OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

This lesson will walk students through the process of writing a micro-bit program to solve basic math problems. It will culminate with students writing a program to solve the pythagorean theorem.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Mathematics, Technology
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Collaborating Around Computing, Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems, Creating Computational Artifacts, Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts, Communicating About Computing
• Materials:
  • Website, Micro:bit
• Considerations:
  • no.

Lesson Plan

Overview

This lesson will walk students through the process of writing a micro-bit program to solve basic math problems. It will culminate with students writing a program to solve the pythagorean theorem.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

What is a variable? How can understanding a variable help us write a computer program to solve a math problem?

OBJECTIVES

The student will be able to create a plan for a program and write the program. The student will be able to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions.

CATCH/HOOK

I will introduce the micro-bit by calling on a student randomly using a pre-programmed micro-bit. I will the use a separate one to check a student’s work.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

In this lesson, I will spiral the concept of writing code to solve basic math problems. I will begin by introducing basic math blocks and simple math problems. Students will be given the opportunity to modify demonstrated code with their own values and math operators. Then I will introduce the concept of variables and how they can store values. This will be continued over several days until students feel comfortable enough to attempt their own problems. The culmination is the creation of a formula that can solve the pythagorean theorem.

Supplements

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REVIEW

We will wrap up discussing and comparing different solutions to the problem and how our use of variables facilitated solving the pythagorean theorem.

STANDARDS