U2 Challenge Decisions

i just posted to the code.org Code Studio section vs posting it here. I haven’t been able to get my link to work.

I created a lesson that uses minimal spanning trees to find the least expensive way to place fiber optic cable to connect all of the schools in our district.

The lesson on binary numbers.

In hindsight the day I would have used for my challenge lesson would have been day 17 the minimal spanning tree.

I will be doing Unit 2 Day 7-9.

Unit 2 Day 7-9.docx (23.1 KB)

Code.org Unit 2 Challenge.docx (27.6 KB) U2ChallengeReflectionQuestionsHatten.docx (24.7 KB)

I have attached my one pager and reflection questions. The following link is to a Scratch binary manipulative. This could also serve as a preview into the Scratch unit. Let me know what you think.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/93568731/

Thanks,

Will

Journal Question

Why is it necessary or important to sort items
into one way or another?

What are the consequences if you sort something
incorrectly?

Play the Harry Potter Video

Activity

Explain that students are now going to take a quiz to see what
House they would belong in. On the front
of the quiz, students can answer the questions. On the back, they can see the
answers and determine which house they were sorted into.

Part One : Complete the quiz and then see which house you were
sorted into.

Part Two:

Mention that even though the Hat uses magic to determine which
house a student is sorted into, the magic is only used to reveal characteristics
to the hat and it uses that information to make its decisions. The information
is magic, but the criteria the hat uses to make its decisions is actually an
algorithm.

Now that you know which house you were sorted into, we are going
to try to reverse engineer the decisions of the Sorting Hat to figure out WHY
you landed where you did. This way we
can figure out the criteria the hat used to make its decision about you. As a group, see if you can describe what it
means to be in Gryfiindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. What
characteristics or criteria do people in that house share?

Quiz (http://sorting-hat.com/sorthatmq.htm)

Q1 Which colour do you
prefer ?

a Black

b Bronze

c Silver

d Gold

Q2 What means would
you prefer to use to stop an attacker ?

a Turn them into a
toad

b Cast a Full-Body
Bind Charm

c Use Devil’s Snare
weed to entangle them

d Throw a vial of
Shrinking Potion onto them

Q3 Which of these traits
is most important to you ?

a Intellect

b Bravery

c Winning

d Hard Work

Q4 Which of these
subjects do you like best ?

a Charms

b Herbology

c Transfiguration

d Potions

Q5 I most enjoy the
company of people…

a who are like
myself & I don’t like outsiders.

b who are good and
fair to all, regardless of background.

c who are
intelligent, nomatter who they are.

d who are
interesting and willing to be different.

Q6 Which of these best
describes you ?

a I always act
quickly, with the first thing that comes to my mind.

b I always stop
& think before I act, to avoid making a mistake.

c I like to do
what’s expected of me, and act properly.

d I’ll do whatever
I have to do to win.

Q7 What is most
important to you when you have to make a decision ?

a To be fair to
everyone.

b What’s best for
you personally.

c Making the
smartest & most sensible choice.

d What is most
noble, even if you might lose out yourself.

Q1 Which colour do you
prefer:

a Black Hufflepuff

b Bronze Ravenclaw

c Silver Slytherin

d Gold Gryffindor

Q2 What means would
you prefer to use to stop an attacker:

a Turn them into a
toad Gryffindor

b Cast a Full-Body
Bind Charm Ravenclaw

c Use Devil’s Snare
weed to entangle them Hufflepuff

d Throw a vial of
Shrinking Potion onto them Slytherin

Q3 Which of these
traits is most important to you:

a Intellect
Ravenclaw

b Bravery
Gryffindor

c Winning Slytherin

d Hard Work Hufflepuff

Q4 Which of these
subjects do you like best:

a Charms Ravenclaw

b Herbology
Hufflepuff

c Transfiguration Gryffindor

d Potions Slytherin

Q5 I most enjoy the
company of people:

a who are like
myself & I don’t like outsiders. Slytherin

b who are good and
fair to all, regardless of background. Hufflepuff

c who are
intelligent, no matter who they are. Ravenclaw

d who are
interesting and willing to be different. Gryffindor

Q6 Which of these best
describes you:

a I always act
quickly, with the first thing that comes to my mind. Gryffindor

b I always stop
& think before I act, to avoid making a mistake. Ravenclaw

c I like to do
what’s expected of me, and act properly. Hufflepuff

d I’ll do whatever
I have to do to win. Slytherin

Q7 What is most
important to you when you have to make a decision:

a To be fair to
everyone. Hufflepuff

b What’s best for
you personally. Slytherin

c Making the
smartest & most sensible choice. Ravenclaw

d What is most
noble, even if you might lose out yourself. Gryffindor

Here is one person’s interpretation of the criteria, how
well does it match?

On Hogwarts Houses and criteria

mnodot:

In which I sort out

hogwarts houses in my head

Okay, Slytherin is

easiest for me to define, Slytherin is all about wanting power, and being
willing to do anything for it. They prize being in control of a situation. Of
course, this says nothing about what they do with that control. Slytherins are
much more focused on themselves and the people they care about, they’re less likely to care about random
bystanders/civilians, and most importantly, they are internally aware about
this.

