Logic Groups

This year in the Intro to Programming class we are trying logic groups. This past summer Robert Luciano presented this at the UVA Tapestry workshop. Hes also written about it here. This summer he gave several example puzzles which can be found in the zip file on the Tapestry site.

The idea is you put the kids in groups and present them with various logic puzzles. Getting them off the computers and collaborating to solve puzzles helps build problem solving, which is at the core of what we do.

This is our third week with the groups and so far the kids are really enjoying it. I have seen some kids that do not normally get very active with class activities get very involved in the puzzles. We are on a block schedule - so we do it the first time I see them each week, either Monday or Tuesday.

Todays puzzle came from this site: Brain Food  It is #1, the elevator problem.

** Update - this particular puzzle stank. One kid had seen it before, and the rest of the groups got super frustrated. Were going to try again on Wednesday with the latest edition of Bits and Bytes from the NSF. This latest issue has some great puzzles and tie ins with computer science curriculum.

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Great Logic Gates Video

In CS Principles we have moved on from Data and are now covering Questions. In this unit we cover logic gates and if-thens. I want the students to make a connection between the hardware, all the binary we did earlier in the year, and how conditionals work in programming,

image from logic.ly online demo

Logic Gates Video

This explanation starts with a scenario - What if you need to trigger an alarm in a room with two sensors?

I love this approach. So often we start with the truth table, then go to a scenario, and by that point you have lost them.

After this we used the Logic.ly website to let them try making their own logic gates.

Next class well be watching this video explaining how the OR and AND gates are made. The students had a lot of questions about this today and this makes it pretty clear.

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Play Doh Logic Gates

Still working on Logic Gates in the Cs Principles class. Today they constructed logic gates using play-doh.

OR Gate

We started we watched this video connecting logic gates, AND and OR gates to binary numbers.

Before we did the logic gates I gave them a few challenge problems. I gave them a truth table and they had to construct a logic gate to produce the result. We used the logic.ly website to demo. Want to try one? Here you go:

Then they made logic gates with play-doh. The materials are fairly cheap. The most expensive part are the batteries and the battery holders (these run about $3). The good news is this activity works well with groups of 3 - 4 students, so you dont need a lot of these.

Materials:

• Play-Doh 
• LED lights
• Battery Holder (I use rechargable AA batteries)

I personally do not use the insulating play-doh. I am sure it would be helpful, but I barely have time to cook dinner for my own kids this week, much less make craft supplies.

I left the instructions very open ended. Each group got two battery packs, an LED and some play-doh. The instructions were to make an OR and an AND gate, and take a picture of each.

Post on PlayDoh circuit Ted Talk

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