Flow Chart Lesson Plan
Flow Chart Lesson Plan
OBJECTIVE
Flowchart Development
To teach the students the fundamentals of flowchart development. INTRODUCTION/ASSESSMENT What is a flowchart? Ask students for ideas and their opinions/examples Discuss purpose of a flowchart and give definition o A flow chart is a graphical representation showing the flow of control among the steps in a program, people in an organization, or pages of a presentation, processes in general. It is a step-by-step illustration of what occurs given a specific situation. Explain attributes of a flow chart: o Start/End Block: Start block includes a brief description of the process which the flowchart is carrying out (represented by ovals) o Input/Output: An event that occurs (represented by parallelograms) o Decision: Should be a question that has only two possible answers (has only one input and two outputs). (Represented by diamonds) o Process: Some operation carried out. Has exactly one input and one output (i.e. can only lead to one other DECISION or PROCESS element). (Represented by rectangles) o Sequence: A series of processes carried out one after the other. o If/Else: Provides choices, using Decision blocks, if I make this choice, this will happen otherwise, that will happen. Developing a Flowchart Step: Write down processes Consider decisions Consider inputs & outputs
Class Exercises: Flowchart examples o Consider waking up in the morning, what are the steps that you take before getting out of bed? Have students give their examples of steps necessary to get out of bed in an ordered list. Make sure that they incorporate decisions, not only processes
Start
Alarm Rings
Yes
Hit Snooze?
No
Get Up
Stop
o o o o o o Materials:
Give each group a process and have them create a flowchart of their own and present to the class Class activities: Self-checkout at the supermarket Making a sandwich Doing a load of laundry Drawing a flowchart Taking a Picture Cleaning a bedroom
Not Applicable
Deliverables (assignment) Illustrate the use of a soda machine: Have the students think about buying a drink from a soda machine. Have them start with a version of the task that involves no choices. Get them to list all the steps for a linear purchase sequence. For example, these might be: Go up to the soda machine; Put in money; Push correct button; Take drink out of machine. Next draw this as a flowchart. This might look like:
Start
Go to Machine
Put in Money
Push Button
Stop