Activity — Paper airplane
Purpose: Understand why we have programming languages and why they are written the way they are
You have 15-20 minutes to complete this activity.
You will get 3 pieces of paper
- Practice making an airplane
- Write how to make an airplane
- Make an airplane with someone else's instruction
Procedure for today's activity:
- Write a step-by-step instruction for how to make an airplane
(Text only! No drawing. No diagram)
- Trade instructions with your neighbor
- Follow the instruction (strictly!) to make an airplane
- Show the result back to the one who gave the instructions
- When you are done folding, throw at the target (hit me!)
Be prepared to share your opinion
Let's wrap-up
- Shortest directions?
- Unambiguous directions?
- What makes "good" instructions?
- How about "Crumple into as small a ball as possible"?
Will this make an airplane?
What is an airplane? Definition?
In general, it can be difficult to figure out what our "goal" is.