Unit 1 - Learning Activity #1

Discuss the roles of computers, computer programmers and users

 
Description The purpose of this activity is to help students understand the role of computer programmers,
which will be their role as they learn computer programming. Students will understand the
differences between consuming information from a computer and programming a computer
through a discussion about the differences between computers, computer programmers, and users

Suggested Duration 2 periods

Step-by-step instructions Exercise #1: General Opening Questions About Computers:

● What can we do with computers?

● What kind of tasks are computers best suited for?
● What can computers do better than humans?
● What can we do better than computers?
● What is the difference between a digital device that is just for the consumption of
information and one that the user can interact with and “have a conversation with”?

Exercise #2: Discuss the roles of a user and a computer programmer:

1. Brainstorm different types of computers around us:

➞ Lead the discussion with the user’s point of view

● What are their purposes? What do they do?

● Who are they built for?
● How do we use them?

2. Pick one example of a use of a computer from the brainstorming session and discuss:
➞ Introduce the role of a computer programmer

● What made the computer do what we wanted it to do? How does it know what to do?
 ➞ A computer programmer programmed the computer
● What steps do you think the programmer had to follow to program the computer?
➞ Programmers create a conversation between the computer and the user
● How do computer programmers communicate with the computer?
➞ They use a computer programming language

Conclusion:

● Computer programmers are the ones that makes computers do what they do. We call this
process “computer programming”. Computers only understand their own language. There
are many different types of computer programming languages just like we have different
languages. Computer programmers pick a programming language that will best serve their
programming purpose. In this class, we will become computer programmers using the
Scratch programming language to create animations and interactive games.

Resources ● What is code? video