Spring Break Plans

So every year I go into Spring Break with the delusion I am going to have bundles of time to do all the things I do not have time to do the rest of the school year.

Reality is I run negotiations between squabbling children, nap, knit, and read a lot of bad mysteries. If it would ever stop snowing around here Id plant lettuce.

I usually do squeeze a few teaching related things in. Here are the front-runners at this point"

• NCLab - python, Karel the robot, etc
• CoeLesson - PHP, MySQL
• Sphero - the Robotic Programmable Ball (its waterproof!)
• Looking at the Virginia licensure regulations for Computer Science - they are a total mess. Seriously, let me know if you want to help with them...we need it.

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To Make a Program you Have to Break Some Eggs

One of my favorite toys in computer science are plastic eggs. Cheap and they can be used to teach so many things. We are working on searches and sorts in the APCS class right now. They also work well when doing algorithms in the CS Principles class.

To start with searches and sorts I use plastic eggs filled with fish tank gravel. Email your faculty and parents - I guarantee you can get these for free. Fill the eggs with varying amount of gravel and tape them shut. Better yet have a kid do this. You are busy.

I let the kids pick a partner and each pair gets 6 or 7 eggs. Please do not forget to explain that the eggs do not have candy in them. I didnt do that the first time we did this and it made for a very disappointing mess.

Have them put the eggs in a row then "search" for the heaviest egg. Write out the steps you followed.

On the board I then do:

int eggs[] = new int[6];

This is in the APCS class, in CS Principles I make this less formal since they will be doing this in Scratch.

I have the kids come to the board and write out their algorithm, in Java in the APCS, pseudocode in CS Pricniples, using this array. Bam! They just all created a Linear Search.

So, why eggs?

I used to do this writing numbers on the board. They watched and I did. It is always better when THEY do. They are going to remember the Linear Search much better if it was their idea in the first place. 

Also, when you do numbers the amazing processor that is the human brain can just scan the list and pick the biggest. No problem. 

But a computer cannot do that - it cannot just look at a data set in aggregate and pick one. It must "touch" every piece of data in the set and make a comparison. Which is exactly what the kids do with the eggs. Point that out, they should know that.

This is also a good time to go over swapping. They get so confused on this.

How many times have you had them try to swap two numbers and they do:

a = b;

b = a;

Here is the fix: Hand each group some cups - make it look like you are giving them an arbitrary number, but make sure they all get at least 3.

Rule - you can only have an egg in a cup. NEVER can you have two eggs in a  cup. Now swap two eggs.

Again, once they get the point of using a third cup, you have them write out the algorithm in the language of your choice.

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Spring Break reflection

Today you are going to create a blog post on your blog about your spring break.  However, we are going to do more than just write about what you did - you will also be writing about what you would like to do in the future.

The first paragraph will explain what you did over spring break.  The second paragraph will be an explanation of what you see yourself doing 25 years from now with your family.  In this second paragraph imagine that you are able to take your family of kids and a spouse somewhere within reason.  That means that youre not going somewhere and spending tens of thousands of dollars on a trip - as I said make it within reason.  Use details to explain where you plan on going, what you plan on doing, and why you want to go there.

Both paragraphs will use the same writing expectations that you have in Language Arts - an introductory sentence, three supporting sentences of details and explanations, and a closing sentence.  When you are done you will email to me your URL (copy and paste it into the body of your message).  Also remember to include the 5 parts of an email when you email me.  This is due by the end of the hour.

If you finish that during class you can work on any missing assignment you have.  If you dont have any missing assignments choose a practice website to go to and practice - with your speed skin on!

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