design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.
use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
3.6b
LO: To debug simple programs.
Although there are a few examples of programs to debug available below, it's probably a good time to start creating some of your own.
The best way of creating debug programs (programs with errors) is to just copy and paste code at the time children make mistakes. If this is not possible then making a note of what type of mistakes they are making will help you when writing the debug programs.
Remember that debugging is not just an exercise in spotting errors - like you would do with your own writing in English for example, children will need to load in these programs into IDLE, run them and then respond to the errors they see.
Remember to look for syntax errors (Spelling and typing errors), commands in the wrong order and also incorrect calculations.