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PlayOwl

Coding · Grade 2

Explain and Improve a Program

Second graders explain programs by giving their purpose and steps, improve programs by making them shorter (loops) and clearer (good names and comments) without changing what they do, and improve an algorithm in a guessing game by always guessing the middle.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 75 minutes
  • Explain and improve check: 8 questions
  • Ways to answer: program with blocks, choose an answer, put code in order, highlight a text, match pairs and type a number
See plans Included with Family, Teacher and School plans. Open in PlayOwl

What learners will discover

  • Explain what a program does: its purpose in one sentence, then its steps in plain words.
  • Improve a program by making it shorter with loops, and test that it still does the same thing.
  • Improve a program by making it clearer with good variable names and comments.
  • Improve a search by guessing the middle in a higher-or-lower guessing game.

Lessons

  1. Explain what a program does 4 steps2 practiceabout 15 min
  2. Make it shorter 5 steps3 practiceabout 15 min
  3. Make it clearer 5 steps3 practiceabout 15 min
  4. Make it smarter: the guessing game 6 steps3 practiceabout 16 min
  5. Explain and improve check 8 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Robot RoutesSnap together arrow, repeat and dance blocks to guide Bolt the robot home.
  • Bug DetectiveA robot program almost works. Run it, spot the buggy block, and fix it.
  • Mini-Game StudioMake a tiny game with rule blocks, test-play it, and share it once it can be won.

More 2nd grade coding

Guide for grown-ups