Lesson 10. Programming: CONDITIONAL CONCEPTS

21.04.21

This is the second lesson on programming; today we are going to learn about conditionals and we are going to apply them to metaphor methodology, Primary Code and Scratch. We can tell children that if "x condition is true", the screen will show us "passed", if it is false it should write"failed". We could explain this better using a metaphor, such as spanish omelet: if there are eggs, then we can make spanish omelet. Then the conditional concept is the ability for the computer to make decisions.
 

In order to have a first approach to the concept, with the application Primay Code we can understand these examples clearly.  First of all, in the Figure 1, we have to variables, a and b. The students can assign a value to these variables. In figure 1 we assign the value 1 to the variable b, and then we ask the computer to show the larger variable. In this case, since the biggest number is 2, the computer will show the variable A.

Figure 1. Primary Code.

In the second example, depending on the fruit we choose, we will have one numerical value or the other, as you can see in the figure 3. The condition that we introduce in the computer is: if mark <5 "write" and we have different scenarios depending on the mark chosen. For instance, if the value we give to the programme is 10, it will automatically jump to "else if mark=10".

Figure 2. Primary Code

We can also try all these examples using Scratch. To complete the conditionals the student will have to create variables and add values to them. He or she will also have to go to the "operators" tab and drag one to the conditional blocks. After inserting the variable into the operator, the student can choose a result, that is, something that he or she wants the program to do. For example, we can go to looks and choose Say ___ for X seconds.

Figure 3. Scratch