What is Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing happens when a large or cumbersome task to split among many individuals, typically enabled by technology.
For example, scientists at the UW Department of Biochemistry created Foldit, a online puzzle game where users attempt to fold proteins as effectively as possible. Data collected through Foldit has been used by scientists to decipher the structure of several viruses and other proteins.
For example, scientists at the UW Department of Biochemistry created Foldit, a online puzzle game where users attempt to fold proteins as effectively as possible. Data collected through Foldit has been used by scientists to decipher the structure of several viruses and other proteins.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has also used crowdsourcing to assist with processing massive amounts of data collected while scanning the skies. SETIlive allows users to put their computer's unused processing power to work analyzing this data by installing an application.
In this activity students will be run a repetitive experiment to determine an optimal strategy for a dice game through crowdsourcing.
In this activity students will be run a repetitive experiment to determine an optimal strategy for a dice game through crowdsourcing.
IF ELSE Statements
Learning coding doesn't have to centre around poring over arcane lines of text. Teaching coding is effective when it focuses on how computers think. Hour of Code does a great job of breaking down coding into digestible tasks.
One module of hour of code deals with giving instructions using a very fundamental commands, IF ELSE statements.
These two videos from hour of code do a great job of introducing IF ELSE statements to students.
One module of hour of code deals with giving instructions using a very fundamental commands, IF ELSE statements.
These two videos from hour of code do a great job of introducing IF ELSE statements to students.
Activity Instructions
Because IF ELSE statements are rules which are used to tell a computer when to execute commands, a fun way to introduce them is to have students create instructions.
To introduce IF ELSE statements to my class, we attempted to create rules to describe a strategy with which to play a familiar dice game.
PIG (also known as GREED) is a simple game that can be played with one or two dice.
On their turn a player rolls the dice and the sum is added to their temporary score. After rolling, the player can choose to end their turn to claim their points or they can roll again to increase their temporary score. There is a risk involved with each roll, any time a ONE is rolled the turn ends and the player loses their temporary points for that turn.
This website does an excellent job of explaining the game and the best way to explain the game to students is to have them practice using the web version.
This version is playable on mobile devices.
After becoming familiar with PIG, students were challenged to create rules using IF ELSE statements to describe a winning strategy for this game.
For example:
IF temporary score is less then 15 roll again
ELSE end turn
Students can create more complex rules by combining more than one IF ELSE statement by using AND, for example:
IF score is greater than opponent AND player has rolled less than three times then roll again
ELSE end turn
Some samples of student generated IF ELSE statements are below.
To introduce IF ELSE statements to my class, we attempted to create rules to describe a strategy with which to play a familiar dice game.
PIG (also known as GREED) is a simple game that can be played with one or two dice.
On their turn a player rolls the dice and the sum is added to their temporary score. After rolling, the player can choose to end their turn to claim their points or they can roll again to increase their temporary score. There is a risk involved with each roll, any time a ONE is rolled the turn ends and the player loses their temporary points for that turn.
This website does an excellent job of explaining the game and the best way to explain the game to students is to have them practice using the web version.
This version is playable on mobile devices.
After becoming familiar with PIG, students were challenged to create rules using IF ELSE statements to describe a winning strategy for this game.
For example:
IF temporary score is less then 15 roll again
ELSE end turn
Students can create more complex rules by combining more than one IF ELSE statement by using AND, for example:
IF score is greater than opponent AND player has rolled less than three times then roll again
ELSE end turn
Some samples of student generated IF ELSE statements are below.
Once students have had a chance to generate their rules, this is where thee crowdsourcing begins. Students play five test-matches online against a computer opponent to test the effectiveness of their rules.
Students submit their results using google form. This information is used to crowdsource the most effective rules for winning the game.
Once students have submitted their results, the top few strategies can be submitted back to the crowd for additional testing. Bracket style tournaments are a fun approach here.
Students submit their results using google form. This information is used to crowdsource the most effective rules for winning the game.
Once students have submitted their results, the top few strategies can be submitted back to the crowd for additional testing. Bracket style tournaments are a fun approach here.