Project your tablet screen, open the Blockly app, and go to the menu at the top left of the screen.
Go to the Create New Project menu and select the Hot Potato preset program. Then tap “create.”
Ask the students to look at the program and predict what they think will happen when it is run.
Then, have students play Hot Potato by passing Dot around. The person holding Dot when Dot beeps is out! Keep playing until there is only one person left.
Have students look at the program while it’s running. Then ask, “How is the variable changing while we play Hot Potato?”
Sample response: “This program chooses a random number (between 2 and 10) and stores that number as a variable. Then the variable keeps decreasing until it becomes 0. When the variable is 0, then Dot beeps and ends the game!”)
Ask, “How do you set a variable to a random number?”
Sample response: “To set a variable to a random number, tap on the Set Variable block. Then tap on the picture of the dice and use the + and - signs to move the numbers up and down.”)
Tap on the change variable block and say, “Now let’s look at the Change Variable block. Discuss with a partner how you think this block works.”
Sample response: ”This block works by increasing or decreasing the number that the variable has stored. We can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.”
