exercise logical thinking. Kids are going to identify the difference between what is happening and what they want to happen.

Have fun!