We think that a fab way to teach algorithms is to explore them in non-computing contexts. That’s why we love to teach them in relation to dance. Some of the great dances that your children will know from family parties and events have repeated and distinctive moves.
Dances like:
- Saturday Night
- The Macarena
- 5678
- YMCA
- The Cha-Cha Slide
We like to deconstruct the algorithm of the dance with a view to getting the learners to teach our robots to replicate the moves. When on holiday we discovered this one
The song is in Portuguese – so it’s a new language too. Just like learning a new coding language.
First of all, we use a set of cards for the children to identify the order of the moves. Then we challenge them to work in teams to “program” themselves to learn the dance. You can have a great discussion about how we will make mistakes before we learn and will need to practice where a robot wouldn’t – provided the program is written correctly, tested and debugged.
The fact that the song gets faster allows us to draw parallels to games like space invaders, where the increasing challenge comes from the game speeding up. You can explore some retro games here http://torinak.com/qaop/games
The reason that some games become addictive is because success is within, but just out of, reach. Games like Flappy Bird or Classic Space Invaders were just like this. Leaderboard games like Fortnite keep us hooked for a similar reason.
The children like the challenge of getting to the end of the song (level) without missing a move.
Top tip – sometimes your boys will zone out when you ask them to dance. Sell it to them as mastering a combo move in a game. That worked for us.
The cards you need to introduce the activity can de be downloaded below
Soca Bate Vera
You can try the interactive drag and drop version of the sheet here
Ways we extend this activity
The Jimu Mebot can actually dance – If you have one get the children programming it to perform recognisable moves. We’ve yet to see him floss 😉
You can download the Jimu app here and have a play here:
IOS – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/jimu/id1070681102
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ubt.jimu&hl=en_GB&gl=US
- We have had children get our Spheros to do the Cha-Cha-Slide. This is hilarious if you swap out the generic ones for the R2D2 version.
You can access on YouTube
First of all, ask them to go through the lyrics and think about moves your robot will find difficult and what they could do instead. What can your robot do instead of the bits in red?
This time we’re gonna get funky
Everybody clap your hands
Clap clap clap clap your hands
Clap clap clap clap your hands
Alright we gonna do the basic steps
Slide to the left
Slide to the right
Take it back now y’all
One hop this time
Right foot lets stomp
Left foot lets stomp
Cha cha real smooth
Now turn it out
To the left
Take it back now y’all
One hop this time
Right foot lets stomp
Left foot lets stomp
Cha cha now y’all
Now it’s time to get funky
To the right
To the left
Take it back now y’all
One hop this time, one hop this time
Right foot two stomps
Left foot two stomps
Slide to the left
Slide to the right
Criss cross, criss cross
Cha cha real smooth
We have a whole host of robots in our collection and would love to bring them to your school so you can have a play.
Please get in touch if you would like to arrange it.