Lesson on how to use string variables in Python. Designed for Y9.

1. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Variables
Year 9 Computing

2. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Starter Activity
What do you remember from last week?
Open Pyscripter Portable
Write a program that will print the message “I
love programming!” onto the screen

3. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Lesson Objectives
To know what a variable is
and how it can be used in a
program
To be able to write programs
using variables

4. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Quick Activity
Completing the sentence – which is funniest?

5. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Quick Activity: Your Turn!
Who can come up with the best excuse to fill in the
blank?!

6. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
What does this have to do with
programming?
Ever used a website, program or game where the text
was personalised to you? Miss Scott has…
The programmers haven’t written separate versions for
each and every name possibility - they’ve simply used
variables to insert the personalised information into their
program. Using a variable is like leaving a blank to be
filled in, as we saw on the card game.
Amazon
PowerPoint
Wii Fit

7. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Demo
Your teacher will show you a program which simulates
the activity on slide 4. We will discuss the questions
below.
5. How do we join variables to our sentences?
3. How do we indicate which are our sentences and which are variables?
4. How can we quickly identify variables when looking at our code?
2. How do we collect input from the user?
1. Can you spot the variable in this code? What is it called?
Teacher answers

8. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Task: Your Turn!
Copy and paste the “lesson tasks” PowerPoint from
today’s lesson folder to your own area. Then open it up
and complete the exercises. Upload to your blog once
you’re done.

9. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Plenary
We will look at some of your programs and see
who has managed to come up with the funniest
sentences!
Earlier on (slide 6) we thought about some real-
world examples of the use of variables… Can
you think of any more?
Next week we will do some more exercises
involving variables.

10. Faculty of Business & Computing
Student Shared > ICT > Year 9 > Social NetworkingStudent Shared > Computing > Year 9 > Programming > Lesson 4
Homework
Download PyScripter Portable on your home
computer, if you haven’t done so already.
Put a screenshot on your blog to prove you
have done this successfully.