Exploring Tynker

This week we had a play around with the Tynker app. 

We had to work together we a buddy to complete a number of tasks. It started simple with only one command 'walk' but as we worked through the levels we began to string together more commands to make more complex algorithms. 

This led to us finding a lot of bugs! We needed to work together to figure out where in our algorithm we had made a mistake and debug it. 

Here's what we thought of the new app: 

Bryan - I like how you could long jump and super jump and normal jump to collect the crystals.

Jaydi- The boogie flip and disco was so fun.

Brady - It was challenging not like other games. 

Seb - It was hard because if one wrong move you can get it wrong. 

Oscar - I found it challenging because to try and debug your code and stuff and to get the bugs out was hard. 

Isaac AR - I like the bit with the dancing and i like the quality of it. 

Kaiya - It could be a bit hard with the words and I thought I had it right but I actually had it wrong!

Devyn - I found it easy because you didn’t have to do that much. 

Seb - I like it cos there’s levels and it gets harder as you go along.

Coders in the Making!

Over the last couple of weeks we have begun exploring some fundamental coding concepts and are learning to think like coders! 

We started off with Kidbot. We had to learn these commands:

One person was the Kidbot and the other was the programmer. We learnt that when you put these commands together it becomes an algorithm. 

We took turns programming our algorithms into our Kidbots and directing them around the classroom, and then the school. 

Kaiya: It was really fun but sometimes my programmer put in too many instructions and then I got confused!

Jemma: Yeah and sometimes they would forget to do stop. 

Kaiya: Or go! 

Next we drew up a grid in the classroom and had to programme our Kidbot to capture the gingerbread man! 

From here we thought about how we could record these commands. We used these simple symbols to write algorithms for our buddies to follow. 

Jyuvana: This was pretty tricky if you get mixed up with left and right like me. 

Brady: Sometimes it is hard to know the number of steps cos sometimes I did 4 steps instead of just 3. 

Devyn: I kept forgetting to do stop and go sometimes and I found it quite confusing with left and right. 

Next we were introduced to the app Beebot. You have to programme the Beebot through the garden and to the flower. 

Leo: Sometimes when I would go forward he would just turn around and go backwards! But if you use the cross he will stop and you can do it again. 

Yohannas: This was a bit annoying and also tricky because Beebot didn't listen to me but I told Mrs Smith. 

Next we took turns to write algorithms for a buddy to direct a creature from one point in the grid to another. We found out that when something isn't correct in our algorithm it's called a bug. We worked together to debug our algorithms so they were correct. 

We started adding obstacles to make our algorithms a bit more complex. 

Where to next?

- Continue to work on left and right 

- Explore Tynker 

- Use Seesaw to share and reflect on our learning as we go.