TTS Pro-Bot Teachers Manual page 6

Key Focus
Creating a program using commands and
parameters
National Curriculum for Computing
KEY STAGE 1
• create and debug simple programs
National Curriculum for Computing
KEY STAGE 2
• design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including
controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into
smaller parts
• use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to
detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
Preparation:
Check that Pro-Bot powers up when switched on. Identify a suitable surface to run Pro-Bot
on. Smooth surfaces will allow Pro-Bot to move more accurately.
Activity
Once confident with the basic movement of Pro-Bot, children can start adding parameters
to commands e.g. Forward 10. "Forward" is the command and "10" is the parameter.
The parameter tells Pro-Bot how far to move forward. Angles of turn are
parameters that can be added to Left or Right e.g. Right Turn 45.
Children should spend some time experimenting with parameters
and seeing how these affect Pro-Bot's movement.
They can work towards creating regular
polygons. A square is a good place
to start.
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