cs10 / bjc-r

The Beauty and Joy of Computing public resource repository.
https://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r
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3. Conditionals (LA Review - Sp15) #515

Open lmock opened 9 years ago

lmock commented 9 years ago
Your Name:

Overview of Lab Comments: i.e. Was this lab good or bad? Too fast? Too Slow? Does it need something new?

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- [ ] Page Link:
      Type of Issue: i.e. (code) bug, grammar, typo, lack of clarity, etc
      Severity: i.e. "prevents students from continuing", "minor inconvenience", etc
      Comments: Description of the problem, what can be done to fix it, etc.
- [ ] Page Link:
      Type of Issue: i.e. (code) bug, grammar, typo, lack of clarity, etc
      Severity: i.e. "prevents students from continuing", "minor inconvenience", etc
      Comments: Description of the problem, what can be done to fix it, etc.
mfujimoto commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Mason Fujimoto

Overview of Lab Comments: I thought this was a good lab overall that did a good job of introducing the use of conditions as well as some more features of snap. Looking at the previous labs I think a cs10 student has a good understanding of snap basics at this point (excluding lists, recursion, higher order functions etc.). In particular I thought the page that tests the understanding of compound conditionals was helpful to avoid common misconceptions (http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/complex-booleans-self-test.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html). I would enjoy seeing more pages like this for later concepts.

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tcabs17 commented 9 years ago

Tori Cabot

This lab covers a lot of new information in a clear and manageable way. The updated graphics are clear and helpful. We have also increased the number of self-quizzes since last semester, to the overall benefit of the lab. The boolean quiz page looks particularly helpful. Though the lab moves rather quickly through concepts and appears to be quite long, the problems and coding requirements are at an appropriate level of difficulty for this point in the course.

LINK- http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/booleans.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html TYPE OF ISSUE- Clarity SEVERITY- Minor inconvenience COMMENTS- The grey outline and red lettering format is faint and not particularly distinct, which I assume is the purpose of the alternate style and color.

LINK- http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/predict.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html ----and---- http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/number-guessing-game-v1-0.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html TYPE OF ISSUE- Link function SEVERITY- Could impede the progress of students significantly COMMENTS- The links on the "Predict the Output!" page and the "Number Guessing Game" would not load the appropriate SNAP! window on my MacBook Pro and while it was attempting to load I could not view the instructions page of the lab.

LINK- http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/variables/scriptvar.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html TYPE OF ISSUE- Clarity SEVERITY- Minor COMMENTS- The phrasing of the description of "script variables" makes it sound like you might have to replace a script variable in the code every time you run it. Also there is no link to the code. Would we like them to reconstruct the code? If so we should put that in there seeing as other sections provided code.

sayabe commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Satoko Ayabe

Overview of Lab Comments:

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anushasyed commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Anusha Syed

Overview of Lab Comments: Overall the exercises in this lab were extremely helpful, however I do think that this is a lot to do in 2 hours. Since there is a lot of really important new material in this lab, it might be more effective if it was split into two labs.The examples were really helpful as well as all the quiz questions. A lot of the links to the starter files took a little while to load, but this was only a minor inconvenience as they all loaded after about 30 seconds.

rwason commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Rishabh Wason

Overview of Lab Comments: • I like the multiple choice questions but I feel like a few more(2-3) would definitely help engrain the information being tested • I like the visualization of the truth tables as that helps to reinforce the concept of Boolean values o If possible having the student fill in one or part of one of the truth tables would help test their understanding better o The solution to a few of the boxes in the truth tables could be hidden and there could be a “toggle solution” button which appears to show the answer • I really like how there are many more questions asking what the sprite says to help reinforce the Boolean related questions • Lab is slightly long if all the challenge questions are incorporated but most students should be able to finish all, overall well created lab

 -  [ ] Page Link: http://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/complex-booleans.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html
 o  Type of Issue: Suggestion
 o  Severity: Minimal to nonexistent
 o  Comments: Could have the students fill in some boxes in the truth tables with a toggle solution option that allows them to check to see if they guessed the correct answer

 -  [ ] Page Link: http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html#open:http://www.corsproxy.com/beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/prog/conditionals/dates/is-leap-year.xml
 o  Type of Issue: Page does not load/Takes long time load (unsure if it is on my end only or it is for everyone)
o   Severity: Major
o   Comments: Page doesn’t load when the link is clicked and students cannot follow along with the lab
Justin-Kim72 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Justin Kim

Overview of Lab Comments: The lab is nicely paced. I feel like that having a couple of those self answer questions that test you on the concepts of the block are important. When I would look around through the first lab, students would talk to each other to think out how it would go through the block. It is a pretty long lab, but I think to test the students with multiple practice problems is important for them to understand the lab. Also, why was it that there were no partner slides in this lab? I mean if you want to promote partner lab work, then maybe having those slides where it just simply says switch is nice letting the partners switch between each other, practicing how to use the SNAP program.

