The content of the Greenfoot class. The design principles of this class is further explained in 3.3.
Week 1 Introduction
• Date: 2013/4/3
• Concepts: Greenfoot UI, object, class, method call, parameter, return value
• Scenarios:
◦ Wombats and leaves: Students are asked to this scenario to get familiar with the Greenfoot user interface and the basic object concepts. This scenario is part of Chapter 1 of Kölling’s Greenfoot textbook. It is downloaded from the Greenfoot website.
Concepts: Greenfoot UI, object, class, method call, parameter, return value
Figure C.1 The wombat scenario
◦ Asteroids: Students are presented an empty space. They are asked to place the actors with the mouse, explore and find out how to operate and play the game by themselves. This scenario is part of Chapter 1 of Kölling’s Greenfoot textbook. It is downloaded from the Greenfoot website.
Concepts: Greenfoot UI.
Figure C.2 The asteroids scenario
◦ Fat cat: A fat cat that can perform several actions. Students are asked to explore and interact with the fat cat. This is an extra exercise of the first week introductory class. It was downloaded from the Greenfoot website, and is an official exercise for Chapter 2.
Concepts: Greenfoot UI, method call.
Figure C.3 The fat cat scenario
Week 2
if-statement
• Date: 2013/4/10
• Concepts: source code, method call, parameter, sequence, if-statement
• Scenarios:
◦ Little crab: A crab that eats the worms but is eaten by the lobsters. Students are presented with an empty sand land. They are asked to:
▪ Program the crab so that it move continuously and turn at the world edge.
▪ Add new classes Worm and Lobster and put them on the world.
▪ Program the crab and lobsters so that lobsters eat crabs, and crabs eat worms.
▪ Program the crab to navigate with keyboard keys from the player.
This scenario is part of Chapter 2, 3, and 4 of Kölling’s Greenfoot textbook.
It is downloaded from the Greenfoot website.
Concepts: source code, method call, parameter, sequence, if-statement
Figure C.4 The little crab scenario
Week 3 Creating Objects (The
newCommand)
• Date: 2013/4/17
• Concepts: dot notation, random numbers, defining methods, comments, new
(creating objects programmatically), for-loop control structure
• Scenarios
◦ Little crab: Continue from the last week. Students are asked to:
▪ Add crabs, worms and lobsters when the world is initiated.
▪ Add these animals in random locations.
▪ Add JavaDoc comments to their code.
Concepts: dot notation, random numbers, defining methods, comments.
Week 4 Practice:
if-statement
• Date: 2013/4/24
• Concepts: if-statement, method call, defining method, random number.
• Scenarios:
◦ Pac-Man: An imitation of the classic game “Pac-Man”, but largely simplified. Students are initially presented with Pac-Man and its enemies unmovable. They are asked to
▪ Add the keyboard controls to Pac-Man.
▪ Make Pac-Man eat the enemies and play the sound effects when eating.
▪ Make the enemies run randomly.
The Pac-Man scenario is used as an exercise for the concepts learned in the previous two weeks with the little crab scenario. It is expressly designed by the researcher for this Greenfoot class.
Concepts: Method call, parameter, sequence, if-statement, dot notation, random numbers, defining methods, comments, constructors, state, instance variables (fields), assignment, new (creating objects programmatically).
Figure C.5 The Pac-Man scenario
Week 5 Variables, with Practice
• Date: 2013/5/1
• Concepts: instance variable, if-else statement, constructor, new (creating objects programmatically), random number
• Scenarios:
◦ Little crab: Continue from the previous week. Students are asked to:
▪ Animate the crab by switching two images continuously.
▪ Program the crab to remember the number of worms eaten.
Concepts: instance variable, if-else statement, constructor, new (creating objects programmatically), random number.
◦ Pac-Man: Continue from the previous work. Students are asked to:
▪ Add enemies at random locations.
▪ Program Pac-Man to face to the new direction when it changes its direction.
▪ Count the number of enemies Pac-Man has eaten.
This is a practice of the first half of the class.
Concepts: instance variable, new (creating objects programmatically), random number.
Week 6 Loops and Arrays
• Date: 2013/5/8
• Concepts: parameter in constructor, array, for-loop control structure, if -statement
• Scenarios:
◦ Piano: A piano that the user can play with keyboard. Students are presented with an empty table. They are asked to:
▪ Add piano keys with different keyboard keys and sound notes using arrays and loops.
This scenario is part of Chapter 5 of Kölling’s Greenfoot textbook. It is downloaded from the Greenfoot website.
Concepts: parameter in constructor, array, for-loop control structure, if -statement
Figure C.6 The piano scenario
Week 7 Practice: Loops and Arrays
• Date: 2013/5/15
• Concepts: parameter in constructor, array, for-loop control structure, if -statement
• Scenarios:
◦ Emoticon: There are five emoticons in a row. Each emoticon has its own face and voice. Click on each emotion and it will cry with its own voice.
Students were presented with an empty world. Students are asked to:
▪ Finish it using the knowledge learned in last week.
The emoticon scenario is used as an exercise for the Piano scenario. The emoticon scenario was downloaded from Greenroom – the Greenfoot teacher online community – as an exercise of Chapter 5 (the piano scenario).
Concepts: parameter in constructor, array, for-loop control structure, if -statement
Figure C.7 The emoticon scenario
Week 8 Comprehensive Practice
• Date: 2013/5/22
• Concepts: method call, if-statement, random number, defining method, comment, constructor, new (creating objects programmatically), for-loop
• Scenarios:
◦ Tank wars: An imitation of the classic game Atari® “Tank”, but largely simplified. Students are presented with a blank battlefield. Students are asked to:
▪ Add the tank and the enemies at random places programmatically.
▪ Add the keyboard controls to the tank to move and fire.
▪ Make bullets move forward, and destroy the enemy on contact.
▪ Make enemies run randomly, and destroy the tank on contact.
The tank wars scenario is used as a comprehensive practice to most of the concepts they learned before. It is expressly designed by the researcher for this Greenfoot class.
Concepts: method call, if-statement, random numbers, defining methods, comment, constructor, variables, assignment, new (creating objects programmatically), for-loop.
Figure C.8 The tank wars scenario