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Lesson 3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS
Before the lesson, you should prepare a table with a closed butter pack, a closed jar of jam and a stack of sliced bread. In the first 20 minutes of the lesson, students are asked to make a list of instructions in the document Sandwich Recipe, where they explain in a very clear way how to make a butter and jam sandwich. You can give some tips, helping whenever necessary. After 20 minutes, collect the lists.
1. Imagine that you woke up and everyone in your house forgot how to make breakfast! Imagine nobody knew what to do. Should they open the butter pack first? Or cut the bread? Imagine they didn’t even know what to use to cut bread! Imagine your memory was very good! And you still knew how to make breakfast! So, you just had to explain to them how to make a sandwich.
2. Take the Sandwich Recipe and a pencil and write the recipe for a butter and jam sandwich (yes, they have a sweet tooth). Remember that you must list all the steps necessary to make the sandwich.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS
Collect the algorithms from all students so you can test them. One by one, carefully follow all the steps students have listed. If the students didn’t say to open the butter pack before spreading the bread… well, don’t open the butter pack. If the students said to put the jam on the bread, without mentioning opening the jar or using the knife… well, the teacher can’t spread the jam on the bread either, right? The purpose of this second half of the lesson is to demonstrate to students, in a fun and relaxed way, the importance of listing very clear instructions.
All done? Let’s test it! How did it go? How do you think you can improve your algorithm?
3. As you noticed, it’s very important to be clear whenever we give instructions to something or someone. When programming, remember this, as it is essential for the computer to understand what you want to say. It’s also important for the work we are going to do in the next lesson.
See you then!