Page Link: http://snap.berkeley.edu/snapsource/snap.html#open:http://www.corsproxy.com/beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/prog/conditionals/dates/is-leap-year.xml

Type of Issue: Broken Link Severity: Unable to view the link Comments: When I clicked on this link on the computer the computer that I used, it didn't even load.

lizapraprotnik commented 9 years ago

Liza Praprotnik

Overview of lab comments: I think the lab does a nice job of explaining how if-else statements and boolean expressions function both in general and specifically in Snap. I would add more quiz questions because those are really helpful for evaluating how well you understand the content of the lab. The predict the output section and the leap year section are also very useful, but the link to the Snap examples is broken.

Page link: https://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/predict.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&course=cs10_sp15.html&novideo&noreading&noassignment Type of issue: Link to Snap doesn't work Severity: Minor, can't view examples Comments: The link opens Snap in a new tab, but doesn't load.

Page link: https://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/conditionals/dates/checking-for-leap-years.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&course=cs10_sp15.html&novideo&noreading&noassignment Type of issue: Link to Snap doesn't work Severity: Minor Comments: Same as before, Snap doesn't load, and you can no longer view the lab instructions in the other tab.

Page link: https://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r/cur/programming/functions/reporters.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&course=cs10_sp15.html&novideo&noreading&noassignment Type of issue: Clarity Severity: Minor Comments: I would explain side effects a little more, and how the "say" block differs from the "report" block because that might be confusing.

Omarb62 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Omar Buenrostro

Overview of Lab Comments: I think this lab does a good job introducing elements such as conditionals that will be vital for understanding the rest of the course. I also agree with other reviews which say that this lab is decently paced. It is completely possible to complete this lab within 2 hours, as long as the challenge problem is excluded (but that's fine because the problem is just extra practice that can be completed later), but with a reading quiz being given within the first 30 minutes of lab, I feel the material in the lab might feel slightly rushed.

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  Type of Issue: Clarity
  Severity: i.e. Minor

      Comments: Probably me just nitpicking, but the directions in the weekday/weekend-block-creation part of the lab confused me in the sense that I didn't know what input I should give them. If the directions stated that the blocks should take specific days as their inputs, that would clear up any ambiguity.

robrodz commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Robert

Overview of Lab Comments: i.e. Was this lab good or bad? Too fast? Too Slow? Does it need something new? This lab seemed to do a really great job of explaining conditionals in ways that are really easy to understand. I think it was especially helpful that there were so many examples and analogies.

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carolinekim commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Caroline Kim

Overview of Lab Comments: Overall, the content of lab 3 does not seem too difficult. The conditionals block is explained very thoroughly and important concepts such as boolean expressions and script variables are also well described. The tasks that the students are given does not look too challenging, and should be entertaining and interesting for the students.

juliaalcaraz commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Julia Alcaraz

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is very helpful for students to learn the basics on conditionals and booleans. The explanations are clear and straight forward. The quizzes test that they understand the information, especially the one on combinations of booleans. Effectively introduces the difference between reporters and predicates. In general, a clear and effective lab. It is a long lab, but all the information is important and the amount of exercises is fair.

jesslarson commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jessica Larson

Overview of Lab Comments: I liked this lab. I think it needs more hands on stuff in the beginning. it seems like there are a few too many pages of reading and looking at things to answer questions.

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Hungukaroo commented 9 years ago

Elizabeth Steger

Overview: I think this is a very important lab in learning the fundamentals of CS (as many in this course are!) and overall I believe the concepts are explained clearly and well enough to learn for the first time. I really like the exercises for this lab--especially because of the variety of quiz questions, discussing expectations, and coding.

