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Family table: Simple Programming Concepts (Unplugged)
All four rungs side by side. A younger child and an older one can do the same topic together, each at their own level.
To print it, use your browser's Print button; it fits best on a page turned sideways (landscape). The full steps, the help for grown-ups and the notes for teachers are on the topic page.
| Step | Classes 1–3 | Classes 4–7 | Classes 8–10 | Classes 11–12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | Sequencing Actions | Loops and Simple Conditions | Variables and Working Algorithms | Designing Modular Solutions |
| Safety |
| – | – | – |
| What you need |
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| Notice | Instructions must be in the right order. | Sometimes we repeat an action until something happens ("keep walking until you reach the wall"), or choose an action depending on a situation. | Programs often need to remember and change values. | Larger problems are easier when broken into reusable parts (procedures / functions). |
| Guess | What happens if the steps for making a sandwich or walking a path are mixed up? | How can you write shorter instructions that still get the same result, even if you do not know how many steps it will take? | How can you keep track of a score, a count, or a position using a variable? | How can a problem be split into clear sub-tasks? |
| Try | Write or draw a short sequence of actions for a friend (the "robot") to follow exactly, such as walking to the door: "2 steps forward, turn right, 3 steps forward". | Create instructions that use a "repeat until" loop and an if–then decision to move through a grid ("repeat until at the star: if the square ahead is blocked, turn right, else move forward"). | Design an algorithm (on paper) that uses variables, loops and decisions to solve a small problem (a game score, counting how many marks are above 40, a simple bill total). | Design a modular solution on paper (or in code) with clear inputs and outputs for each part. |
| Observe | Did the robot get there? If not, find the step that went wrong and fix it. This is called debugging. | Test the same instructions on two different grids. Do they still work? Improve them. | Trace the algorithm with sample values in a trace table: one column per variable, one row per step. | Test each part on its own, then the whole solution, including unusual inputs. |
| Explain | Show the final working sequence. | Explain where the loop and the condition are used, and what makes the loop stop. | Show how the variable changes and why it is needed. | Discuss the advantages of the modular approach and any difficulties encountered. |
| Ask another question | Can you make the sequence work for a different ending point? | What happens if the loop's "until" never comes true? Can you add a second condition? | How would you extend the algorithm to handle more cases (an empty list, a negative number)? | How would you further improve structure, clarity or efficiency? |
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