Step-by-Step Instructions
Step-by-step instructions for everyday tasks (making a sandwich, brushing teeth); that if instructions are wrong or missing, things go wrong; computers follow instructions exactly
What a learner can do afterwards
- Write or describe step-by-step instructions for a simple everyday task
- Predict what goes wrong if a step is missing or in the wrong order
- Explain that a computer follows instructions exactly and cannot guess what you meant
1 · Read
Instructions are steps that tell you what to do, like fill, wash, rinse, spin in the washing machine. Good instructions come in order, one step at a time, so the wash turns out right.
Mia planned steps for her robot helper. The full list is Wet brush, Toothpaste, Brush, Rinse in that order. Read it from the first step to the last. The copy she sent left out Toothpaste, so the robot skipped that step completely. The teeth did not get clean.
A computer does exactly what you type. It cannot guess what you meant. Write every single step!
Good instructions have every step, in the right order.
The rewritten readings were written for this dataset.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.