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/conditionals/number-guessing-game-v2-0.html?1&2&4&4&4&topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html

Type of Issue: Lacking a possible reminder/incentive Severity: Fairly Minor Comments: I think it's important to note how important this exercise is for preparing students for HW1. I really think that students still struggling with the homework could see this as a great opportunity to grasp it; it would also be a great reminder for procrastinators. Perhaps adding the connection and even a link to the spec to prove the similarities and make it easier to jump into the HW (if they have extra time in lab, or are finishing this section at home).

yifatamir commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Yifat Amir

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab explains the structure of conditionals very thoroughly and clearly! The text, though at some points may feel a bit wordy, flows well and is well-written. The examples and analogies are on-point. The little asides such as about modulus and about or/xor are very useful and interesting too! I think the lab overall is great, though it may be a bit long and tough to finish in two hours...

knmcgauley commented 9 years ago

Katherine McGauley

Overview of Lab Comments: I think this lab is full of really great examples, and provides a thorough introduction to conditionals, but I think it may be a bit long to fit into a 2-hour lab for people just learning the concepts. That said, I really liked the consistency of bringing back the polygon-drawing function in some examples, and the "games" throughout the lab are are fun illustrations of what conditionals can do.

Meghna15 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Meghna Dasgupta

Overview of Lab Comments:

  1. The lab was very clear and easy to understand
  2. I loved the continuous reminders about pair programming and I think it should be added into all the first few labs of the semester
  3. The colored rectangles explaining different concepts like mod and abs will be extremely helpful for a new students
  4. All the page links worked perfectly for me this time
mikomwang commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Michael Wang

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab was formatted well and in a way that can be easily understood. I especially like the emphasis on how the mod function can be used to determine whether a given output is even or odd (which will prove to be very relevant and useful in their future).

KimiaG commented 9 years ago

Kimia Ghodoosian

Overview of Lab: This lab was well paced and structured. The quiz questions were a really good way to allow students to assess their own understanding. The last problem was a fun way of combining the skills taught in the lab. No broken links this time!

william0cheung commented 9 years ago

William Cheung Overview of Lab Comments: This lab contains A LOT of important information that it will probably overwhelm some students. Introducing that many new things in one lab is kind of risky in that some will understand most of the concepts, but there's bound to be confusion later on. For example, if-else blocks, booleans, and then straight to script variables makes the pace too fast. Otherwise, this is a fantastic written explanations of the blocks, just condensed way too much. My suggestion is to maybe split this into two labs, because this one was a doozy.

SPECIFIC ISSUES

michen-ml commented 9 years ago

Michelle Chen

Overview: Lab is pretty easy to understand. Quiz questions and examples were very helpful. However, it might be a little long, which can be overwhelming. There's a lot of different material covered in the same lab, such as if-else, script variables, along with booleans. No broken links this time

amy97 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Amy Vatcha

Overview of Lab Comments: -- The pseudo-code if-else blocks on the first page with the example of withdrawing money from a bank seemed really helpful since it helps first-time programmers visualize what each block does and how it does it. -- In my opinion, the truth tables should be on the page right before the in-lab quiz since many students had brushed off the concept by the time the got to the questions that were two pages later. -- Introducing global variables on the same page as script variables would be helpful for students to make the comparison early on in the course. -- Also, the number guessing game was conceptually very similar to Homework 1 and would provide students with a strong foundation to tackle it.

eurieoh commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Eurie Oh

Overview of Lab Comments:

ArielleSpencer commented 9 years ago

Name: Arielle Spencer

Overview: I actually really like this lab! I think it does a really good job showing the many different applications of conditionals and how they can be helpful. I think the exercises are well written and a good difficulty level.

Specific Issues: Issue: lack of clarity http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/conditionals/complex-booleans-practice.html?1&2&3&topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Severity: Inconvenience, could impede progress There was a lot of issues with students making mystery without using if blocks and a lot of students were getting stuck on it (because it was not tested in check-offs I know a lot of students skipped, or were even advised to skip it). Maybe there could be a little more explantation before this that the and/or/not blocks can be used in essence as if blocks because they are predicates? I don't know how much could be said without giving it away though.

nzoghb commented 9 years ago

Name: Nicolas Zoghb

Overview: a strong introduction to Booleans, if a bit long. GIFs are a great additions and help with clarity.

janicechui commented 9 years ago

Janice Chui

good use of quiz to ensure that the student understands the True/False tables.However, some pages are a little too long and may be overwhelming for the student.

