Communicate and Collaborate

Computational Thinking - Alien Contact! - Lesson 4

Objectives

To recognise and apply computational thinking concepts and approaches to solve problems.
To collaborate and communicate effectively with team members.

Lesson Resources

Lesson slides
Hula hoops or rubber mats
Masking tape, chalk or rope
Whiteboards and pens / pencils and paper

Computational Thinking - Alien Contact!

Lesson 1 - First contact

Lesson 2 - Bits and pieces

Lesson 3 - Sorting out Spacebook

Lesson 4 - Communicate and Collaborate

Lesson 5 - Dot, Dash, Dot, Dot / Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot, Dot

Lesson 6 - All about algorithms

Introduction

This lesson can begin in the classroom but you may then wish to move into a larger space such as the hall, outside or perhaps just the classroom with desks cleared to the sides.

As the alien’s agent, introduce the next message that has arrived:

So the children need to prove their team working and communication skills in these challenges. They may need to decompose some of the problems and formulate algorithms for solving them. Collaboration and perseverance may also be key.

Whole class challenge 1.

The class must find out who is the oldest and wisest among them. In fact we want to know the precise ordered age range of the whole class. Form one long line. Students must order themselves by the date of their birthday from oldest to youngest. If two people share the same date, they should then be ordered by the time they were born (if known), and then by height.

For this challenge:

You must stay in the line at all times
You may only talk to the people directly next to you
You can only step to your left or right

Whole class challenge 2.

Now the class must order yourselves by the number of the house you live in, from smallest to biggest.

For this challenge:

You must stay in the line at all times
You can only step to your left or right
You cannot speak once it starts

Main task

Split the class into two or three even teams (depending on the space available).

Space crossing

This activity is based on the classic ‘Cross the River’ team-building task. There are many variations of the game so feel free to get creative if you want to adapt things. You can find some nice ideas here.

For this challenge you will need to show both your physical and mental attributes. You must brave the harsh, unforgiving environment of space. Your whole team must cross from one space station platform to another using only anti-gravity hover pads (hula hoop/spot mat). Stepping off the pads at any time would normally result in a long, cold fall into the blackness of space, however, for today’s challenge, our powers allow us to teleport you back to the beginning to try again.

Anti-gravity hover pads provide a forcefield that provides oxygen and warmth to protect you from the conditions in space, however, they come in different models. The red one is powerful enough to hold two people at once but the others can only support one person at a time.

Rules:

The whole team must start on one space station platform (behind the tape labeled ‘start’) and finish on the opposite space station (behind the line marked ‘finish’).
It is only safe to travel across the space void by standing on an anti-gravity hover pads (hula hoop/spot mat).
If you step off the anti-gravity hover pads you must return to the first space station platform (behind the ‘start’ line).
An anti-gravity hover pad (hula hoop/spot mat) cannot be moved if someone is standing on it, no sliding or throwing either - the anti-gravity hover pads must be passed and placed.
Everyone must be on an anti-gravity hover pad before anyone can step onto the second space station platform - no one gets left behind!

As the alien agent, you can reward a successful space crossing for the class with another 4 digit pass code for the aliens. The code for this week is 5728

Extension

Ask the teams to invent their own version of this challenge, what rules could they change? What should be kept the same? They should establish and record their own rules and then test out their challenge.

The groups can then share their challenges with each other. Get them to observe another group completing their challenge and make notes on how they approached the challenge:

Ask: