I also do a candy loop. I use the random.choice() function to select a color from a list and a loop to fill it a 'bowl' (another list) with those random colors. From there you can loop through each candy and count it, pop it, etc. Also a great way to introduce for loops under the guise of analysis.
I made a Trinket with a demo for a non-SWC workshop I taught: https://trinket.io/python/7244ee15f4 Elizabeth On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 9:17 AM, Shauna Gordon-McKeon <[email protected]> wrote: > I've taught basic programming to kids and in these cases it's always nice > to have a metaphor with candy. So: Halloween. > > def Halloween: > plan costume > get in costume > go outside > for house on street: > walk to house > ring doorbell > get candy > say thank you > > If you've already taught if statements, you can do if trick: run away > screaming, else: take candy > > You can also add a candy_count variable to the loop. > > Might be too silly for adults, but thought I'd share it anyway. > > > > On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 8:25 AM, Steve Haddock <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I use a shopping basket and then `for item in basket`. The fact that the >> item could be a single thing or a carton of eggs (=list), which could also >> be looped through, helps. >> I think the point about not using `egg` as the variable name is extremely >> import. If you say `for line in myfile` they think `line` is a magic word >> that grabs a line and `word` or `letter` would act differently. >> The main conceptual hang up seems to be how the variable gets reassigned >> each time. >> It is also not "proper convention" and freaks out CS people, but I like >> to capitalize the variable names, so it is easier to distinguish special >> Python words from arbitrary names. >> -Steve >> ----- q•b ----- >> >> >> > On Dec 3, 2015, at 01:24, Karin Lagesen <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > >> > The more I teach, the more I realize that I am not really able to >> convey what a for loop does to everybody. Do any of you have a metaphor or >> something that you use for teaching it? I explain about variables and >> collections, and the body of the loop, and I show examples, but I am still >> not able to get through all the time. >> > >> > Karin >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Discuss mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >
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