I love the idea of teaching conditionals with card games. I think students in the upper elementary levels could separate into groups and create their own card games using conditionals. Then they could write instructions and other groups could play.
I think the conditionals with cards is a great unplugged activity. I can see using this with high school students may with extensions.
Students understand conditions because it is a concept they already know. Showing them is very informative. I love this program!
Teaching 5th graders Conditionals is fun. I usually begin by dividing into small groups and distributing card decks for each group. I demonstrate with whole group using color conditionals as shown in the videos. I then let the groups begin and play until one person has 10 points.
The next round will be a conditional the group makes up. I let them play to work out the bugs and then demonstrate to the class.
Conditionals should be thought of as a series of different outcomes that can occur contingent on what happens beforeâŚExample, if a bee hits a flower (what happens) then (outcome) it will gather nectarâŚIf a bee hits honey come (What happens) then (outcome) it will make honey.
I might try to implement conditionals with my lunch duty 
if you ordered choice 1 get in line, else wait.
When talking to teachers itâs easy to relate conditionals to cause and effect or also school/class reward systems. I really like the idea of the Conditionals with Cards game.
I havenât taught conditionals yet! My older students have done a great job problem solving the puzzles with the conditionals. I think I would give them âif thenâ situations to work through with real life examples âif it is cold outside we wear a coat, if it is not cold. . .â etc.
I will use some of things in lives as exmples to explain concept of conditionals.
e.g. If you grasp this rope, I will pull you up.
At the senior high school we have a drink machine at the end of my hallway that offers a great way to introduce conditionals. Students insert money and make a selection, If it is in stock, they get it, else, they must either select another drink or have their money refunded.
I think teaching conditionals offers good opportunities to sneak in some learning about syntax if you introduce it right. Having students raise their hands and think of âIf x, then yâ statements gets the entire class involved, and makes sure the students know that conditionals rely on much on form as they do content. I feel like nested conditionals could be a tricky nut to crack, but lots of nested conditionals pop up in everyday life, and especially in games. With the older students, fouls in games offer a great chance to learn about nested conditionals. There are some circumstances when itâs okay to rush a quarterback in American football, or stand in the key in basketball.
Of course, however, itâs best to start simple, and I really enjoyed the basic
if ClassQuiet
then ExtraRecess
format used in the example. Small rewards and participation are wonderful ways to introduce topics.
I would bring up the idea of If/Else statements talking about what happens when students bring their books back to the library. They know that IF they bring their books back, they get to get more books; ELSE they donât bring them back, they canât get anymore. I can even bring an ELSE-IF statement: IF you bring your books back, you can get more. ELSE IF you bring back 1 book, you can get 1 new book. ELSE you donât bring any books back, you donât get more. After this, I would probably reference games they play, or things their parents might say. Then, I would open it up for students to try to come up with some statements. And I love the card game!
Flocabulary has a video for students explaining conditionals. I am also going to try the card game with my students and I also like the idea of using picture cards with the class to get them thinking about what might happen next.
I teach Transitional Kindergarten. I use Kodeable with my littles. I have always explained that the computer will have _____ happen unless we give it a condition. However, I like the idea of playing cards with them. I canât wait to try this with them and my coding club after school on Fridays.
I really enjoyed the videos and canât wait to work on conditionals with my classes. The concept of If and Else is much easier once you understand that the Than is part of both as what happens.
Looking forward to seeing what my students can add to the game!
I really like the card game idea. I think that this makes it nice and simple for my Kinders to understand the concept. You could also tie it into cause and effect in reading. If the character does this, then this will happen. We also talk about this when we learn about rules and consequences.
I like the idea of students writing their own conditionals for a game they create.
I would explain the concept of conditionals by first relating it to their own lives with something they have heard or experienced. Also I would have them play a game and create the conditionals themselves before ever doing so on a computer.
This is a challenging concept for my first graders. I keep rereading the definitions and examples. I like how the video talks about how the computer doesnât do well thinking on itâs own so we need to give it guidelines. We need to tell the computer what to do when things do and donât happen just like what we do in class. I think liking this idea to common classroom behavior practices may help them better understand. If they get their work done then they get to go outside for recess. If they donât get their work done then something else happens like they have to finish their work during recess. Iâm thinking that might help when teaching conditionals.
I would try to explain conditionals has in playing games like checker or other board games.