Teaching Materials
What is new in this level?
In this first level of Hedy Expert the students will get more and more into the concepts and syntax of real programming languages. We recommend to only work on the Hedy Expert levels with your students of your goal is get them to work with other 'real' programming languages (like Python) later on. If this learning goal does not fit your students, we recoomend to only work on Hedy Basic and Hedy advanced, where the students will learn the basic principles of programming, but are not bothered by specific syntax rules.
Please note that from this level on the Hedy syntax is (nearly) Python syntax. This means that previously learned Hedy syntax might not work here. We will explain all the new Pythonian syntax in the upcoming levels, but as to not overwhelm the students we have spread this out over multiple levels. This results in the fact that some functionalities, functions and lists for example, will not work in the Hedy way, but will not have been explained yet in the new Pythonian way. Therefore a little patience is required from the students; We are taking a step back from the previous levels to get the syntax right, and then we'll go on to learn all the functionalities the Python way.
In this level students will also learn to work with operators, giving them more opportunities to use maths in their programs.
New in this level:
- Printing with Python syntax: `print('Hello world!')
- Printing variables string text and variables together like this: `print('Hello, ', name, '!')
- Asking questions with
input - Using colons after if statements
- Using these operators: < > == != <= >=
- Slides Present the level, one concept at a time
Common mistakes
Students forget to use the new syntax
This level contains a lot of new syntax rules.
mood is ask 'How are you doing ' name '?'
if mood is good
print 'Great!'
Use the proper syntax.
mood = input('How are you doing?', name, '?')
if mood == 'good':
print('Great!')
Students confuse the < and > signs
Often, students are already familiar with these signs from maths class. But if your students don't know these signs yet, they might have a challenge with it.
age = ask 'How old are you?'
if age < 12
print 'You are older than I am!'
This is the correct code:
age = ask 'How old are you?'
if age > 12
print 'You are older than I am!'
Students use the wrong signs for != <= and >=
These signs are probably new for most students. Make sure to explain these signs to your students.
name = ask 'What is your name?'
if name = 'Hedy'
print 'You are not Hedy'
This is the correct code:
name = ask 'What is your name?'
if name != 'Hedy'
print 'You are not Hedy'
Students forget to use the == sign
In this level, students are still allowed to use = or is. But on other levels, or in python, they might get in trouble for that. So it is best to train them to use it.
name = ask 'What is your name?'
if name = 'Hedy'
print 'You are cool!'
This is the correct code:
name = ask 'What is your name?'
if name == 'Hedy'
print 'You are cool!'
Students will try functionalities that they've learned in the previous levels, that are not in the Python syntax.
Students will try to use repitition, functions or lists for example.
define pick_an_animal
animals = dog, cat, hamster
repeat 3 times
print animals at random
call pick_an_animal
They will learn how to do those things in the upcoming levels.
#When you're ready for it, take a look in the upcoming levels. Or keep practising the basics first in this level.