The Land of Turtles - Teacher’s Guide Version 6

Turtle Training Museum, Intro to Turtles, Faultline Island, Sky Turtle Island, and Bridge Programming

The Land of Turtles requires MinecraftEdu, ComputerCraftEdu and CustomNPCs. The current version of the map was last updated on July 1, 2014 and uses ComputerCraftEdu 1.631pr9 and Custom NPCs 1.6.4. To download this world, go to: (link coming soon)

Contents

General Tips

Turtle Training Museum

Group Maze

Faultline Island

Sky Turtle Island

Bridge Programming

General Tips

How is the Land of Turtles different than other Minecraft worlds? The land of turtles was created over many months by me, Mike Harvey, a technology teacher in Maine (USA). It is a tool for teaching programming and computer science concepts and it is a lot of fun. It is truly a labor of love.

About the Land of Turtles Depending on how you normally use Minecraft there will be a few differences that might need to be explained to students:

Students cannot break or place down blocks by hand except in a few select areas where Build Allow Blocks are present.

Border blocks and other structures are used to keep students from getting lost accidentally. To succeed at the challenges, students will need to be in the right area!

Weather, fire, nighttime, health/hunger, and mobs are all disabled in this world. The Land of Turtles features, of course, Beginner’s Turtles from ComputerCraftEdu.

Students have the ability to alter or run the programs on any turtles they see. You may want to set expectations based on your hopes.

The Land of Turtles features non­playable­characters (NPCs) that students can and should talk to. NPCs will give the students information, experience points and items needed for them to go on.

For the level of greatest success with this world, teachers should feel comfortable with MinecraftEdu Teleport Blocks, ComputerCraftEdu and Minecraft itself. Make sure you have played on your own before you decide to teach with this!

Notes about this Guide: Later sections of this guide will also feature sample Assignment Text that can copied/pasted into the Server Launcher if desired. Pay special attention to any text in this guide you see in GREEN. These tips could save you a lot of stress later on! This guide has been formatted for easy printing, but the live Google Doc will be updated automatically!

Turtle Training Museum: Time: Typically < 15 minutes, more if desired

Sample Assignment Text Turtle Training Museum Talk to the programmers and watch some turtles! Can you figure out how they were programmed?

This is the spawn point. Students can wander and explore the 2 main floors of the museum, interacting with NPCs and watching turtles navigate, dig, and build. Students have the ability to reprogram the turtles here but should be encouraged not to ­ Yet! Like a real museum, the exhibits here are meant to seen by all who pass through. Text blocks with notes about the programs being used can be found throughout the museum. How you use this area is entirely up to you, but here are some possibilities:

Break students into groups and assign each group a turtle in the museum to study. Groups are responsible for reporting back to the class about what the program does, any patterns they think they see, and parts of code that they are curious about.

Give students a set amount of time to explore the museum on their own. (For my younger students, I usually block the stairwell at first so we can focus on one floor at a time.) After time runs out, have volunteers report to the class what they have learned about the capabilities and limits of the turtles. Examples:

Turtles cannot move to the left or right without turning to face that direction first. Turtles can stay up in the air / fly. Turtles are smaller than a player ­ only one block high! Turtles can place blocks down to build things. Turtles can be equipped with tools. Turtles can detect blocks around them. Turtles can have names and be different colors.

Intro to Turtles Time: 15­60 minutes depending on age and background of students. Varies between individuals.

Sample Assignment Text Intro to Turtles Gain access to the Intro course and complete your first programming challenge.

Students will leave this area with their very own customized turtle and a basic programming skill set. This area follow a set sequence. While some students have been able to figure out, by talking to NPCs and reading signs, what to do here, others have needed more help. Students are provided with a walkthrough of the area (Google Doc) which tells them, with pictures, exactly what to do in this area.

Student Walkthrough

Teacher Notes for this area: A programmer NPC will give each student/teacher a turtle and remote automatically. Talk to the NPCs to learn how to customize a turtle and enter the course.

Ensure that students have a turtle before entering the course! Students who go on without a turtle will need teacher intervention (manual teleportation) before they’re able to continue.

Each student needs to find an open room where they will learn and practice on their own. Open rooms are marked with Redstone Torches and Redstone Lamps. The doors to each room will close behind the student.

A chest in each room contains program disks and directions for using the turtle, the disks, and the remote.

Remotes are technically optional, but encourage students to use them as soon as possible. If a student programs their turtle to move outside their reach, and if they have not already bound the remote to the turtle, they will need teacher intervention to get it back.

Students will program their turtles to follow a simple course and are rewarded with an exit token and pickaxe. They should bring everything they have collected so far with them to the next area.

To exit this area, show the third NPC (near the entrance) a Turtle Token and he will allow you access to the Teleport Block.

Faultline Island

Sample Assignment Text Faultline Island Get prepared for the next challenges by figuring out how to get your turtle to dig and place blocks down for you.

Faultline Island is a large area surrounded by a bottomless pit perimeter. This is the only area in the world where student have normal build privileges by default. Where the Intro to Turtles was highly scripted, Faultline Island is the opposite. NPCs will still provide items and information but there is no walkthrough and students need to figure things out for themselves. Again, encourage students to use the remotes as soon as possible. If a student programs their turtle to move outside their reach, and if they have not already bound the remote to the turtle, they will need teacher intervention to get it back.

Getting There Students will arrive at Faultline Island after they finish the Intro to Turtles course. Students who fall off the island will respawn in the Turtle Training Museum. Teachers can either have them walk back on their own or teleport them.

Placing Blocks First, students should collect blocks (e.g. dirt) and discover how to get a turtle to place them. The commands Place Forward, Place Up, and Place Down will be used. The blocks must be placed into one of the turtle’s 16 inventory slots before it can use them.

Digging An NPC will give students a Diamond Shovel. This is not for digging! Students can use the “Swap Left/Right Tool” commands to equip the shovel onto the turtle. They will then be able to use the Dig Forward, Dig Up, and Dig Down commands. Important: If a student accidentally uses their shovel before equipping it, the NPC will replace it with a new one.

What Now? It’s up to the teacher to decide how to use each area. If other students are still working at Intro to Turtles, I invent challenges for the students at Sky Turtle Island. You can have them “escape” by building a bridge off of the island. Once they leave the island, they will lose all building privileges and must rely on their turtles. Challenge them to build something off the island or to find a way to collect wood from the trees.

Sky Turtle Island Typical Time: 1­2 full class periods

Sample Assignment Text Sky Turtle Island Choose an open doorway to begin. Read the guidebook for hints.

Getting Started An NPC crystal at the start of the island will provide players with a guidebook and a home block. The home block can be used immediately after going through a doorway. Students will be able to return to this spot at any time; helpful if progress here is interrupted by another whole­class activity. Students should read the guidebook if they are not sure what they are supposed to do. No answers or hints are given in the guidebook. At this time there is no online guide for students. Remind students not to work harder than they have to. Between challenges it sometimes best to break and carry the turtle (put it on a build allow block first) or to use the minimized GUI to control it directly. Again, encourage students to use the remotes as soon as possible. If a student programs their turtle to move outside their reach, and if they have not already bound the remote to the turtle, they will need teacher intervention to get it back. Because students do not have build privileges at Sky Turtle, they may occasionally make a mistake that requires a teacher to help them fix. This happens rarely.

Puzzle Descriptions, Hints, and Solutions Some of the solutions may look slightly different because they are from an old version of ComputerCraftEdu. Be careful sharing this with students as all the answers are below!

1 Build a Bridge Use the bricks provided to build a bridge over the gap. Important commands: Move forward, Place down Sample Solution

Sample Program Run 16 times, chasing the turtle as it builds. Don’t forget to move the bricks into the turtle’s inventory! Hint: Use the Turtle Remote and minimized GUI to do this quickly.

2 Build Stairs Use the bricks provided to build a stairs over the wall. Important commands: Move up, Place forward, Place down Sample Solution

Sample Program Position the turtle on the build allow block. Move the turtle up once, then place both bricks from that position! Use your pickaxe to break your turtle and bring it tothe next challenge.

3 Dig Through The Wall Use the mining turtle to dig a person­sized hole through cobblestone. Important commands: Swap Left Tool, Dig forward, Dig up Sample Solution

Sample Program First, you need to equip the pickaxe.

Next, position the turtle at the wall using move commands, then run this program3 times. Don’t forget to use move commands once you are through to move the turtle out of your path.

