After flogging exam theory, exam practice, and U4O2 theory for about 2 weeks solid, I was trying to think up a useful alternative activity.<br><br>Today I'm going to get the kids to create their own pseudocode with logical errors that they can share with each other and solve the problems with deskchecking.<br>
<br>I've noticed exam pseudocode tends to use the same logical errors regularly, so the kids can frame their errors around things like:<br><br>- confusing < and > with <= and >= and causing boundary condition errors<br>
- incorrect initialisation of variables (e.g. setting to 0 instead of 1) so counting goes awry<br>- incorrect choice of loops - i.e. using a "test at top" loop (e.g. WHILE/WEND) instead of a "test at bottom" loop (DO/WHILE)<br>
- using OR instead of AND & vice versa<br>- overflowing an array<br><br clear="all">With any luck it should help them practise desk checking and pseudocode creation. If I get any good ones, I'll share them here. <br>
If you do the same we can collate a neat bundle of brain teasers.<br><br>Regards<br><br>-- <br>Mark Kelly<br>Manager of ICT, Reporting, IT Learning Area<br>McKinnon Secondary College<br>McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia<br>
Direct line / Voicemail: +613 8520 9085, Fax +613 9578 9253<br><a href="mailto:kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au" target="_blank">kel@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au</a><br>VCE IT Lecture Notes: <a href="http://vceit.com" target="_blank">http://vceit.com</a><br>
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