Also, Slytherins look

very different depending on their situation. A Slytherin in complete control
and well on their way to their goals is likely to appear relaxed or even smug.
A Slytherin forced to be a pawn in other people’s
machinations is likely to hold on to what ever things they can control as much
as possible. (I have Spencer Hastings & Katniss Everdeen feels, yep)

Gryffindor, obviously,

values bravery, daring and chivalry. Though it’s
never really said explicitly in the text, the chivalry mostly comes as across
with Gryffindors each having their own idea of what The Right Thing To Do is,
and wanting to live it and speak up about it. Their morality is a lot more
principle-based than people-based, which can come across as them standing up
for people they don’t know well. The
downside, obviously, is that they tend to be a bit self-righteous, because they
tend to view their viewpoint as the sole correct perspective.

A secondary

characteristic of Gryffindors would be showboating, I’d say. They love seeming impressive to a crowd,
and might even compromise the effectiveness of what they’re doing for it. Oh, and Gryffs have few
compunctions about defending their image, naturally.

Hufflepuff, in the

text, is said to value hard work, loyalty, and fairness. From what we see in canon, I’d say Hufflepuff morality is slightly more
similar to Slytherin morality in that they both value people more than
principles, with the difference being much smaller for Hufflepuffs. (Think
Cedric telling Harry about the egg in order to be fair, but not telling the
other two champions .) Their loyalty and fairness is to people they have a feel
for. Their valuing of hard work suggests ‘Puffs are good for
long-term endeavours that require steady work input.

I’d see them as caring a lot less about what people

they don’t know think of
them, but their loyalty means they are likely to speak up for the people who
they’ve decided are decent folk. They’re a lot less flashy than the other
three houses, but they’re the kind that
take of their own. In their heads, they do what needs to be done.

Ravenclaws are honestly

the hardest for me to fully understand. We know from the text they value
intelligence, wit, knowledge. So the way I see Ravenclaws, they tend to deal
with the world in terms of concepts. They probably like having a framework
through which to understand things, and generally speaking, they want to
understand things for its own sake. It’s
like…if Slytherins are ruthlessly utilitarian when it comes to
knowledge, Ravenclaws are the exact opposite. The password system of the
Ravenclaw common room seems to support this thesis, with the questions asked
the kind that people can debate endlessly over.

Which makes me think

Ravenclaw might actually be the most varied house. They all love concepts and
the abstract and just wanting to know more. But that says very little about
them as people interacting with other people(which is one of the main ways I
try to understand people, which explains my difficulty with Ravenclaws).

Honestly speaking the

easiest way for me to separate the four houses is their instinctive reaction to
someone they care about being threatened. A Ravenclaw wants to understand the
threat fully. A Gryffindor’s sense that
Something Wrong Is Happening or their pride is triggered, and their
impulsiveness probably results in an immediate show of force or a
confrontation, even if neither is warranted or helps. A Hufflepuff would focus
on the person and try to see how they could help (probably the most likely to
ask the person what they want). A Slytherin would focus on eliminating the
threat in whatever way possible, and may not even consult the person first.

Journal Question

Can you describe the process the hat goes through to place people
into different house

I’ve been on leave few a few weeks, so I didn’t have a chance to post, but I worked with Day 10-12: Binary. I had my students create a binary converter in Scratch, and it worked rather well. Next time I teach this course, I am extremely tempted to introduce Scratch along side some of the data analysis activities so that my kids can see how useful it can be to have a computer analyze the information.

Since I am completing this unit’s PD 3 months after teaching the unit, I will be sharing the lesson guide that I created and the resources that I used for what I called 2.5 Binary Numbers (Unit 2; 5th lesson) for the instructional day identifies as day 10-12.

Here is the document I created for my students to use & and to guide the instructor through the lesson:2.5 Binary Numbers.pdf (127.9 KB)

… along with an ‘enrichment’ that describes how binary numbers are processes within a computer (something that I found online and modified)… 2.5.5 Computers, Bits and Binary Digits.pdf (158.5 KB) …

This video was used in conjunction with lesson 2.5.5…

This binary “pre-lesson” guide was also created to be used when helping students understand how everything fits together. It is more of as discussion guide for the instructor… Binary Numbers Pre-Lessons.pdf (35.0 KB)

Binary Lesson - days 10-12

Days10-12-Binary.docx (107.4 KB)

I will be sharing the final project that I had students do for this unit.

I will be using the building tower challenge.

I already did the minimal spanning tree lesson but I want to share some of the things I did with the muddy city project. I explained how everyone in a city is all connected with water line, sewer lines, and electric / gas lines. I asked the class have they ever noticed how during a storm one block will be completely dark with no power and then go to the next block and they have power. I explained the importance of the shortest path. The students really got competitive and the lesson was a great success.

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Here are my Unit 2 Challenge docs :
Unit 2 Lesson Overview
Lesson Activity Worksheets
Lesson PowerPoint
*PowerPoint includes the entire week’s lessons in addition to just the one for the challenge.

-Angelina Dominguez

I will be submitting a lesson plan for the Minimal Spanning Tree.

Muddy City Documents

ECS Curriculum Pages for Minimal Spanning Tree

Additional resources used for this lesson:



Lesson plan is in another post…have had a bit of trouble

Lesson Plan for Unit two

I have had an interesting time trying to figure out how to upload all this material and I’m still not sure I’ve submitted everything I’m supposed to submit.

I will have my students complete Day 17 minimum spanning tree activity. They will do further research on minimum spanning trees to see different plans. They will then come up with a scenario of their own (similar to Muddy City) that they will solve and one for their elbow partner/classmates to solve. We will then do a gallery walk of all minimum spanning trees with the solution of the creator as well as their elbow partners.

Hi Janettie,

It looks like you have successfully uploaded everything! Thanks for being persistent and figuring it out.

-Dani