Following this, repeat the solution from challenge #1 to build a small bridge using6 of the collected cobblestone.

4 Putting it Together Use the bricks provided to build a stairs over the wall. Important commands: Move, Dig, Place Sample Solution

Sample Program Position the mining turtle against the floating cobblestone and run this program until you are through. Jump the gap and cross the new bridge.

When you reach the point where the program fails, just pick up your turtle and move on.

5 Introduction to WHILE Loops Use a WHILE loop to keep the turtle moving based on whether there is a block below it or not. Programs from here on out get more complicated, but use a similar structure. You can use the minimized GUI or a second disk if you need todo just a few simple actions between loops. The format to a while loop is WHILE (condition) DO (actions) END. It is suggested to use the condition/action vocabulary as much as possible whendiscussing solutions with students. Recommended new commands: WHILE, Detect down, DO, END, NOT Sample Solutions A hint for this puzzle is in the chest. The goal of puzzle #5 is to move the turtle tothe wall of sand quickly using loops. This can be done in at least two ways: In 3 steps: WHILE DetectDown DO MoveForward END

WHILE NOT DetectDown DO MoveForward END WHILE DetectDown DO MoveForward END Or in 1 step: WHILE NOT DetectForward DO MoveForward END

6 Please note: Some of the screenshots in the following puzzles have not been updated since version 5 of Land of Turtles. The solutions are all still valid but some things may look a little different.

Collecting Sand Use a WHILE loop to get through a wall of sand. Condtion: Detect Forward Action: Dig Forward Sample Solution

Sample Program Position the turtle in front of the sand wall and run this program just once.

Then, use a the first sample WHILE program to move the turtle to the beginning of the challenge #7’s pit:

7 Build a Bridge from Falling Sand Use the sand provided to build a bridge over the gap. Condition: NOT Detect Down Action: Place Down

Sample Solution

Sample Program Run 4 times, with the turtle beginning just over the pit. There should be empty space under the turtle each time this is run. Don’t forget to move the sand into the turtle’s inventory!

8 Place a Ladder Place the ladders provided to create a way up. Condition: Detect Forward Action: Move Up, Place Down Sample Solution

Sample Program Position your turtle at the base of the wall. Give the ladders to the turtle, then runthis program once!

The Move Forward at the end will make turtle move out of the way when it finished. (Super Bonus Points if anyone thinks of that!) Many variations of this solution exist.

9 A Bridge of Brick Find the bricks, then use a WHILE loop to build a bridge with them. Recommended commands: WHILE, Move forward, Place Down Sample Solution

Sample Program On foot, find the bricks:

Using the second disk, position the turtle one space in front and above the pre­placed brick. Give the turtle the bricks.

Switch disks and run this program once:

10 Solve a Redstone Puzzle Taking a break from loops to learn about the Redstone signal commands. Needed commands: Set Redstone Forward, True Sample Program

The tricky part of this one is not the program itself, but where to run it. If you run this program from the build allow block, you will not be able to move your turtle from that spot. There is a “secret” access point on a blue “<” block where the turtle needs to be moved first. Sample Solution

Sample Program The following program will maneuver the turtle into position and open the door. Once through, use the following program to move your turtle out through the “window”.

11 Tunnel Through Lava Use the glass provided and non­mining turtle to create a tunnel (roof and floor) through flowing lava. There is a brick block on the other side that makes a good stopping point for the turtle. Recommended commands: WHILE, Move forward/up/down, Place up/down Sample Solution

Sample Program Don’t panic if a little lava spills out while the turtle works. It’s going to be okay!

12 Dig Through The Wall Dig through brick while building a tunnel to stop the flow of lava. You must also build a floor as in #11. Recommended commands: Same as #11, plus Dig forward/up Sample Solution

Sample Program Keep the turtle’s inventory empty at the start. It will use the brick it collects to build.

Bridge Programming and Design Typical Time: 3­4 class periods This lesson plan is coming soon! For now, please see the following video explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRgx8cMSRU All of work above is still in progress. I welcome your feedback. Mike Harvey, Technology Teacher mharvey@falmouthschools.org

Twitter: @mharveytech Falmouth Elementary School Falmouth, Maine