We wanted to teach our club kids how hard and important it is to
write instructions that can be followed. To do so we devised
a simple exercise to illustrate how hard it is to write good
documentation.
| 0. |
We
introduced the topic with some simple illustrations and a
cool video. |
Click here for some of the
introductory materials.
|
| 1. |
We
divided the attendees into groups of 4-6 with one adult per
group assisting. We called them "Product Groups." You can
see the signage in the photos.
Note that we made sure the groups had a full age
distribution buy sorting by age then assigning them to a
group.
We have found this arrangement produces the best results
because it normalizes the activity and all groups will
generate similar work.
|
|
NAME |
AGE |
TEAM |
|
Joshua |
5 |
1 |
|
Kent |
5 |
2 |
|
Nicholas |
6 |
3 |
|
Ryan |
6 |
4 |
|
Nathan |
7 |
1 |
|
Quinn |
7 |
2 |
|
Stephen |
7 |
3 |
|
Aaron |
8 |
4 |
|
Jonathan C |
8 |
1 |
|
Jordan |
8 |
2 |
|
Kaitlyn |
8 |
3 |
|
Alie |
9 |
4 |
|
Andrei |
9 |
1 |
|
Emily |
9 |
2 |
|
Nate |
9 |
3 |
|
Alexander |
10 |
4 |
|
Timmy |
10 |
1 |
|
Davis |
11 |
2 |
|
Dalvin |
13 |
3 |
|
Jonathan S |
13 |
4 |
|
KC |
13 |
1 |
|
| 2 |
Each
group was given two bags of identical parts (shape, colors,
etc.)
We considered making it more realistic by creating at least
one asynchronous set that was missing a few parts but opted
not to. NOTE: You don't need 4, 6, 8 identical bags, just sets
of 2 identical bags. That is, each matched set should not be
like the other sets to provide variety in the finished
products. |
 |
| 3 |
Each
group was given a worksheet pack of blank work sheets
with numbered steps and spaces for instructions and
illustrations. You can see their work on the Project Pages
in the navigation at the top of the page. Note that
they were only allowed to use a pencil. No color or other
indicators. |
You can download a word version of the worksheet here. |
| 4 |
Each team
was given 45-60 minutes to build a model and document it.
|
Note: If a team finished early we invited them to open the
other bag and try to build their own model. |
| 5 |
The
production models were labeled and placed in shopping bags. |
|
| 6 |
The teams
then traded their instructions and second bag of parts with
another team and they proceeded to attempt to build what the
first team had documented. |
|
| 7 |
When the
teams were done building we compared the models. |
|
Lessons
Learned