Dragon Blast - Tynker · New this year are Dragon Blast and Space Quest, the first Tynker Hour of Code activities available in Spanish, Chinese, German, French, and Japanese as well

Dragon BlastAn Intermediate Coding Activity for Grades 6 and Up

Teacher Guide

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Table of Contents

Quick Start 3Dragon Blast Facts 3

Activity Guide 5Learning Objectives 5How to Complete the Puzzles 7Block Guide 8Standards Alignment 10Optional Warm-up Activity: Life Conditionals 12Puzzles 1-5 13Puzzles 6-7 16Puzzles 8-11 18Puzzles 12-14 21Puzzles 15-18 23Puzzles 19-21 26Puzzles 22-24 27Puzzles 25-27 30

Activity Wrap-Up 32

Classroom Setup 33Tracking Student Progress 33Student Certificates 33

Other Hour of Code Activities 34

Going Beyond an Hour 35Do More with Tynker 35Learning Pathways 35Tynker for Schools 35

About Tynker 36

About the Hour of Code 36

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Quick Start

Dragon Blast Facts● Web Address: tynker.com/hour-of-code/dragon-blast● Coding skill level: Intermediate● Recommended grade level: Grade 6+● Time Required: 60 Minutes● Number of modules: 27● Coding language: Block-based, Python, JavaScript● Localization: English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish,

German, French, Japanese

Welcome!Welcome to the Hour of Code 2017! If you’re new to Tynker, check out our Hour of Code pageto see all Tynker activities. New this year are Dragon Blast and Space Quest, the first TynkerHour of Code activities available in Spanish, Chinese, German, French, and Japanese as well asEnglish.

What is Dragon Blast?Dragon Blast is a puzzle-based activity where students complete advanced coding puzzles andlearn computational thinking skills along the way. They play as a dragon hatchling, and go on atreasure hunt in a magical forest.Dragon Blast is a simplified version of a curriculum created by Tynker for the Everyone CanCode program by Apple. For more information about using the full course in your classroom,check out the iBook Get Started with Code 2 from Apple.

Who is this activity for?Dragon Blast is intended for students in grades 6 and up with some coding experience.Students who are younger and have less coding experience should check out Space Quest.

What will my students learn?The coding concepts covered in this activity are Algorithms, Debugging, Loops, Decomposition,Abstraction, Functions, and Conditionals. The puzzle sequence maps to CSTA Computer Sciencestandards 1B-A-5-4, 1B-A-3-7, 1B-A-6-8, and 2-A-5-6. For a complete list of standards, see theStandards Alignment section of this guide.

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/

http://tynker.com/hour-of-code/dragon-blast

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/get-started-with-code-2/id1226776857?mt=11

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

What devices do I need?Each student needs to have a desktop computer, laptop computer, or Chromebook with aninternet connection and an up-to-date browser. No downloads are required. If not enoughdevices are available, students can work in pairs on the same device.

How should I prepare to teach Dragon Blast?The best way to prepare for an Hour of Code is to know the activity. Take half an hour to tryDragon Blast on your own beforehand. If you need help, feel free to consult the Activity Guide,which contains a full answer key and block glossary.

How can Tynker help me manage my Hour of Code?Tynker has several free features for registered teachers that will help you manage your Hour ofCode. If you set your students up with a Tynker classroom, you will be able to track theirprogress through Dragon Blast and print certificates for them to keep. For more information,see the Classroom Setup section of this guide.

How do I change my language settings?Tynker will automatically detect your language preferences through your browser. If you areusing a language that is supported by Dragon Blast, Tynker will use that language. A languageselection feature will be implemented soon.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Activity GuideThis activity is designed for self-directed learning. The puzzles are as engaging as they arechallenging. Aside from the optional Warm-up Activity, you will not have to lead your classthrough Dragon Blast. Your goal will be to help students out individually.Tynker puzzles increase in complexity, and students may need help occasionally. The best wayto help students proceed is to give them hints or clues that allow them to arrive at the answersthemselves. If you give correct answers directly, your students won’t learn as much as theyotherwise could. If you need any help answering student questions, see the GeneralInformation section, which explains the code blocks and the Puzzle interface.Before your Hour of Code, if you have extra time, get your students in the coding mindset witha Warm-up Activity. This is a discussion about conditionals in everyday life.Here is a sample schedule:

● 15 Min: Warm up with Life Conditionals● 45 Min: Complete Dragon Blast● If you have more time, choose from over 30 Tynker activities based on interest, grade

and experience.Learning ObjectivesYour students will be using logical skills and computational thinking to manipulate code.Dragon Blast is organized into sections of 2-5 puzzles, corresponding to the following concepts:Algorithms: An algorithm is a step-by-step set of instructions to solve a problem. As they makealgorithms, your students will learn how to tailor their solutions to the problem at hand.Debugging: A bug is an error in a piece of code and debugging is the process of finding andfixing that error. As they spot bugs, your students will learn to critically examine code.Loops: A loop is a set of code that gets repeated a certain number of times or until a certaincondition is met. As they work with loops, your students will learn to analyze patterns.Decomposition: Decomposition is breaking down complex problems into smaller problems tomake them easier to solve. As they decompose problems, your students will learn to handlemore difficult puzzles.Abstraction: Abstraction is finding the commonalities within a set so that it is easier to thinkabout that set. As they find shared qualities, your students will improve their understanding ofpatterns.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Functions: A function is a group of code commands that has been given a name. As they usefunction blocks, your students will learn to combine steps into singular processes.Conditionals: A condition is something that can be checked to see if it is true or false. As theyuse conditional statements, your students will learn to consider multiple scenarios.Click the links above to jump to the Answer Keys for each section.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

How to Complete the PuzzlesGetting StartedTo get started, have your students open a browser tab to this URL:tynker.com/hour-of-code/dragon-blast

The Workspace

In each puzzle, an overlay will appear containing the workspace. The darker section on the leftis the library and shows which types of blocks are available for use for this particular puzzle. Inthis situation, the only blocks available are the “walk” and “jump” blocks. The lighter section onthe right is the active code are that your students will place their working code in. In thissituation, there is already a “on start” code block in the active code area. To add a code block tothe active code, simply drag the block from the library and connect it to a block in the activecode area.

Visual Code Blocks, JavaScript, and PythonA code block is a block representing a piece of code that your students can use to make theirprogram. The text in the code block has three modes that can be selected at the bottom left ofthe workspace: Tynker visual blocks, JavaScript, and Python. For younger and inexperiencedstudents, we recommend using Tynker blocks but students who want a challenge may want to

http://tynker.com/hour-of-code/dragon-blast

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

use the other languages. Note that our answer key uses the Tynker blocks, but if you need areference for JavaScript and Python, we have included the corresponding code in the BlocksGuide.

Running Your CodeTo run the code, your students should click on the play button on the bottom right of thescreen. This will remove the workspace and the dragon should follow the code blocks that yourstudents added to the active code area. While the dragon is moving, the code will be shown atthe upper left. Your students can watch the code blocks execute by following either the greenoutlines. The green will move as each code block is executed.

Common Issues● Disconnected blocks

○ Make sure your students have connected all of their blocks and that the blocksare connected to the “on start” block. Code that is not connected to the “on start”block will not be executed. Functions definitions blocks do not need to beconnected to the “on start” block.

● Using too few or too many blocks○ Drag more blocks over if the cadet does not reach the end. If your students

accidentally add too many blocks or a block that they do not want, then they candrag the block from the right to the left and a trash can symbol will show up.Once they release the block, the block will be removed from their code.

● Deleting the “on start” block○ If students accidentally delete a block that is not available in the library, they

need to restart the puzzle by clicking the button on the top right with thethree lines and then selecting the refresh button to reset their code.

