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If Statements

In the Python programming language, if statements allow you to write code that only runs sometimes.

Dependencies​

Students need to have these skills before learning this skill:

Goal​

When you teach this skill, your goal is to make it so that students can write code that looks like this:

name = input("What is your name? ")
if name == "Perry the Platypus":
    print("Curse you Perry the Platypus!")

Activities​

Here are some activities that you can do in order to teach this skill.

Writing on the board​

  1. Write this code on the board:

    favorite_color = input("What is your favorite color? ")
    if favorite_color == "Orange":
        print("That’s my favorite color too!")

  2. Ask students what they think that code is going to do.

  3. After calling on a few students, reveal the correct answer.

  4. Ask all students to write similar code on their computers. Their code should ask a different question an react to a different answer.

  5. Have students run their code in order to make sure that it works.