Grade 3 – Structures and Mechanisms

Lesson Summary: Students will create an animated story that demonstrates the environmental impact of different

structures, including those built by animals.

Curriculum Expectations: These expectations are intended to highlight the many ways in which this lesson could support

the curriculum. It is neither expected nor necessary for teachers to address all of these expectations at once. Teachers

are encouraged to select the most relevant expectations based on their unique context and intentions for the lesson.

Science & Technology

Mathematics

Language - Writing

Overall Expectations

A2. use coding in investigations and

to model concepts, and assess the

impact of coding and of emerging

technologies on everyday life

A3. demonstrate an understanding of

the practical applications of science

and technology, and of contributions

to science and technology from

people with diverse lived experiences

D1. assess the importance of form,

function, strength, and stability in

structures to society and the

environment

D2. demonstrate an understanding of

the concepts of strength and stability

as they relate to structures with

various forms and functions, and of

the factors that affect structures’

strength and stability

Specific Expectations

A2.1 write and execute code in

investigations and when modelling

concepts, with a focus on testing,

debugging, and refining programs

A2.2 identify and describe impacts of

coding and of emerging technologies

on everyday life

A3.3 analyse contributions to science

and technology from various

communities

D1.1 assess effects on society and the

environment of strong and stable

structures

D1.2 assess the environmental

impact of structures built by various

animals, including structures built by

humans

D2.1 describe a structure as a

supporting framework that holds a

load and has a definite size, shape,

and function, and identify structures

in the natural environment and in the

built environment

Overall Expectations

C3. solve problems and create

computational representations of

mathematical situations using coding

concepts and skills

Specific Expectations

C3.1 solve problems and

create computational

representations of mathematical

situations by writing and executing

code, including code that

involves sequential, concurrent,

and repeating events

C3.2 read and alter existing code,

including code that involves

sequential, concurrent, and repeating

events, and describe how changes to

the code affect the outcomes

Overall Expectations

1. Generate, gather, and organize

ideas and information to write for an

intended purpose and audience

2. draft and revise their writing, using

a variety of informational, literary,

and graphic forms and stylistic

elements appropriate for the purpose

and audience;

Specific Expectations

1.1 identify the topic, purpose,

audience, and form for writing

1.2 generate ideas about a potential

topic, using a variety of strategies and

resources

1.3 gather information to support

ideas for writing in a variety of ways

and/or from a variety of sources

1.4 sort ideas and information for

their writing in a variety of ways

2.1 write short texts using a variety of

forms

2.3 use words and phrases that will

help convey their meaning as

specifically as possible

2.4 vary sentence structures and

maintain continuity by using joining

words to combine simple sentences

and using words that indicate time

and sequence to link sentences

3.4 use punctuation to help

communicate their intended

meaning, with a focus on the use of:

quotation marks to indicate direct

speech; commas to mark

grammatical boundaries within

sentences; capital letters and final

punctuation to mark the beginning

and end of sentences

3.8 produce pieces of published work

to meet identified criteria based on

the expectations related to content,

organization, style, use of

conventions, and use of presentation

strategies

Breaking Down the Coding Expectations in Science & Technology:

In the Grade 3 Science & Technology curriculum, there are 2 coding related expectations:

A2.1 write and execute code in investigations and when modelling concepts, with a focus on testing,

debugging, and refining programs

A2.2 identify and describe impacts of coding and of emerging technologies on everyday life

To paraphrase these expectations and express them in plainer language, students are being asked to:

● write code to demonstrate a science-related concept, focusing on testing their code to identify issues, correct

those issues, and further improve their code

● show how coding impacts our lives

Both expectations will be addressed through the project.

Learning Goals: We are learning to write code to create an animated story that demonstrates the environmental impact

of different structures created by humans and animals.

Success Criteria:

1. I can use a variety of event blocks and movement blocks

2. I can use loops to make my code more efficient

3. I can use sprite costumes to create animation effects

4. I can explain the testing and debugging process in my own words

5. I can explain the environmental impact of structures

STEM Profile:

Michelle Kaufmann is an American architect and designer who focuses on creating green homes. She focuses on using

building techniques to create structures that are environmentally conscious and

sustainable.

Her work has been showcased in numerous museums, including the National

Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art,

and most recently the museum of Science and Industry.

Like Michelle, we will be using our knowledge of structures to help others

understand their environmental impact.

Minds On:

1. Students will have different experience levels when it comes to coding.

a. If students have never experienced coding before, please watch the “What is Coding?” video.

b. If students have experienced coding before, have a quick discussion in which students share their definition

of coding. Some responses to look for include:

i. Coding is the language that computers speak

ii. Coding is how we talk to computers or get computers to do what we want

iii. Coding is the instructions that we give to a computer

2. Introduce the idea of a loop, which is a repeating section of code used to make the code more efficient; for example,

both of the following stacks of code do the same thing (i.e., have a sprite draw a square). Which is more efficient?

