BotForge: Program a Bot Brain
A spinner bot's brain is six rules, each a condition and an action, run top to bottom many times a second, and a practice arena shows its battery and spinner live. Students add a rule to save battery, find that it only works below the rule it overrules, and then find its catch: the spinner arrives without its spin. They fix it with a two-part condition, and judge the fix by the arena's own readouts.
At a glance
Essential question
How does the order of a program's rules change what it does?
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- read a rule as a condition and an action, and say when it runs
- explain why the lower of two rules that disagree is the one the bot follows
- predict and test how a new rule changes the bot's battery and spinner, using the arena's readouts
- write a rule with a two-part condition (and) that saves battery without losing the spinner's charge
Vocabulary
condition, action, rule, order, wind up, and
Standards
2-AP-12, 2-AP-17, 1B-AP-15
Time and materials
45 minutes, grades 6-8.
- One computer or Chromebook per student or pair
- A projector
- The worksheet and exit ticket, one copy each per student
- The rubric, one copy per student if you grade the worksheet
Prep
Make copies of the worksheet and exit ticket. Before class, open mytekdev.com/try/botforge?lesson=program-a-bot-brain&ref=tpt-botforge-2 once on a student computer and press Brain on the left: the rules load in a few seconds, with the practice arena beside them. It also checks that your school's filter allows the app. No account is needed. A note about saving may appear above the rules; close it with its x.
Assessment
- Formative: the questions under What to look for, asked while students work, and the exit ticket (answer key included).
- Summative: the student's two-part rule and the worksheet, scored with the rubric out of 12.
Technology and privacy
Runs in any browser, Chromebooks included, with nothing to install. Students need no account and no email: the link works signed out, and nothing they make is stored on our server unless they choose to save it to an account. If your school blocks new sites, ask IT to allow mytekdev.com.
What’s included
- A one-page overview: objectives, essential question, vocabulary, standards and assessment
- A 45-minute lesson sequence: warm-up, direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice, closure
- Slides for the board: a PowerPoint file that also opens in Google Slides
- A student worksheet with a QR code
- A 3-question exit ticket, two to a page, with an answer key
- A rubric: 3 criteria, 4 levels, scored out of 12
- Differentiation for English learners, students with IEPs or 504 plans, and students who need more support or more challenge
- Cross-curricular extensions, and notes for teaching it in grades 4-5 and 9-12
- Standards: CSTA 2017
Standards
These CSTA 2017 standards describe programs built from control structures, including compound conditionals, and testing them. Students read and order conditionals, and write one with two conditions joined by and.
| Framework | Code | Grades | Standard | How the lesson meets it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSTA 2017 | 2-AP-12 | 6-8 | Design and iteratively develop programs that combine control structures, including nested loops and compound conditionals. | Students add rules to a program that runs in a loop, and write a compound conditional (two conditions joined by and). |
| CSTA 2017 | 2-AP-17 | 6-8 | Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases. | Students test the same rule at the top and at the bottom of the list, record the readouts each time, and refine the rule. |
| CSTA 2017 | 1B-AP-15 | 3-5 | Test and debug (identify and fix errors) a program or algorithm to ensure it runs as intended. | Students find why a rule had no effect (its place in the list) and fix it. |
Checked October 2026 against: CSTA 2017 progression chart, CSTA 2017 to 2026 crosswalk.