Teaching loops and efficiency

As a Maths teacher I love this ides. Kill two birds with one stones

I think using dances would be the best way to introduce loos to my adult students. We could talk about the different popular dances that involve repetition and I could have them name some and even demonstrate. I could keep challenging them to think of more. Right off hand I could think of the “Macarena”, “Electric Slide”, Chicken Dance", “Hokey Pokey”, and “YMCA”. I’m sure they could think of more and it would be a fun way to demonstrate the concept.

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I think I would mention how when students select a music playlist on their device and then hit the repeat button, they have created a loop.

For 7th and 8th graders. I use the idea of each school day as a loop. They have to come to school, then go through their classes in the same order each day. Inside of each class, they may have a loop of activities they do each day, such as open their binder, get a sheet of paper, write their name and date on the paper. Then I’ll have pairs come up with one loop they do for a class. They will have 20 secs. to share, the catch is, if the loop they want to use is already said, they have to have a different one ready to go. Obviously, the last group really has to be thinking quickly.

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I think I will teach the process of looping with the “Getting Loopy” dance.

Can anyone suggest an activity for introducing loops to teenagers and some adults …getting Loopy is a great activity but i just want something a little more spicy :wink:

I enjoy moving with the Getting Loopy activity. Anytime you can put movement into learning students will put it into long term memory. I teach older students the connection between repeated addition and multiplication.

As I teach only girls (grade 7 - 9) I like to show them Miral’s Iluminate video with the dancers with lights. Afterwards we will have a discussion about how steps are repeated in different dance forms and they then have to break up in groups and create a very short dance routine (similar to The iteration). They have to write down the steps of the routine - groups swop their written down steps and then have to try and perform the dance. Afterwards we look at each written routine and give feedback on efficiency - did they use repeat or did they write steps over and over again. In the discussion we also touch on the previous concepts of algorithm and sequencing. I find that this works well and gets everyone involved - they learn without realising it.
After this we will complete some of the Loops puzzles on computer to further entrench the concept and show the relevance in coding terms.

I would use our local train system as an example. When we sit at the crossing watching the train pass the engineer doesn’t move one car at a time, rather, they bring all are all connected which is more efficient. I’d actually ask the kids to find different examples of where ‘looping’ is more efficient and we would discuss their ideas.

This takes me back to my days in manufacturing and maybe even showing how loops kind of equate to assembly lines where repeated actions are simplified through code instead of taking the time to do actions over and over.

Loops are like Step Aerobics. Though I have a hard time stopping those repeaters or changing gears once I get into a groove.

I think that using physical activity to teach the concept of loops is a good one. Before we get into the dance, a few preliminary physical ‘loop’ activities, will warm them up.

For teaching younger students loop, a poem or song can be used, string of addition to show multiplication, recurring decimals, or having them follow the same command repetitively .

My students get loops when I talk about how multiplication is far more efficient than addition. It saved times in an equation and it will save time in coding!

I love idea of showing students what is loops with “Getting Loopy” activity.

I explain to students that if I give them an instruction, such as get ready for recess, the first time I would explain what to do - put your book away, put your pencil away. If I had to tell them to put each individual book and pencil away, it would take too long. Looping helps speed up the process

I like having my students do activities that are not tech based, having them move around, dance, act, etc… The more you can make connections the better.

As an EFL teacher, music is a bit part of how we introduce English to students. I think using song lyrics would be a simple and fun way to introduce students to loops.

Connect hands in a circle (use other shapes as well), start a wave at student one and repeat ? times. Could change start point(s), could embed different shape extensions attached to circle.

Since I plan on becoming a math teacher, I would try to explain how instead of doing something multiple times, a student can just use one symbol and make his/her life a lot easier while obtaining the correct answer.