Lesson 8 of the student textbook.
Lesson 8 of the Activities Workbook-if needed.
Students will need the Lesson 8 data files saved on the network.
Complete the lesson ahead of time in order to anticipate any obstacles students may encounter.
Let
students know that for the Division project in Exercise 8.2 they should use the
version they completed in Project 5C rather than the version they completed in
Step-by-Step 4.7-4.8. For Project 8A’s Buses file students should use the
version they completed in Project 5D rather than the version they completed in
the Critical Thinking Activity for Lesson 4. If they did not complete Lesson 5
they can complete the exercises in this lesson but their programs will be
missing the On Error GoTo /ErrorHandler/ MsgBox/ and Exit Sub statements.
Although flowcharts probably seem superfluous to the small programs created in the book, students need to understand that they are very commonplace in the business of programming. There are books available about creating and reading flowcharts and the many symbols they can contain. Introduce them to some of the many software packages that are specifically designed to create flowcharts. Let students know that flowcharts are typically no longer used to represent entire programs. With the advent of object-oriented programming, code is executed in events instead of a top-down order; therefore, flowcharts are better used for diagramming specific event procedures.
When writing If statements, students seem to have trouble applying the correct conditional operators. The most common mistake involves using the < or > as opposed to the <= or >= operators. For example, if a program needs to ask, “Is the water frozen?” most students would code this question as “If temperature < 32 Then.” In actuality the <= operator should be used since water freezes at 32 degrees.
Another common mistake occurs when students try to use the logical operators to determine if a number is outside of a range. When speaking, it is common to say “Do something when number X is less than zero and greater than ten.” However, when writing code, it is not possible for X to be less than zero AND greater than ten. Instead, the logical OR should be used such as “If X < 0 OR X > 10 Then.”
CLOSE
Have students read the Summary, then complete the Review Questions at the end of the lesson. These questions will serve as a review of the material learned in the lesson.
The four projects in Lesson 8 give students a chance to reinforce the concepts they have learned in the lesson.
The Critical Thinking Activity asks students to apply what they have learned in a way that is a little different from the exercises in the lesson. It provides less specific instruction, allowing students to rely on what they have learned, rather than blindly following steps. Students’ solutions may not match the sample solution exactly-need to allow them room for their own creativity.
ASSESS
Assign
the Lesson 8 end-of-Lesson exercises and review.
Assign
the set of nine IF-THEN PROGRAMS.