Learning Intention
- I can program Picoh to fulfil a real world job
Introduction
Today we are going to draw on the skills we have learnt in previous years to write our very own computer program that fulfils a real life scenario. The skills we will be using are: ask name; ask and wait; the if command; the if-then-else command; and if current hour. Today, Picoh will be the telephone receptionist at our school. Has anyone heard the message you get when you ring the school? Do you know who is speaking? Do you know any of the options you are given?
Teacher Input
Ask the children for their responses to the following questions and record their ideas on the working wall. What do you think a school telephone receptionist should say first? (Usually they would say a welcome message. They may then ask the caller their name. The receptionist can then respond to the caller using their name. They might also say good morning or good afternoon depending on the time of the day.)
What would be the next step? (Usually the telephone receptionist would then provide the caller with a list of options.) What might those options be in a school? Who might you want to speak to in a school? (Office, head teacher, etc.) The telephone receptionist would then ask the caller more questions depending on who they have asked to speak to.
Ask the children to suggest ways we could solve any of the ideas on the working wall using Picoh language. What projects have we already written that use these skills? Finally, run the demonstration code for the children to provide them with further ideas for the development of the project.
Activities
Children to write the code which allows Picoh to be a school telephone receptionist.
Continue building the receptionist program, offering the caller a list of options and responding to each.
Extension
Children to write detailed code for more than one department or option.
Plenary
Show some good examples of children's projects to the class. How did you find today's lesson? (Thumbs up, down, middle)
Key Points
- Real world jobs can be modelled by combining skills from across the scheme.
- This project draws on ask name, ask and wait, if, if-then-else and current hour.
- Planning the conversation before coding clarifies the structure.
- `current hour` lets Picoh greet callers with good morning or good afternoon.
- Each caller option needs its own branch of conditional code.
Need Help?
If you're stuck on any part of this lesson, check out these resources: