Practicing Transformation Vocabulary with Lightbot

I was first introduced to Lightbot through the Hour of Code initiative.  If you've never participated in the Hour of Code, you seriously need to check it out!  I used Lightbot with students in my Functional Math class during Computer Science Education Week (this year it's December 4-10), but wanted to add more of a challenge and curriculum tie-in for my on-level eighth graders.

It seemed natural to me to fit Lightbot into our unit on geometry transformations.  Besides getting an introduction to programming, my students would also get to practice some of the vocabulary associated with transformations - in particular, translations and rotations.

I created an assignment to accompany each task in the first level of the Lightbot Hour of Code Demo.  In addition to completing the task onscreen, students also wrote out the transformations in words, using mathematical vocabulary, in their packet.  We completed the first two tasks as a class.

It was interesting to see which pairs of students attempted to write out the transformations before testing them on the computer and which pairs perfected the computer programming online before writing out the steps.  While I required students to write out transformation words such as "translate" each time they were used (no abbreviations), students soon used shorthand such as "Translate 2 units" instead of "Translate.  Translate," the latter being a direct translation of the symbols used on the screen.

Once students finished the 8 tasks in the first level, I allowed them to explore the second and third levels without writing out the transformations.  At these levels, students are introduced to procedures and loops.

Finally, I had students work alone to write out three more transformation paths for a lightbot on a crossword puzzle grid.  Some students interpreted the black boxes as lights they needed to light up when they passed over them; others avoided crossing them altogether.  This last activity tested students' spatial reasoning, and many found it more challenging because the computer program wasn't there to animate their proposed pathways.  I found that the students who drew symbols and traced the path their lightbot would follow on the crossword puzzle grid were the most successful.

It was great to see students share and compare their transformation paths.  Some found more direct routes than others, but they realized that there was no one right answer.  This lesson also led to so many great discussions about efficiency, patterns, functions, and debugging. 

View/download: Lightbot Transformations Activity Guide