Python With Trinket.Io and Google Colab: Part 2

This is a continuation of Part 1 of the class of the same title.  This series of  classes is intended as a bridge between Scratch and text based Python.  Kids are still mostly interested in seeing things move around the screen.  This is the main idea behind Scratch, Alice, Processing, Turtle, etc.  I use NinjaTurtles for this, which are just Python sprites.  

The code for NinjaTurtles is something that I coded myself and that we use as starter code.    This give the class more flexibility with age ranges since we can reference this more advanced code if needed.  The goal is to first learn to use and play with NinjaTurtles but then learn about how they were created.

The series progresses as we use these NinjaTurtles to build more and more complex programs.

In these four classes we will create two projects using NinjaTurtles. 

Our first project will be to create a choreography for our NinjaTurtle.  We are going to learn about functions and how to package many moves into one command.  This is like building your own blocks in Scratch.

Our memory game will involve creating a Matrix of NinjaTurtles and watching each spin in turn.  The player's goal is to remember the last  one that spun.  In this project we will learn about lists and how to put things into groups.  

In both of these projects we will be practicing loops and the 'if' statement.

I base my teaching on the Socratic methods, encouraging students to figure things out for themselves by asking them a series of questions .  

Week 1:  NinjaTurtles using methods, functions, parameters
Week 2:  NinjaTurtles modules
Week 3: The Matrix (list version)
Week 4: The Matrix (array version)