Unit 5 project: Teach the computer a school job

This unit you broke a big job into small tasks, found the part of a pattern that repeats, left out the details that didn't matter, gave a program if-then rules, and hunted bugs. Today your group uses all five skills at once to teach a computer one real job from your school.

Work in groups of 3–4. One period. Build it in Scratch. Save as school-job-<group>.sb3.

Pick one — things and routines only, never about a named person:

• The morning bell: ring 3 times, if it's a Friday ring once more.
• Watering the saplings: walk along the row, water each one — if it rained, skip it.
• The lunch line: each class goes in turn — if the bell rings, stop.
• Your own idea, approved by your teacher.

1. Break it down: write the small steps on paper, one per line. Can one person do each step?
2. Find the repeat: which steps happen again and again? That's your loop.
3. Find the question: what does the job have to check? That's your if-then.
4. Leave things out: cross out any detail that doesn't matter — the colour of the bell, who is tallest.
5. Predict: how many blocks will your program need? Write the number.

6. In Scratch, build your program. A sprite can say each step, move along a row, or play a sound. It must have at least one repeat and one if-then.
7. Run it. Does it do the job? Fix anything that's wrong.

8. Swap laptops with another group. Read their plan, predict what their program will do, then run it.
9. Find one bug — or one step that's missing — and tell them. Hunt with the four steps: predict, run, spot, change one thing.

Each person writes one sentence: "A computer could do this job, but a person should still ___, because ___." Sign with your roll number. This part is marked for you alone.

Each group shows its program running and says which bug the other group found.