18epedersen commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Emily Pedersen

Overview of Lab Comments: i.e. I really like how the lab starts off explaining if else statements in pseudo code! It's really helpful to hear that computer language actually makes sense it real world applications. Overall, I feel that this lab illustrates the power of conditionals.

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anjli-shah commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Anjli Shah

Overview of Lab Comments: I think this lab does a really good job of easing students into if statements and building more complex codes. I definitely think they'd benefit by being explicitly told more about when you're allowed to use certain things and the restrictions of each.

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Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/conditionals/booleans.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Type of Issue: Sequence Severity: Minor Inconvenience        Comments: I think it may more sense to put the boolean page after the ones that talk about the If loops because the Introduction first introduces If loops.

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/conditionals/if-and-if-else.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Type of Issue: Lack of clarity Severity: Minor Inconvenience        Comments: I think it could help if students were told that not every If loop needs an else and sometimes no else is needed at all!

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/conditionals/complex-booleans.html?1&topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Type of Issue: Lack of clarity Severity: Minor Inconvenience        Comments: If the truth tables could have a start column that indicates the inputs I think it might make it a little more easier to understand.

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/variables/scriptvar.html?1&topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Type of Issue: Lack of clarity Severity: Minor Inconveninence Comments: It could be helpful if after saying the script variables makes variable that can be used only inside the script, the sentence was followed by "This means other blocks and sprites can't access those variables."

danielduazo commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Daniel Duazo

Overview of Lab Comments: The lab is a good length and can be completed in 2 hours or less, even for beginners. Does a good job of introducing operators like mod %, as well as how and/or/not work, which may be confusing for some first time programmers.

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Rshahatit commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Rami Shahatit

Overview of Lab Comments: I thought this lab was good. Again a nice intro into the world of CS. I like the description of Booleans and especially the mention to george Boolean just because I think it is nice to know the origin of words in your field.

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JiazhenChen commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jiazhen Chen

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is a pretty good illustration lab. It gives good examples and ample exercises. I like the way it teach students about how to name the varaibles and blocks (like adding a "?" when naming the boolean). The explaination on how to create the reporter is nice. I suggest to add a table at the end of lab 3 or 4, illustrating the difference between command, reporter and predicate blocks as a summary. Some students feel confused at what kind of block they should create in the first few labs. Maybe the summary can help them to clearify.

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soham14 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Soham Kudtarkar

Overview of Lab Comments: I felt that this lab was effective in teaching students about conditionals. I did not find that there were many mistakes made and I felt that the pace of the lab was just right. Overall, this lab was well-written and very instructive.

siyingwang commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Siying Wang

Overview of Lab Comments: I think this is a very compact lab as students took the first in lab quiz, no one in my lab finish the lab. But overall, this is an effective lab and I didn't found there are any mistakes.

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KamikazeTomato commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Henry Chung

Overview of Lab Comments: I liked this lab quite a bit in terms of an introduction to the concept of booleans. I feel as though some of the examples could benefit from minor issues of clarification. It seems to me that the more examples that make use of SNAP blocks at every possible opportunity the better.

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benlsmith commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Benjamin Smith

Overview of Lab Comments: I enjoyed the introduction and explanation of what boolians are, and how they are used in coding. The pacing of the lab seemed pretty nice for students just getting into SNAP. I found one instance that could have been a bit more clear, but in general the lab seemed great. The placement of the quiz pretty early in was definitely helpful so that the students are sure that they get the information.

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Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/variables/scriptvar.html?1&topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fintro_pair%2F3-conditionals.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html       Type of Issue: lack of clarity       Severity: minor inconvenience       Comments: There could be a bit more explanation as to the difference between script and global variables since this becomes very essentail knowledge.

migugalde commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Miguel Ugalde

Overview of the Lab Comments: I think this lab lays out the foundation for the rest of the class. It embodies the idea of not assuming prior knowledge. I think that the lab goes much slower than it needs to be (for most students), but that in my eyes is a good thing. Because you bet there is a handful of students who the pace is just right for, and that's completely fine. I'd say that a lot of operations/functions are introduced that could maybe be introduce between this lab and the next so that there is more specific application. I also enjoy the multiple choice use in the lab. I think a good idea would if there was a toggle so that is you get the multiple choice wrong there is an extra exercise you can do to get a better grasp of that particular concept.