Coding Interactive Group Activity

"Science is magic that works." - Kurt Vonnegut

This activity will spark a young individuals mind on the basics of coding. The activity provides students with a chance to interact with others, experiment, and run trials and errors. Students will understand the importance of specificity and how computers understand the code that people input.

Materials:

• 2 or more people(one will act as the computer and the other(s) will be the coder(s))

• Piece of paper or anything to write on

• Pencil or anything to write with

Instructions:

1. Choose any item that has a sequence process or that comes with instructions to achieve a desired outcome. The traditional item is a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich but there are other options include making a smoothie or tying a show lace.

2. Have the coders write the instructions for how to make the time that was chosen. Remember to be specific!

3. Once the code/writing is finished, take it to the "computer" and see if they can follow the instructions that you have given them to make the product. Remember that you might need to make some tweaks to your instructions and try several time in order for the "computer" to produce the desirable output.
   

Science Behind It:

• The whole goal with this activity is how help students understand how people create a code for a computer. The step by step processes are quite similar and there is a lot of tweaking and adjusting that happens. People even ask for aid from others while coding a program which is something you might have done as well. There are many approaches that a student could take for this activity. Coders/programmers take different approaches and methods to create the one desirable product.