Accelerated Python

Video Game Design and Development

Video Game Development

WHAT IS PYTHON?

Overview and Teachers Notes

Course Length: Approximately 6 weeks.

AS92005- Develop a digital technologies outcome.

This course is designed as a stand alone programming course that just goes through the basics of programming in a few weeks. This is primarily designed for the Game Development course as it goes through the basics of programming before moving onto GDScript. Students will have a far greater chance of writing and understadning what they see in tutorials if they have a basic understanding of sequence, selection, iteration and storage. And Python is the easiest to learn while be close enough in syntax to GDScript that it will make for an easy transition.

Software requirements:

Any Web Browser (eg Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari)

Visual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/

Python: https://www.python.org/downloads/

Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads

Suggested Timetable:

Timetable

3 Weeks: Learning Python

1 Weeks: Working through simple practise problems like Code WoF

1 Week: Code for humans

1 Weeks: Final Assessment

What is Python?

Python is a powerful and friendly programming language that lots of developers all over the world love to use. It's known for being easy to understand and write, and it's really useful.

It was created by Guido van Rossum in the late 1980s, and because it's open-source (which means anyone can use it and help make it better), there are lots of developers working on it. This has led to a big collection of tools and things you can use with Python.

Python is great for all sorts of things, like making websites, looking at data, creating artificial intelligence, and doing tasks automatically. Whether you're just starting to learn to code or you've been doing it for a while, Python is a good choice because it's clear and can handle both simple and complex projects.

Who, What, Why Python?

Watch this video!

LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROGRAMMING

Teacher Notes Task #1:

Grok is awesome and you can track your students progress by making a classroom in your teacher dashboard at https://groklearning.com/

Once you have set up your students you can see their progress and will be able to help the ones who are stuggling with individual tutorials or help on certain problems.

If students choose other options, you'll need to keep a track of them in other ways. Screenshots, in class discussion or getting them to reflect on their learning would be enough.

Task 1 | Learn Python through Grok Academy

This excellent resource is now free to all students and teachers in NZ. Teachers register here: https://groklearning.com/

Then set up your class and you can monitor their progress and help the ones who are falling behind.

Click the image to the left for the Intro to Programming Course

Or for students who need a challenge: Intro to Programming 2

Students: Sign up and get your enrolement code for your teacher. Then start learning!

APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF PYTHON

Teacher Notes Task#2

There is a video to get the students started. Watch it in class and then let them loose on CodeWOF.

This platform uses gamification and so students get "points" for completeing questions. You could make it a friendly competition and award the best scores with "house points" or "shout-outs" to keep the motivation levels high.

It really is a great platform and the variety and challenge is amazing and it's methodologies are all backed by computer science education research. It is highly recommended to run through as much of this as you have time for.

Task 2 | Code WOF

Practice your problem decomposition and puzzle solving skills in Python in the excellent site: CodeWOF.

CodeWOF goes from beginner to intermediate and is great programming practice. It has cool short puzzles to solve and immediate feedback.This short video will help you get started using CodeWOF.

From the basics of how it works and what the problem types are to more advanced topics around string slicing, functions and dictionaries.

Watch this to get you started on one of the best practice resources for Python Programmers in the world.

https://www.codewof.co.nz/

Task 3 | Checkpoint - CodeWOF Score

Beat the high score!

Teacher can use a spreadsheet or class competition to see who gets the most points in CodeWOF.

Can you be top of the class?

Task 4 | Code for Humans

This video series will cover the important things you have to keep in mind when you write code for humans.

Code for Humans means code that is meant to be read by other humans (code comments, docstrings, good variable names etc) and code that is meant to be used by humans (error checking, good error messages, good instructions, crash proofing etc.)

You'll also walk through a simple example of a problem, similar to your assessment problems. In that, you will learn to write highly readable and unbreakable code that neatly handles input errors.

Students: Write the "Can I Vote" program together with the instructor and see if you can work out how and why it works.

Task 5: Checkpoint- Code for humans

Now that you've completed your Code for Humans tutorial you should be prepared to write better Python.

Make a copy of the document to the right and fill it out.

You'll need to copy and paste your code and answer a few questions about writing code for humans. Use the videos above to help you answer the questions.

Code For Humans Checkpoint

Coderunner

Task 8 | CodeRunner

go to https://csse-ncea-auto.canterbury.ac.nz/

Create an account and self-enrol with the key "Welcome!"

There are a couple of courses,

Coderunner, the tool that you'll be assessed with. Don't forget to write and test your code on your computer BEFORE submitting
Some NCEA Style Question. These are samples of the type of question you can expect in your assessement. Only here you get maximum feedback and an unlimited number of attempts!

Assessment!

NCEA Automated Marking Tool

This tool, developed by Henry Hickman of the University of Canterbury provides students with a portal to practice and write Python Code and get feedback on how well your code meets the criteria that you will be assessed against.

You will have used the tool already in Task 7. But now you only get 3 attempts and limited feedback! You will also have to sit this under exam conditions in class over one or more lessons (depending on your teachers decision) It takes probably 2 hours to complete.

So make sure you write your code and test it thoroughly BEFORE you submit.

Your teacher will give you a join code to the course that they have set up for you.

The assessment tool "marks" the code against the criteria for AS92004 and gives your teacher a complete report and suggested mark.

Once it's been checked by them, they can use the generated reports as assessment evidence and award you your credits.

Teachers read the information below for how to apply and get started.

Teacher Only

Apply for an account here: https://forms.gle/Md6VPXxUWWADAUXM6

You will be contacted shortly afterwards by the University of Canterbury with more instructions and what to do next.

A full video playlist has been made to help yo uunderstand the tool. View that herre: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6A42PgbxHNRP06Cc9UbzGyHezb8pIKih

Use these videos to help you to use the tools and make good assessment judgements.

This tool will generate a report for each student that participates. This report will "suggest" a mark based on the criteria but you will have have to verify the results. The automation can check for comments but a human is needed to ensure a couple of things that are very difficult for a computer to judge accurately.

Make sure you have read and understand the standard: https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/nqfdocs/ncea-resource/achievements/2024/as92004.pdf

You must pay particular attention to the Merit and above marks to ensure:

The comments "clarify the purpose of code sections"
The variables are "succinct and descriptive"

As you can imagine, these are hard to mark by computer but the rest, including the Excellence Criteria can be measured by the tool.

You may print out the students reports as PDF to be used for moderation or cross marking.

Extension exercises for super keen programmers

Google Sites

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