3. As code is created, the testing, debugging, and refining processes are used to make sure the project works and is

the best version of itself. There are 3 stages in this process:

a. Testing - Don’t wait until ALL of your code has been written to start testing it. Test it along the way to catch

errors before they compound. Similarly, make sure to test ALL of your project in all possible combinations.

b. Debugging - Mistakes are made and thinks don’t always work out as expected when writing code. After

code has been tested and issues discovered, debugging is the process of identifying the location of and

correcting issues.

c. Refining - There may not be a problem with the code, but it could be made simpler or more efficient.

Refining is the process of making code as simple as possible, while still giving the desired outcome.

Discussion: Can students think of a time where they used the testing, debugging, and refining process (i.e., outside

the context of coding)?

4. Brainstorm with students to generate ideas for their project. This can be done in small groups or as a whole class.

Some sample prompts include:

o What makes a structure have a positive or negative impact on the environment?

o What are structures we see in our community? What is the impact on the environment?

o How are the structures that animals build similar/different to those built by humans?

Note: The example code for this project includes a tour of different places and their structures. This is not the only type

of project that would be appropriate but is intended to serve as a sample.

Planning Our Project:

Provide students with the animated story project planner and encourage students to create between two and four

scenes in which different types of structures are represented. Students should outline what will happen in each scene

by drawing pictures and writing a few words or sentences, including any dialogue that will appear on screen, and starting

to plan their code, if applicable. Teachers may wish to provide a list of words from which to choose, a scribe, or other

assistive technology to support students.

Creating Our Project:

Since every student’s project will be unique, there is no single, step-by-step set of instructions to follow; however, the

information below will support you in the general process of creating an animated story, as well as key features that

students will likely want to include. This sample code further demonstrates how the project might work and please note

that there is code included for each of the sprites and the stage. For your reference, Scratch determines where to display

sprites and controls movement using a Cartesian coordinate system, with (0,0) being the center of the screen and it may

be helpful to pre-teach this concept, if it is one with which students are unfamiliar.

1. Choose or create your backdrop(s) for the project. If adding multiple backdrops, all of them can be added now or

later on.

2. Delete the cat sprite that is automatically added to your project and press the “choose a sprite“ button to select a

new sprite. You may wish to add all sprites that will be needed at this time. Remember that each sprite is

programmed separately, so be sure that you have selected the correct sprite before starting to write your code.

3. Your code must always start with an Event block. In this project, you will likely use the “When Green Flag Clicked“

block. You will also likely use the “When I Receive ()“ block, in combination with the “Broadcast ()“ block throughout

your code to trigger events to create the appearance of interactions between your sprites.

4. Some key features you may wish to use to set a “starting state” for your sprites include:

a. Go To X () Y () will allow you to set a static position for your sprite. This can be used at the start of a stack

of code in order to set a “starting position”

b. The Show and Hide blocks can be used intermittently throughout your code in order to have sprites appear

on screen or become “invisible” until a later time.

c. If you plan on having a sprite rotate at any point in your code, you will also want to set a starting direction

for your sprites using the Point In Direction () block.

Please note that Scratch does not automatically “reset” your sprites when you replay your code, so setting a starting

position, direction, and state of show/hide is often necessary.

5. To make your story more interactive, you may wish to use some of the following features:

a. The Say () For () Seconds block will allow you to create a “speech bubble” above a sprite for a certain

amount of time.

b. You can record your own sounds or choose from the ready made sound files in Scratch using the Sound

Editor. Use the Play Sound () Until Done block to play the desired sound clip in full.

c. The Glide () Secs To X () Y () block will allow you to have your sprite glide across the screen to a certain

coordinate. The longer the number of seconds, the slower it will move. This helps create the effect of more

realistic movements.

d. The Turn () Degrees block can be used to create a “spinning” effect in your code. Combine with a Repeat

() block or a Forever block to use a loop to automate this effect.

6. If you are using Scratch’s pre-designed sprites, you can use Costumes to create a more interesting, animated effect

on your characters. If you have designed your own sprites, you will need to create your own costumes using the

Paint Editor.

a. You can use a loop to rotate through all of the sprite costumes. Use a Repeat () block or a Forever block

and, inside of the loop, add a Wait () Seconds block. Set it to anywhere between 0.25 and 0.5 seconds (i.e.,

the shorter the time, the faster the animation will run). A setting of 0.5 seconds makes the animation fairly

realistic, without being too fast.

b. Still inside of the loop, add the Next Costume block. This will ensure that each time the loop cycles through,

it moves on to the next costume in the series. If you have used a Repeat () block, then you will need to use

the number of costumes available for the sprite to calculate how many times the loop should repeat (i.e.,

if there are four costumes available for your sprite, setting the loop to 4 will be one