3rd Grade Basic Coding Exercises And Activities Lesson Plan (Computer Education)

Topic:Basic coding exercises and activities

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to create a simple scratch program that changes one variable (e.g. a number, text, or image) based on another variable.

Materials

• Scratch programming software
• Computer or laptop for each student
• Projector or monitor for the teacher's computer or laptop

Warm-up

• Show the students a simple scratch program that changes the color of a circle based on a number inputted by the user. Have them try to change the number and observe the changes to the circle's color.
• Ask the students if they have ever played a game or used an app that changes something based on a user's input (e.g. a fortune teller that tells a person their fortune based on their birthday, a cooking app that displays a recipe based on the ingredients inputted by the user).

Direct Instruction

• Introduce the concept of coding and explain that coding is the process of using instructions to tell a computer what to do.
• Show the students more scratch programs and have them try to understand how the instructions are telling the computer to do something.
• Explain the different blocks in scratch and give examples of how to use each block.

Guided Practice

• Have the students work in pairs and give them a set of instructions to follow in scratch.
• Walk around the classroom and assist the students as needed.

Independent Practice

• Have the students work on a project-based activity where they must use scratch to create a series of commands that will produce a desired outcome.
• Encourage the students to be creative and think outside the box.

Closure

• Review the objectives of the lesson and ask the students to share their completed projects.
• Ask the students to share any challenges they faced and how they were able to overcome them.

Assessment

• Observe the students as they work on the independent projects and provide feedback on their use of the scratch programming software and their ability to solve a problem.
• Collect and grade the completed projects for compliance with the objectives of the lesson.