Karel the Robot Teaches Critical Thinking

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Karel the Robot
Teaches Critical Thinking

Copyright © 2008 Technia. All rights reserved.

Karel the Robot
Teaches Critical Thinking


Compiled by: Debbie Clingingsmith

Email: debbie@clingingsmith.org

Last revised: 1/26/2008

Description: Using the Karel J Robot simulator to
teach critical thinking skills

Download Slides: slideshare.net/dlclingingsmith


What is a critical thinking?
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered from, or
generated by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief
and action.
Defining Critical Thinking: A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul for the National
Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking Instruction, Critical Thinking Foundation,
downloaded 1-23-2008 from
http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/define_critical_thinking.cfm


What Karel J Robot?
Karel is an educational programming language
for absolute beginners, created by Richard E.
Pattis in his book “Karel The Robot: A Gentle
Introduction to the Art of Programming.” Pattis
used the language in his courses at Stanford
University. The language is named after Karel
Čapek, a Czech writer who introduced the word
robot.
Karel (programming language), Wikipedia, downloaded 1-23-2008 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_(programming_language)


For teachers, Karel J Robot is:

A simulator
Karel lives in a simple world of streets and avenues



Free to download

PC/MAC available at
http://pclc.pace.edu/~bergin/KarelJava2ed/karelexperimental.html

or http://www.wiley.com/college/pattis/0471597252/instructor/instructor.html#pc

Palm OS available at
http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Educational/Tutorial/Karel-the-
Robot-6753.shtml

Several versions, suggested version is Karel J Robot which uses Java

Available for MAC, PC, or Palm OS

Easy to learn and use

Karel may perform five different activities

May create new activities oneself

Karel knows about conditions in the environment

Fun to run

Provides immediate feedback

Middle and high school students enjoy Karel


Karel J Robot's World


Program tab (Pascal)


Program tab (Java)


Execute tab


What may Karel do

move

turnleft

pickbeeper

putbeeper

turnoff


What Karel may know

Whether a direction is blocked or clear

frontIsBlocked 
frontIsClear

leftIsBlocked

leftIsClear

RightIsBlocked

rightIsClear


Direction faced

facingNorth 
notFacingNorth

facingSouth

notFacingSouth

facingEast

notFacingEast

notFacingWest

facingWest

Whether beepers are nearby or in the bag
noBeepersInBeeperBag 

anyBeepersInBeeperBag 
notNextToABeeper

nextToABeeper


How may Karel decide
Control statements



if
Example: if (frontIsBlocked) {turnleft();}

while
Example: while (frontIsBlocked) {turnleft();}

iterate
Example: iterate(3) {turnleft();}

if with else
Example: if (frontIsBlocked) {turnleft();}
else {move()};
•Format: command ( condition to meet ) { what to do }


Creating new Karel activities

define

Use with braces above and below the instructions included in the newly
defined command

A defined command may be used in another defined command. However,
it must be defined previous to its use (physically, it must be above where
it is used in a new define).

Example: creating a right turn
define turnright() {
turnleft();
turnleft();
turnleft();
}


Example of use: if (frontIsBlocked) {turnright()};


How to Use Karel
✔ Make or open a Karel world
* When Karel starts, it is in the world tab
* Create walls by left clicking between two adjacent blocks
* Place beepers if you wish
* Save your world
✔ Create or open a program
* Left click the Program tab
* Choose Pacal or Java, then click the New button
* Write your program, then click the Compile button
* Save your program
✔ Run your program
* Left click the Execute tab
* Click the Initialize button
* Click the Run button. Increase speed by increasing the Steps/Min number.


Karel Resources

• Otterbein college
* Karel the Robot tutorial online in Pascal
* URL: http://math.otterbein.edu/home/JKarelRobot/ParelTutorial/Karel.htm
* Place beepers if you wish
* Save your world
• David Wittry web site
* URL: http://www.apcomputerscience.com/karel/index.htm
* Movie demos of Karel running
* First edition of Karel J Robt: An Introduction to the Gentle Art of Object
Oriented Programming in Java available free and online
.


Karel Exercises

• Atlantic City High School
* “Karel the Robot Introductory Role Play Classroom Activity” paper by
Joseph A. Tosh
* URL: http://pclc.pace.edu/~bergin/KarelJava2ed/KarelRolePlay.html

• JR Masterman School
* URL:
http://geom.teachopensource.org/apcs/resources/resources_files/lecturek1-2007.p
df
* Slide set and a paper exercise
.


Karel the Robot Teaches Critical Thinking

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Karel the Robot Teaches Critical Thinking