DLT:
  • Use JavaScript commands to solve puzzle modules
  • Identify coding errors
  • Apply programming knowledge to properly name variables and functions
  • Create a paper prototype that incorporates the user flow for a computational artifact.
  • Explain the role of paper prototypes in app development.


Vocabulary:
  • JavaScript: JavaScript is a programming language that is widely used in web development. Any website you’re looking at probably has (at least) three components: HTML to structure the page (what shows up where), CSS to determine the style of the page (fonts, colors, sizes), and JavaScript to manipulate the web page’s elements and to make it dynamic.
  • Syntax: Syntax is the set of rules that govern how a language is structured. All languages have a syntax. In English, sentences have a syntax that may involve subjects, verbs, and objects. JavaScript syntax is a set of rules that define what correctly formatted code looks like. But if you write a sentence in English with incorrect syntax, someone still might understand what you’re saying. If you write a line of code in JavaScript with incorrect syntax, your program won’t run!
  • Command: A command is an instruction that you give the computer. For these puzzles, students will use commands like "forward()" and "turnLeft()" to communicate with the puzzle.
  • camelCase: camelCase is a naming convention in JavaScript and other languages. Variable and function names (identifiers) cannot have spaces in them, so if you have a variable that keeps track of player scores, you could name it "playerScores" to conform to camelCase conventions.
  • Identifier: Whenever you declare a function, variable, or data structure, you need to give it a unique name that you can refer to later. This unique name is an identifier. There are certain rules governing how you can name an identifier. For example, they cannot be reserved words (such as "var"), they must begin with a letter, and they cannot contain certain symbols like exclamation marks, hyphens, periods, or commas.

Activity:
  • Tynker Javascript 101: The Basics - Today we are going to solve Tynker puzzle modules using a text-based programming language called JavaScript.
forward(); Move the ship one step forward.
turnRight(); Turn the ship to the right.
turnLeft(); Turn the ship to the left.

  • Code.org Lesson 12: Build a Paper Prototype - This lesson kicks off the actual design phase of this project. Students work in their teams to create paper prototypes for the apps they’ve been developing. They begin by making a plan for each screen, then assigning different team members to work on each screen so the task can be completed in time.
Activity Guide Download
Download PDF