Year 3 algorithms bring everything together: planning longer routes through bigger mazes, choosing efficient programs, and debugging long programs.
What your child will learn
- Plan and build programs for larger mazes
- Find bugs in long programs
- Think about efficient solutions
Efficient programs
Once a program works, programmers ask: can it be shorter or clearer? Encourage children to look for the shortest route. Any working program is correct, but spotting a better one is what makes a great coder.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. Build a program to get the robot to the star!
Show answer
One answer: ↑ → → → →. One program that works is ↑ → → → → — 1 up, then 4 right. Any route that reaches the star is correct!
2. Build a program to get the robot to the star!
Show answer
One answer: ↓ → → →. One program that works is ↓ → → → — 1 down, then 3 right. Any route that reaches the star is correct!
3. Which program gets the robot to the star?
- ↓ ↓ ← ←
- ↓ ← ← ←
- ↓ ↓ ← ← ←
- ↓ ← ← ← ←
Show answer
Answer: ↓ ↓ ← ← ←. ↓ ↓ ← ← ← works: 2 down, then 3 left. Trace each arrow with your finger to check.
Tips for grown-ups
- Ask “How many steps did it take? Can you do it in fewer?”
- Try a free coding app such as ScratchJr or Scratch together to build on these ideas.