This is a great blog post by Alex Semmens, a high school ICT teacher, about integrating the digital technologies learning area into his classroom. I like the way that Alex uses an introductory classroom activity to get students thinking about decision-making in algorithms and then moves towards students creating digital products in Scratch.
http://alexsemmens.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/unit-reflection-algorithms-scratch-and-rubiks-cubes/
There's also a great link to solving a Rubiks cube with algorithms. If you search the web there are many instructions (aka 'algorithms') for how to solve the Rubiks cube and I imagine that many students would be excited at learning how to solve this mysterious cube! If you want to also show students how to program a computer to solve a rubiks cube with instructions, this video is a great example.
http://alexsemmens.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/unit-reflection-algorithms-scratch-and-rubiks-cubes/
There's also a great link to solving a Rubiks cube with algorithms. If you search the web there are many instructions (aka 'algorithms') for how to solve the Rubiks cube and I imagine that many students would be excited at learning how to solve this mysterious cube! If you want to also show students how to program a computer to solve a rubiks cube with instructions, this video is a great example.
Alex also mentions that in his future classroom units he would like to emphasise the application of algorithms in the real world, which I think can also help increase students' awareness of how computer science can be used to solve real-world problems.
Can you think of a real world example of how algorithms work? Comment on this thread below!
Can you think of a real world example of how algorithms work? Comment on this thread below!