KS3 Algorithms and Computational Thinking Complete Unit

Teach algorithm design with a complete, game-themed unit. This resource has seven editable PowerPoint lessons, a work booklet, a homework booklet and full answers. Pupils build their way up a factory line, earning bolts as they learn to think like computer scientists.

Every lesson is a “line” on the factory floor, with an assembly progress bar, a bolts score, a “Choose your bot” practice choice of Mini, Standard or Mega, a quality-check quiz and a “Bot built” finish.

The seven lessons

Think Like a Robot Engineer: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithm design
Algorithms and Flowcharts: what makes a good algorithm, the flowchart symbols and a worked flowchart
Variables, Data Types and Operators: the assignment arrow, integer, real, string and Boolean, and pseudocode
Selection and Boolean Logic: IF, ELSE, comparison operators, AND, OR and NOT
Loops: Repeat After Me: WHILE and REPEAT loops, counters and infinite loops
Tracing Algorithms: trace tables, dry runs and predicting output
Debugging and the Final Challenge: syntax, logic and runtime errors, and a “bolt checker” design task

Lots of different activities

Card sorts, odd one out, matching, put-in-order tasks and spot the mistake
Trace it: fill-in trace tables for variables and loops
Decision cards, a “crack the code” puzzle that reveals ROBOT, and a human robot challenge
A bug swap, where pupils write bugs for a partner to find and fix
Drawn flowcharts on the slides, so pupils see sequence, selection and iteration

Every lesson also has

A power-up warm-up (retrieval) and a mission briefing (objectives)
Training mode: I do, we do, you do
Easy, Medium and Hard practice with an answer key
A six-question quality-check quiz with answers
A plenary and speaker notes

Also included

Work Booklet (48 pages, A4 PowerPoint): notes, activities, tiered practice, glossary and checklist
Homework Booklet (20 pages): seven homeworks and a 36-mark unit review
Answer booklets: full answers, completed trace tables and model answers

Topics covered: computational thinking, flowcharts, pseudocode, variables and data types, selection, iteration, tracing, debugging and algorithm design.

Original Logic Page resource. Please check the previews before purchasing.