Block Based Coding Lesson Plan – Template Form

Name: Cory Gleasman

Subject of Lesson:

Grade Level: 3rd Grade

PLANNING AND PREPARATION

Central Focus: Lesson Purpose and Rationale
The purpose of the lesson is to teach students the concepts behind multiplication instead of strictly
memorizing multiplication facts. Scratch programming will be used to elicit student’s conceptual
understanding of multiplication. Looping which is a mechanism for running the same sequence of
code multiple times will be used to signify repeated addition as it relates to multiplication and
grouping. Students will learn the concept of multiplication in hopes of applying it other problems
and contexts, instead of memorizing a specific procedure.

Specific Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS)

CCSS.MATH .CONTENT.3 .OA.A.1 Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the
total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each.

Lesson Objectives
Third grade students will be able to understand that multiplication is repeated addition after completing the
Scratch coding challenging utilizing the computational thinking concepts parallelism and loops. Students will
be able to apply the concept of multiplication to other contexts and problems when given a 10 question
formative assessment as they exit the classroom at 80 percent accuracy after completing the Scratch
multiplication activity.
Computational Thinking Concepts Used
Choose all that apply:
Sequences
Events
Parallelism
Loops

INSTRUCTION (LESSON SCRIPT)

Steps Key Questions, Comments, Directions, Assessments
A. Introduction -Teacher will ask students to define
multiplication.

- Discuss the definition as a class. “What do the

students think it means?”

B. Lesson Body (such as: content
input, modeling, scaffolding,
assessments, guided practice,
opportunities for students to learn
constructively)
- “How is multiplication different than addition
and subtraction?” “Does it produce bigger
numbers? Why?” “2x3 and 2+3 have different
answers, but why?”
-Have two students come up the the front of the
room. Ask the students to race to you when you
say go. One student must walk while the other
runs (walk normal and run normal). Discuss why
the one student won the race and other did not.
Did they take more steps? Were their steps
longer? Have the students race again except this
time count their steps out loud. Ask the questions
above again.
-Examine the steps the student took in groups Ex:
“You took one step three times correct?”
- “What would like an addition equation look like
to represent the total number of steps you took.”
Answer you hope for: This is like saying 1+1+1 =3.
Explain that a multiplication equation would look
like 1*3=3 because you stepped once, three times.
-Do the same thing for the other student who ran.
Ex: “You took one step 6 times and lost correct?”
“What would an addition equation look like for
the total number of steps you took?” Answer you
hope for: “This is like saying 1+1+1+1+1+1=6” .
Explain that a multiplication equation would look
like 1*6=6 because you stepped once, six times.
Using this idea, I am going to give you all a
challenge.
Student will be given the challenge to code two
Sprites (characters) to race and reach a finish line.
Each sprite will travel a specified distance (steps)
when a specific key (space bar) is hit. A desired
sprite must travel at a faster rate and finish the
race first. Finite coding blocks can be combined to
complete the challenge. In each different block
based coding combination (as shown in the next
column), multiplication concepts can be identified.
(Ex: Each press of the key will signify addition, or
the looping (repeating) of one piece of code can
be seen as repeated addition also known as
 multiplication).

C. Closure Students will discus with each other how they built
their code. Possible examples include but are not
limited to:

Have students explain how they arrived to the code

they created within their groups. Did they win the
challenge?

- Gather different student’s examples and have them

explain what code they created to accomplish the
challenge. Then go back to the original example when
students raced in front of the classroom. “If you had to
make a addition equation for your code, what would it
look like?”. “If you had to make a multiplication
equation for your code, what would it look like?”.

-Revisit the definition and explain the concept of

multiplication as repeated addition of groups.
D. Follow-up Activities Have students complete a ticket out the door
assessment complied of 10 multiplication problems.