Intro to Variables and Sprites

Summary

Materials

• Day 5 PowerPoint deck
• MakeCode Arcade

Additional Resources

• What Are Sprites and How They Work in Games?

Instructional Activities and Classroom Assessments

1. Events Recap (5 minutes)
2. Introduce Variables (5 minutes)
3. Sprites as Variables (5 minutes)
4. Create a Story (25 minutes)
5. Pair and Share (10 minutes)
6. Reflection/Homework

Learning Objectives

• CRD-2.G Describe the purpose of a code segment or program by writing documentation. 4.A
• AAP-1.A Represent a value with a variable. 3.A

Essential Knowledge

• CRD-2.G.1 Program documentation is a written description of the function of a code segment, event, procedure, or program and how it was developed.
• CRD-2.G.3 Programmers should document a program throughout its development.
• AAP-1.A.1 A variable is an abstraction inside a program that can hold a value. Each variable has associated data storage that represents one value at a time, but that value can be a list or other collection that in turn contains multiple values.
• AAP-1.A.2 Using meaningful variable names helps with the readability of program code and understanding of what values are represented by the variables.

Details

1. Events recap (5 minutes)

• Ask the following questions:
  • What is an event?
    • Something that happens in time, an occurrence; can be physical or in game/program.
  • What is an event handler?
    • Something that listens for events and tells the computer what to do when these events occur.
  • Can you identify events and the actions they trigger that you experience daily with your personal technology?

2. Introduce Variables (5 minutes)

• Define Variables.
• Discuss variable Names, Values and Data Types.
• Allow students to experiment with setting variable values and changing the values to different data types in MakeCode Arcade

3. Sprites as Variables (5 minutes)

• Explain that Sprites are an Object data type of variable.
• Discuss the variety of properties (or data types) a Sprite can have.
• Allow students to experiment with setting different Sprite data type properties and behaviors.
• Remind students of how they have used Sprites before today.

4. Create a story (25 minutes)

• Introduce the students to their next task:
  • Students will use sprites to tell a story.
  • They must create at least two sprites in their story.
  • Sprites must have dialog that has at least 9 statements between the sprites.
    • Ex: 3 sprites could each say three statements.
  • Students can create an original story, tell a joke, introduce themselves and talk about their hobbies/interest, or retell a scene from an existing novel, book, TV show, comic book, fable.
• Give students five minutes to brainstorm and plan their story.
• Encourage students to comment their code while they work.
• Give students 15 minutes work on their story.
• At the 15 minute mark, tell students they have 5 more minutes to work and then they will share what they have so far with a classmate.
• Give students another five minutes.
• Be sure to remind students to create a link to their program using the Share button.

5. Pair and Share (10 minutes)

• Have students save/share their code with you and/or with their classmates.
• Create a Link to their program using the Share button.

6. Reflection/Homework

(If you run out of time, you may also assign this as individual homework.)  Students should complete their reflection in their OneNote.

• How is your story developing?
• Did your partner's feedback change your view of your story plan? If so, how?
• Are there any challenges you need to resolve?
• What are you proud of from your work today?
• Do you need to work this evening to finish the project in time for sharing tomorrow?