This extension activity, from the Rapid Router Key Stage 1 course using Blockly, adds further complexity and challenge to simple sequenced commands.

Paired programming and unplugged activities build understanding of algorithms, with consideration of complexity and efficiency.

Included are wall...

This lesson activity further develops Python programming ability by introducing additional commands such as WHILE, IF, ELSE and ELIF. Debugging of programs is featured, and extension activities lead to the writing of functions that use COUNT IN RANGE() to control repetition. Students are also encouraged to mark-up...

This activity, one in a series, uses traffic lights and control of vehicles to explore if-else, if, and wait commands, and to learn about variables.

A set of onscreen programming challenges are supported with teacher guides, worksheets, model solutions, assessment activities, wall displays and overview...

This lesson utilises challenges created by children during lesson 9 of the Blockly 'Rapid Router' course. While attempting to follow a programming challenge written by someone else, debugging skills and logical thinking are encouraged. Children are also required to use loops and other constructs independently....

In the third lesson of the course, children use direct 'remote control' of the Rapid router van to gain experience before starting to program their own sequences of commands. They also start to debug simple sequences.

The resource contains assessment records, wall displays, and activity solutions.

In this Rapid Router activity, children progress from block-based programming to the textual environment of Python. In doing so they learn about the nature of text-based coding, including the need for precise syntax and how it is structured.

The progression is handled gently, with code compared in both...

This Blockly lesson from the Rapid Router course examines selection using IF statements. Nesting IF statements within loops is also studied, and a video explains the importance of selection in programs.

An 'unplugged' activity reinforces understanding before the children code their solutions in Rapid Router...

This activity explores the concepts of pattern recognition and problem decomposition. It illustrates these ideas using a popular children's book, "We're going on a bear hunt" by Michael Rosen.

Children are asked to apply their understanding by then creating functions using the Blockly editor on the Rapid...

The second lesson using Blockly in upper primary within the Rapid router game-like environment. This activity introduces conditional repeat statements that loop until a condition is met. Videos are included that explain to children why conditionals are useful. Also included are worksheets, assessment forms, model...

A cross-curricular programming activity, using loops in Scratch to draw patterns. Learners first design an algorithm to draw a simple 2D shape, and then use the 'repeat' block to generate artwork. It is advised that children have some prior experience of programming in Scratch. Experimentation and debugging is...

This unplugged computing activity from the Barefoot Computing project teaches basic algorithms through thinking about classroom rules. Using the idea of 'fair sharing', it covers sequences and basic do-while loops, and asks children to perform basic debugging. Suitable for children in early primary settings, it...

This is one of a series of resources to support the use of the BBC micro:bit.

In this activity pupils will make use of the BBC micro:bit to design and create a programmable system that can control the temperature and soil moisture levels in a ‘smart’ greenhouse. They will analyse a design brief and design...

This activity introduces children to simulations - modelling or acting out real-world, or maybe imaginary, situations. Linking to the teaching of space, it asks what factors need to be considered when simulating the solar system. Out of these, the children then decide what the most important things to include in...

The relationship between energy and states of matter is sometimes difficult for students to comprehend. This activity helps to reinforce the notion that, when energy is added to a system, the molecules themselves do not change but their motion and relative positions do change.

While the model is a...