Making your own Teachpacks (and a sneak peek!)

[Schanzer (Director)]

Gail recently had her students create Screenshots of their games for an assessment. Her students were clever, and used the (text...) function to make their TITLEs more than Strings. Unfortunately, when it came time to plug these values into the make_game function, the teachpack returned an error because it was expecting TITLE to be a String type, not an Image. What's worse, the error message her students got was not particularly helpful. Fortunately, Gail posted here right away, and we were able to diagnose the problem quickly.

However, we immediately made some observations based on Gail's post:

1) The teachpack should really generate better error messages

2) We should allow Gail's students to use images for their titles

I've spent the last week hacking on the teachpack to add both of these, and I'm ready to share a sneak-peek at the work so far. But I thought I'd also take this opportunity to talk about how you can create your very OWN teachpacks in WeScheme. (Warning: our teachpacks use concepts and code that is not explained in Bootstrap, so this is not for the faint of heart!)

Step 1: Make a new file and fill it with definitions and expressions

This is all pretty straightforward.

Step 2: Decide which definitions you want your students to have, and provide them

Using the (provide ..) function, you can select which functions and values students will have access to. Here's a simple example of a file that declares a single value 'x', and provides it. Notice that it also declares a 'y', but does NOT provide it!

Once you've made your file, click "Share" and then look at the URL that comes back to you (something like "publicId=SOMECHARACTERS"). Copy the part after "publicId=", and make sure you write it down somewhere!

(Tip: don't share the sourcecode when you click share. Usually you want to keep your teachpack hidden, even from someone who has the URL!)

Step 3: Include your teachpack in another file

Open a new file, and use (require...) at the top along with the code from your Teachpack URL. For example:

(require wescheme/ghxFXvXyZ7)

Look at this example file I've made, which uses the teachpack I linked to in step 2, and make sure you see the following:

1) Notice that the code after 'wescheme/' matches the URL from the teachpack.

2) Notice that x, which was provided, can be used inside this program

3) Notice y, which was not provided, is totally unknown to this program!

In Summary

Making your own teachpacks can be a great way for advanced teachers to add their own tweaks and projects to the curriculum. You can write tons of behind-the-scenes code, but only expose the parts you want to your students. It's not for the faint of heart, however!

As for Gail's students, I've made a copy of the Bootstrap teachpack which now adds better error messages and support for image-TITLEs. I've also decided to share it with the source visible, for those of you who want to take a look behind the scenes. Be warned -- this code is not meant for public consumption, so it's pretty ugly! I've also removed the EXAMPLEs and test cases for this public posting, so it should never be shown as an example of "good" code for students!

The teachpack

A sample game using that teachpack

You can also test out the new error messages, by changing any of the image or string definitions to be something else. After a few weeks of testing, we'll release this as an update to the mainline teachpack, so that everyone can benefit from the new features. Gail, thanks to you and your students for posting this question, which has led to some really great improvements for everyone!

[Kate Fisher]

Is the teachpack linked below the current up-to-date version?

[Schanzer (Director)]

I believe it is, yes. Any changes since that date would have been fairly minor.

[David Hardt]

Hi, 

New member and teacher here.  I am very excited to find this curriculum, and plan to try it with my students this Fall.  I have a follow-up question related to this thread:

I was working through the Bootstrap:Algebra units to become familiar with what the students would see and do this fall when I implement this curriculum into Math 1.  Gail's students seem to be working with the error that I also get when running the code that accompanied the title section of the Blank Game linked in Unit 3 (at least through Thursday 6/13):

(define MYTITLE "NatureBot")

(define TITLE-COLOR "red")

(define BigTitle (text MYTITLE 20 TITLE-COLOR))

(define TITLE BigTitle)

I do notice that today, Friday, 6/14/19, this code is NO LONGER in the Blank Game that comes up in the Unit 3 link!  I see the simpler code, which is the simplification I used to get my own game running.  The fact of this change may answer the following question in itself:

Is there a work-around for the error that comes up with the former code illustrated above?  That is, is it possible to make a game title that has larger text than seems to come default with TITLE?

Thanks!

[Emmanuel Schanzer]

Hi David, thanks for writing! We haven’t changed any of the links, and the code you posted would never have been part of a game template (otherwise, there would be an error, as you point out!). Are you absolutely certain the link you were using is from our materials? 

TITLE is a string, not an image. And while it is certainly possible to create images, like in the code you shared, the game template is only expecting strings and will throw an error if it sees anything else.

In answer to your question: the size of the game title cannot be modified in Bootstrap:Algebra. As you know, there are always trade-offs to be made in any classroom project between flexibility and complexity. The game template offers very specific areas to be customized, which were chosen based on the math learning outcomes we wanted to prioritize. For students who want more customization, there’s always a Bootstrap:Reactive - there is literally no template, and students are free to build any kind of game they want!

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bootstrap-Teachers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bootstrap-disc...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bootstrap-discuss/67c02afe-7a35-4595-8391-364a2e036b64%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[David Hardt]

Hi, Schanzer,

Hah!  You are right.  I think I tried those lines of code long enough ago that I thought they were part of the original Blank Game.  Of course they weren't!  I very much appreciate the simplification trade-offs in the intro Bootstrap, and I will continue to explore the next levels of the curriculum!

Thanks!

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bootstra...@googlegroups.com.

[Evonne Carter]

Hello,

How can I be added to this email group? please

[Schanzer (Director)]

You're already added, and a part of this group.

However, we moved over to a different discussion forum more than a year ago, at discourse.BootstrapWorld.org - so being added to this group won't give you access to any new information. I highly recommend creating an account there.

[Carter, Evonne]

Hello,

Can you please give me teacher permission it seems as if I don't.  I have some eight graders I want to start working with.

Thank you,

Evonne Carter

773 992 6195

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Bootstrap-Teachers" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/bootstrap-discuss/HgyzcA3_p7Y/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to bootstrap-disc...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bootstrap-discuss/310f7134-5e28-439f-8b50-85788b78bdddn%40googlegroups.com.

--

Thank you,

Mrs. Carter

Stephen F Gale Elementary Community Academy
1631 W Jonquil Terrace, Chicago, IL 60626

gale.cps.edu

[Carter, Evonne]

Carter, Evonne <ecar...@cps.edu>	5:59 PM (0 minutes ago)
to Emma

Hello.

I know my students will love this curriculum they love math.  How does bootstrap work again?  I know I give the students a different link so they don't see the code? 

Since I am teaching it I need to see the code.  Please help.

[Schanzer (Director)]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say "how does Bootstrap work?" It's a curriculum, so you need to teach it as you would any other. I'm also not sure I understand your other questions, so I'm going to email you privately and see if we can connect by phone.