● Incorrect sequencing○ For all of the puzzles, there are particular actions that have to happen at

particular times. For some of the puzzles there is only one solution for the puzzle.For others there may be multiple ways to organize the code blocks to get thesolution, especially when loops are involved. If your students are struggling,suggest that they read through the code blocks one by one and trace what willhappen to their cadet with their finger.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Block Guide

Block Description

On Start

JavaScript: function _on_start() { } Python: def _on_start():

This is an event block that will run all code attached to it the play button is pressed. Students must attach their code to the bottom of the “on start” block for it to run.

Walk

JavaScript: walk(); Python: walk()

Moves the dragon one space forward.

Jump

JavaScript: jump(); Python: jump()

Makes the dragon jump straight up and move one space forward to land on a new platform.

Eat

JavaScript: eat(); Python: eat()

Makes the dragon eat the bug that is directly in front of it.

Blast

JavaScript: blast(); Python: blast()

Makes the dragon breathe fire or ice to destroy an object in front of it.

Turn around

JavaScript: turn_around(); Python: turn_around()

Makes the dragon face opposite direction.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Repeat

JavaScript: for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++){ } Python: for i in range(0, 10):

Everything inside of this block is repeated a certain number of times. The amount of times that the code repeats is the number that is next to the word repeat (the count). To change the number of repeats, click on the count and enter the number that you want. This is called a counting loop because it counts the number of times that the loop has been repeated and stops when it hits the inputted number.

Function Definition

JavaScript: function remove_barrier(){ } Python: def remove_barrier():

This block is similar to an “on start” block in that it does not connect to another block on the top. It is it’s own set of code. All the code attached to the bottom of the “function definition” block will run each time the corresponding “function command” block is used.

Function Command

JavaScript: remove_barrier(); Python: remove_barrier()

Executes the code stored in the “function definition” block for the corresponding function and must be attached to another block. The “function definition” block and “function command” block must have the same name.

JavaScript: if ( _Icefly()){ } Python: if (_Icefly()):

If the statement in the between the “if” and the “then” is true, then the code inside the block will execute. Otherwise, the code inside the block will be ignored. This block will perform the check every time it is executed.

While

JavaScript: while(_Treasure()){ } Python: while(_Treasure()):

Note that in this course, the “while” blocks say “while” instead of “repeat while”. Everything inside of this block is repeated until the statement represented by the “false” is no longer true. If the statement never changes from true to false, the code will be repeated forever. If the statement is never true, the code will not be run. This is called a conditional loop because it relies on a condition being false to stop.

Not

This is a conditional block that negates the statement that replaces the “false” that is

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

JavaScript: ! _Treasure() Python: not _Treasure()

currently there. This block can be added to “if” and “while” blocks. In the case of a “while” block, the loop will run until the statement inside “false” is false and will stop when it becomes true.

Standards AlignmentDragon Blast is mapped to the following standards:CSTA Computer Science:

● 1B-A-5-4, 1B-A-3-7, 1B-A-6-8, 2-A-5-6Common Core CCSS-Math:

● MP.1, 5.G.1, 5.G.2, 6.NS.6, 1.OA.1, 2.OA.1, 1.OA.2, 2OA.2, 1.OA.3, 2.OA.3, 1.MD.4Common Core CCSS-ELA:

● 1.RF.1, 2.RF.1, 1.RF.4, 2.RF.4, 5.RF.4, 6-8.RST.3, 6-8.RST.4, 6-8.RST.7, 1.RI.3, 2.RI.3, 1.RI.6,2.RI.6, 1.RI.7, 2.RI.7, 1.RI.10, 2.RI.10, 3.RI.3, 4.RI.3, 3.RI.5, 3.RI.7, 4.RI.7, 3.RF.3, 4.RF.3,3.RF.4, 4.RF.4, 1.L.3, 2.L.3, 2.L.6, 3.L.1, 4.L.1, 3.L.2, 4.L.2, 3.L.3, 4.L.3, 3.L.4, 4.L.4, 3.W.3,4.W.3, 3.W.4, 4.W.4, 3.W.6, 4.W.6

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Optional Warm-up Activity: LifeConditionalsIf you have more than 50 minutes available, try this discussion as an unplugged coding activity.Make a diagram on the board with two columns.

● Label the left column “Events”. This will be a list of events that demand some response.● Label the right column “Responses”. This will be a list of appropriate reactions for each

event.● Discuss some simple examples with your class. For each event, write down the

appropriate response in the right column. In the middle of these two columns, drawarrows connecting event to response.

○ Ask your class what they are supposed to do in the event of an earthquake.○ Ask about what to do when the fire alarm goes off.○ Ask about what to do if there is a power outage.

● Now discuss some more familiar examples:○ What do you do if you have a homework assignment due tomorrow?○ What do you do when your shoe is untied?○ What do you do when your hands are dirty?○ What do you do if you bump into someone accidentally?

● Continue connecting events and responses with arrows.Explain that these situations all have something in common: they are all conditionalstatements.

● Write “If” above the left column and “Then” above the right column. Demonstrate thateverything on the board makes sense when you read it as “If (A), then (B).”

Say “We understand this as part of normal life. If you notice something, you react to it. Butcomputers need to be programmed to act this way. We program computers to notice thingsand react to them using conditional statements.”

● If you are holding Shift, the letters you type become capital letters.● If you are watching a YouTube video and you press ‘K’, the video will pause-- but if you

are typing a search into YouTube’s search bar, the ‘K’ key functions normally and doesnot pause the video!

● If you quickly press the Home button on an iPhone or iPad twice, the device doessomething different than when you only press Home once.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

As you transition into playing Dragon Blast, explain to your students that they are going to haveto program their dragon to notice and react using conditionals. The first several puzzles won’thave any conditionals, but the later ones will.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 1-5Concepts: Algorithms

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to the Tynker coding environment andto practice with simple coding blocks. Students will also be exposed to sequencing and creatingalgorithms. A sequence is the order in which instructions are performed and an algorithm is astep-by-step set of instructions to solve a problem. For each puzzle, your students will need tocome up with an algorithm containing a specific sequence of instructions for the dragon tofollow to reach the pile of treasure.

Puzzle 1: Select aDragonYour students mustchoose their character.They have the choicebetween 3 dragons:Jasper, Grooper, andHarper. They will need toclick the egg many timesto make it hatch.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 2: JumpMove the dragon to thepile of treasure using“walk” and “jump” blocks.

Puzzle 3: BlowFireUse the “eat” and “blast”blocks to eat the bug anddestroy the wood. Movethe dragon to the pile oftreasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 4: Jumpand Blow FireCombine the “walk”,“jump”, “eat”, and “blast”blocks to move thedragon to the pile oftreasure.

Puzzle 5: ChangeDirectionUse the “turn around”block and the old blocksto move the dragon tothe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 6-7Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to debugging. A bug is an error in apiece of code and debugging is the process of finding and fixing that error. In each puzzle, yourstudents will be given a puzzle and a piece of code that has a bug in it. They will need to fix thebug so that the dragon can reach the end of the level. There are a couple of ways your studentscan approach debugging:

● Run the buggy code to see what happens before modifying the code.● Read through the buggy code and use a finger to trace what should be happening to the

dragon as each code block is executed. They may also want to say the steps outloud tounderstand what is happening.

● Ignore the buggy code and write out by hand what they would do if they wereapproaching the puzzle as they did with previous puzzles. Then compare that code tothe buggy code.

Debugging is a major part of coding and helps to reinforce understanding of the concepts thatthey learned in previous puzzles.

Puzzle 6: IceBreathDebug the code so thatthe dragon can get pastthe fire to the pile oftreasure.Debugging Steps: Add a“walk” block after “eat”.Add a walk after “blast”.Add a “walk” block after“jump”.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 7: Jump.Grow. Jump.Debug the code so thatthe dragon can get to thepile of treasure.Debugging steps: Movethe bottom “jump” blockto after the “eat” block.Add a second “walk”block to the end.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 8-11Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Loops

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to loops. A loop is a set of code thatgets repeated a certain number of times or until a certain condition is met. Loops allowprogrammers to use reduce the amount of code that they have to write. These puzzles will usea particular kind of loop called a for loop which is a loop that repeats a section of code a certainnumber of times. To complete the puzzles, your students will need to look for a repeatingpattern that can be used to reach the pile of treasure. That repeating pattern will be what theyplace inside the loop block.

Puzzle 8: RepeatUse the “repeat” block tomove the dragon to thepile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 9: TripleJumpUse the “repeat” and“jump” blocks to movethe dragon to the pile oftreasure.

Puzzle 10: Blow.Blow. Blow.Use the “repeat”, “eat”,and “blast” blocks tomove the dragon to thepile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 11: Jump.Turn Around.Repeat.Use the “repeat”, “jump”,and “turn around” blocksto move the dragon tothe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 12-14Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Decomposition

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to the concept of decomposition.Decomposition is breaking down the complex problems into smaller problems to makecompleting the problem easier. These puzzles are more challenging than before and yourstudents will have to use all of the skills that they have learned in previous puzzles to reach theend. There will likely be a lot of testing and rearranging their code. If your students arestruggling, ask them to break down the problem and suggest they solve one small problemsuch as getting to the end of one platform. Once they have a solution to all of the smallerproblems, they can put it all together to complete the level.

Puzzle 12: JumpUp. Jump Down.Use all the blocks tomove the dragon to thepile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 13: IceBreath. Grow.Use all the blocks to eatthe different bugs andmove the dragon to thepile of treasure.

Puzzle 14: Eat.Blast. TurnAround. Jump.Use all the blocks to eatthe bugs, navigate theplatforms, and move thedragon to the pile oftreasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 15-18Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Loops, Decomposition, Abstraction

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to the concept of abstraction.Abstraction is finding the commonalities within a group so that it is easier to think about thatgroup. In coding, abstraction is useful when the same actions need to be performed ondifferent items. If we can group the items by similarities, then we can have code that works onevery item in a group. Your students will first practice using blocks that they have used beforein a slightly different way. Then, they will get to practice abstraction using a story template. Thetemplate already has each of the items divided into groups such as title and location. Yourstudents will be able to change the input for each of these items and create a whole new storyusing the same template. They will be able to see how using abstraction to group items makesit much easier to switch out code.

Puzzle 15: JumpUp. Jump Down.Use all the knowledgeyou have gained to movethe dragon up and downthe platforms to reachthe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 16: Walk.Turn Around.Jump.Find the pattern andmove the dragon to thepile of treasure.

Puzzle 17: ADragon’s TaleIntroductionObserve how abstractionis used in coding bylooking at the storytemplates.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 18: ADragon’s TaleUse the templates tomake various stories.Once the students aredone experimenting, theycan move on to the nextpuzzle. This is an openended project andstudents can spend asmuch time on this puzzleas they would like.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 19-21Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Loops, Decomposition, Abstraction, Functions

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to functions. A function is a group ofcode commands that has been given a name. To use the set of commands in a function, yourstudents will use the name of the function to execute it. Functions are useful when you want toperform the same actions many times but you do not want to have a lot of repeated codeblocks. Similar to loops, functions make your code more efficient. The function will be definedin a “function definition” block and to use the function, your students will need to use the“function command” block. These blocks will be given to your students so they will not have toname the functions themselves.

Puzzle 19:Remove BarrierWrite a function “removebarrier” that will handleremoving the piece ofwood in front of thedragon. Use the functionto move the dragon tothe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 20:Remove BarrierTwiceUse the “remove barrier”function to destroy thebarriers and move thedragon to the pile oftreasure.

Puzzle 21: DetectPattern andClimb UpWrite a function “climbup” that will handlemaking the dragon jumpup the platforms. Use the“climb up” commandblock to execute thefunction as many timesas necessary.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 22-24Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Loops, Decomposition, Abstraction, Functions, Conditionals

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to conditions and conditionalstatements. A condition is something we can check if it is true or false. For example, we cancheck if the dragon has reached the pile of treasure. If the dragon is at the treasure, thecondition is true, if not the condition is false. A conditional statement gives certaininstructions when certain conditions are true. For these puzzles, your students will be using ifstatements. An if statement is a conditional statement that gives instruction only if thecondition is true. For example, if you said the if statement “If you’re happy, clap your hands”,your students would only clap their hands if they are happy. Otherwise, the command “clapyour hands” would be ignored. There are also if-else statements. If-else statements are thesame as if statements but the have the extra “else” component which contains the instructionsthat are to be followed if the condition is not true.

Puzzle 22:Moving IceflyUse the “if” block to checkif there is a bug in frontof the dragon for it toeat. Move the dragonpast the fire and get tothe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 23:Moving BugUse the “if” block to checkif there is a bug in frontof the dragon for it toeat. Move the dragon tothe next platform and getto the pile of treasure.

Puzzle 24:Moving Fireflywith JumpUse the “if” block to checkif there is a bug in frontof the dragon for it toeat. Move the dragon tothe pile of treasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzles 25-27Concepts: Algorithms, Debugging, Loops, Decomposition, Abstraction, Functions, Conditionals,Conditional Loops

OverviewThese puzzles are designed to introduce your students to using conditional expressions tocontrol loops. A while loop is a loop that will run while a specific condition is true. Each timethe loop reaches the bottom of the code in the loop, it will go back to the beginning and check ifthe condition is true or false. If the condition is true, the loop will run again. If the condition isfalse, the loop will stop executing and the program will move onto the code located after theloop. A negated condition can be used in place of a regular condition. This means that the loopwill execute while the condition is false and will stop when the condition is true.

Puzzle 25: JumpWhile TreasureNot FoundUse a while loop to movethe dragon to the pile oftreasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Puzzle 26: Eatand BlastWrite a function called“eat and blast” and usethat function to move thedragon to the pile oftreasure.

Puzzle 27: ClimbUpWrite a function called“climb up” and use thatfunction to move thedragon to the pile oftreasure.

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Activity Wrap-UpOnce your students finish the final puzzle, they will have completed their hour of code! Over thecourse of the 27 puzzles, your students will have explored the importance of developingalgorithms, analyzed and tested code through debugging, improved their code by findingpatterns and using loops, practiced breaking complex problems down into smaller problemsthrough decomposition, created templates through abstraction, organized their code intofunctions, and learned about how computers use conditionals to make decisions. These skillsare fundamental to programming and your students will now have a good programmingfoundation with which to build on.Other than their importance in programming, the concepts covered in this Hour of Code activitycan be carried over into other subjects such as math, science, music, and literature. Scientistsmust perform the steps in an experiment in a particular sequence. Composers condense thelength of sheet music by creating loops with phrases that indicate to the performer to repeat aspecific part of music. Mathematicians correct their work by analyzing what their calculationsshould do and correcting errors just as programmers debug their code. Authors can create alarge number of stories from a small set of conditional statements by writing adventure storieswhere different events happen depending on the choices the reader makes. Check out Tynker’sHour of Code STEM Activities page to get started using computer science throughout yourcurriculum.We hope that your students enjoyed their programming with Tynker and will continue todevelop their coding skills outside of Hour of Code. Read on for more information about how tocontinue your students’ coding journey.

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/stem-activities

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Classroom SetupClick here to access Tynker’s Quick Start guide for teachers. It only takes a few minutes to makea free Teacher account and a Tynker classroom for your students. If you are already set up withGoogle Classroom or Clever, you can use those services to automatically sync student accountsand classroom information with Tynker.If you set your students up with a Tynker classroom, you will be able to:

● Track your students’ progress through Dragon Blast● Print certificates of completion for your students to keep● Save students’ progress to their accounts, so that they can continue coding at home● View teacher guides and answer keys for all Tynker Hour of Code activities● Access a free introductory coding course for your class● Give your students access to all of Tynker’s free content

Tracking Student ProgressOnce you setup your students with a Tynker classroom, you’ll be able to observe their progressin Dragon Blast using your Teacher Dashboard.

● Go to your Teacher Dashboard and select your classroom.● Navigate to the “Gradebook” tab, then choose “Hour of Code.”

● You will be able to see the amount of puzzles your students have completed for each

Hour of Code activity, including Dragon Blast. Refresh the page to update it.

Student CertificatesEvery time a student completes an Hour of Code coding activity in Tynker, they earn a badgethat is added to their certificate. There are 29 badges that they can earn, so they’ll be reallyexcited to complete all the activities!While signed in to a Teacher account, you can printcertificates by clicking on a classroom from yourTeacher dashboard, clicking the “Gradebook” tab, goingto “Hour of Code”, and clicking the “Print All Certificates”button. This will only print certificates for studentaccounts assigned to the selected classroom.

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/teacher

https://www.tynker.com/school/courses/show?id=0-programming-100

https://www.tynker.com/support/QuickStartTeacherGuide.pdf

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Other Hour of Code ActivitiesTynker offers many other tutorials for the Hour of Code, including intermediate-leveladventures Code Monsters and Code Commander. These game-like tutorials are your bestoptions if you are interested in having another Hour of Code with the same group of students.For teachers who are interested in the creative applications of coding, we recommend BrickBreaker and Solar System. Check out the main Tynker Hour of Code page to see all thetutorials!

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/code-monsters

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/brick-breaker

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/solar-system

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/brick-breaker

https://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/code-commander

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

Going Beyond an Hour

Do More with TynkerIf your students enjoyed an Hour of Code, they’re sure to enjoy the rest of what Tynker has tooffer! Tynker offers a complete premium solution for schools to teach Computer Science. Over300 hours of lessons are available to take K-8 students from block coding to advanced textcoding. We offer tons of resources for teachers, including comprehensive guides, free webinars,and a forum to connect with other educators.

Learning PathwaysWith Tynker, kids don’t just acquire programming skills-- they can explore the world ofpossibilities that coding opens up. Tynker has several interest-driven learning paths that makecoding fun, both inside and outside the classroom.

● Coding and Game Design: The Tynker app allows your students to access the TynkerWorkshop, a powerful tool for crafting original programs. They can even share theirwork with other kids in the Tynker Community.

● Drones and Robotics: Tynker integrates with connected toys, including Parrot dronesand Lego WeDo robotics kits, so kids can see their code come to life.

● Minecraft: Tynker integrates with Minecraft so your students can learn coding througha game they love. Tynker offers skin and texture editing, as well as a custom ModWorkshop that lets kids try their original code in Minecraft.

Tynker for SchoolsUsed in over 60,000 schools, our award-winning platform has flexible plans to meet yourclassroom, school, or district needs. All solutions include:

● Grade-specific courses that teach visual coding, JavaScript, Python, robotics and drones● A library of NGSS and Common Core compliant STEM courses that are great for

project-based learning● Automatic assessment and mastery charts for the school, class and student level● Easy classroom management with Google Classroom and Clever integration● Professional training, free webinars and other teacher training resources

Dragon Blast Teacher Guide

About TynkerTynker is a creative platform designed to make coding fun to learn and easy to teach. Tynker’smission is to empower kids to become makers and equip them with computing skills for today’sdigital world. Over 60 million kids have begun their coding journey with Tynker!

About the Hour of CodeThe Hour of Code is a global learning event in which schools and other organizations set asidean hour to teach coding. The event is held every December during Computer Science EducationWeek. You can also organize an Hour of Code year-round.The goal of the Hour of Code is to expand access to computer science education for people ofall backgrounds. Learning computer science helps students develop logic and creativity, andprepares them for the changing demands of the 21st century.Tynker has been a leading provider of lessons for the Hour of Code since the event began in2013. Since then, over 100 million students from 180 countries have finished an Hour of Code.For more information, visit the Hour of Code website.Happy coding!

https://hourofcode.com/#faq

Dragon Blast - Tynker · New this year are Dragon Blast and Space Quest, the first Tynker Hour of Code activities available in Spanish, Chinese, German, French, and Japanese as well - [PDF Document] (2024)

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