Bug 420101

SUMMARY

This is a pedagogical bug - that is, the levels are working as intended, but the way they are laid out introduces too large of a jump at once.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

1. Have a bright 6 year old (almost 7) work through the digital electricity activities.
2. Watch where they get completely stuck.

OBSERVED RESULT

Up through level 6 he completed with relative ease.  On level 7, he had absolutely no idea what to do or how to accomplish the extremely tricky instructions.

EXPECTED RESULT

The levels should be arranged on a gradient so that they can be mastered in order with only a small conceptual jump each time.  (Many other activities do a stellar job at this.)

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: Kubuntu 20.04
gcompris-qt 0.97

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The trick of having to connect TWO gates in order to produce one single output from three inputs was not at all obvious to him, and the instructions in level 7 (which require a combination of AND and OR gates) were confusing on top of that - too much of a jump.  (Also, it wasn't obvious to him OR to me at first that I had to connect a "1" to the input side of all the switches.)

I backed it up for him by giving him an easier task in the "free play" mode (rather than the tutorial mode).

First task I gave him was, with only an OR gate and an AND gate available (I just told him to pretend the other gates and parts weren't there), to connect up TWO switches so that the light would only turn on if BOTH switches were on.  He got this easily and said that the name of the gate gave away the answer!

Next task was to connect up the two switches so that the light would turn on if EITHER switch were turned on, whether the other switch were on or not.  He got this one easily also and again said the name of the gate gave away the answer.

The next task, and the biggest conceptual leap (but still easier than the level 7 built into the program) was: connect up these THREE switches so that the light will only turn on if ALL THREE switches are on.

What's easy and obvious to an adult (especially a programmer) isn't so obvious to a kid, even a bright kid.  At first he was trying to use both the AND gate and the OR gate, and wasn't hooking them up right.  So I simplified by telling him that ONLY the AND gate was available for this level (no OR gate).  Contrary to what you might expect, this did not make the level trivial.  His next attempt involved connecting switch 3 to both of the inputs of the second AND gate, and then the output of that directly to the light.  (So the third switch controlled the light directly and the first two switches did nothing.)  I then gave him a little hint just by positioning the third switch forward a bit, NEXT to the first gate (below it), so their outputs were nearly lined up.  That's when he suddenly saw the solution.  And, it wasn't guessing at that point - he completely understood how the AND gates connected and how the solution makes sense.

That was the end of our time for the day, but the next tasks I have planned are:

- Connect three switches so that if ANY of the switches are on, the light should turn on (i.e. two OR gates will be the solution).
- Connect a switch and a light so that the switch controls the light, but no "ONES" are allowed for input (so he'll use a NOT gate).
- Connect two switches and a light so that the light is only on if one switch is on and one switch is off (so he'll use an XOR gate).
- Connect three switches so the light only turns on if EXACTLY ONE switch is turned on (i.e. using two XOR gates, but I won't tell him that; I'll tell him that AND, OR and XOR are all available).

At that point I'm expecting him to get the idea well enough that he'll be able to tackle level 7.

For future reference (since I'm hoping the levels will be changed, according to this bug report), the current level 7 instructions are:

"Light the bulb using the components provided such that the bulb will glow under the following two circumstances:
1. The first switch is turned ON, or
2. Both of the second and the third switches are turned on."

Side note, the vocabulary should be improved too.  "components provided" should just say "given pieces," although I might agree with keeping the word "component" if it's defined when first used.  Also, "circumstances"?  Maybe instead: "Connect the parts so that the bulb will be ON if the first switch is on, will be ON if the second AND third switches are on, and will be OFF otherwise."  Or even clearer, and giving a hint in the wording: "Connect the parts so the bulb will light up green if the first switch is on, OR if the second AND third switches are on."