TECHNOLOGEPH

Word Count Essay: Have the students write an essay about a certain topic or a topic of their choice, but with a word count limit. They should realize that they will need to omit certain details and keep only the ones that are essential to their description.

Guessing Game: Sort students into pairs. Given a short amount of time, have one student draw an object of their choice. Then have the other student try to guess what the object is. Under time pressure, the students should understand that they only need to include the necessary attributes to make their object comprehensible.

20 Questions: In pairs or teams, have students play the classic 20 questions game. One person (or team) thinks of an object and the opponent can ask up to 20 yes-or-no questions to deduce what the object is. This game forces players to think creatively about what aspects of the potential object are most revealing and essential to its nature.

Mad Libs: Play a game of Mad Libs with the class. Mad Libs is a phrasal template word game. Some words of a story are left blank and it is up to the player to fill in the missing words, allowing the story to take many different forms. This game illustrates how parts can be interchangeable while still maintaining a cohesive whole.

Crazy Character: Have students create a set of instructions to draw a crazy character. See L1 PDFs folder for more information. (credit: Barefoot Computing,

Paired Sprite Movement Description II: Sit across from a partner so you cannot see each other’s screens. Spend some time writing a program that makes your sprite move around the screen. For instance, your sprite can spin around, move right and left, or up and down. Once you have finished your program, take turns with your partner describing your program to them. Try to describe your program in the fewest number of steps, only explaining the most important parts. See how well they can recreate your program from your description. .