Let's talk about Conditions! Conditions are statements that consist of an If and Then part to create an action dependent on something else. In this Coding Activity, you will learn with Conditions through storytelling and your Fuzz in Maze Maker. Get the activity worksheet here and watch the short video below!
Reading and writing are a lot like computer programming.
When we read a story, we follow an order of events, or sequence, from the first line to the last.
Here's your mission: Using Conditional Statements, write the end of a short story. Practice using conditional tiles in the Kodable Maze Maker after!
We have to for the storyline, or plot, to make sense! Have you ever read a book by opening it in the middle, then flipping back to the first sentence, and then reading the last page? No way! This would be really confusing.
In a computer program, Sequence is just as important. We instruct computers by giving them directions written in code. If we write code in the wrong Sequence, the program won’t make sense to the computer, just like stories won’t make sense to us if the events are out of order.
Now think of your life as if it were a storybook.
Unlike a story that has a set sequence of events, your life can take twists and turns based on the conditions around you.
In other words, life is filled with IFs. If it is sunny, then you go outside. If you are tired, then you sleep.
If it is Halloween, then you dress up!
All these IFs are what keep life interesting.
You see, your days will change based on the conditions around you and the choices you make in response. This is awesome because it means that no two days are exactly the same.
Have you ever read a Choose Your Own Adventure book? For every choice you make in a book like this, you complete a Conditional Statement. Those are the If... Then...statements we were talking about before. If you choose option 1, then something will happen. But if you choose the other option, then the path the story takes will be totally different!
So what does this have to do with coding? Learn with Conditions and create Conditional Statements like programmers do in their code!
When we use Conditions, code will still stay in sequence, there are just multiple paths a program can take and the end results may vary!
Here's your mission: Combine programming and storytelling - use a Conditional Statement to write the ending of a short story.
Try it for yourself and learn with Conditions!
Here's how it works. There are three picture prompts - think of these as the multiple options in a choose your own adventure book. Choose one of the images. THEN what would happen next? Write a short story on the activity worksheet describing the ending of the story! Get creative!
Good luck!
Learn more with our past Coding Missions!
