Intro to Programming

Today we nearly had a full house for a very cool session on Programming. First we viewed a few Khan academy tutorials about the basics of code and how to command your computer as though it is an obedient dog. Then we got a chance to complete a few challenges.
Along the way, we learned about the parentheses ( ) the semi colon ; the parameters and the functions, and the purposes of each.
In just an hour, we went from drawing this, to drawing this! (Aleks' ice cream)

 

Here's the code for the ice cream:

Next week we will get a chance to extend our skills, and see what else can be done with programming language.



Teeny weeny group today!

We had a sum total of two students in the class today! Our school musical is going to be fantastic, but the dedication to practices does mean that other afternoon classes such as Explore It will suffer losses all this term.
Ivan and Sam already knew a lot about polyhedra... this is a particular 20-sided polyhedron called an icosahedron. It is made of twenty equilateral triangles.

In order to construct a net for it, the boys first had to learn how to draw the equilateral triangle using a compass, then repeat that process twenty times... as evenly as possible!
We actually found that the drawing part was easier than expected; it was the gluing that was tricky. Next time we're going to use a hot glue gun!
We would like to explore stellations. We hope we will have a bigger group! :-)