Teacher guide · Think Lab · Harder · about 35 min

📦 Variable Vault

Pupils practise problem solving through "Variable Vault": Store and change values in a game.

Lesson guide

1. Hook · 5 min
Show the 📦 mission title and read the opening: "score = 5, then score = score + 3. score is…". Take three quick guesses.
2. Model · 5 min
Think aloud through the first step together. Use Cog the Owl's line as your prompt: "Good thinking. Show me the why."
3. Do · 10 min
Pairs work through the 4 steps on screen or on the printed sheet. Circulate and ask "why?"
4. Discuss · 10 min
Use two or three of the discussion questions. Ask pairs to share different answers, not just correct ones.
5. Reflect · 5 min
Exit ticket: one sentence on how they used problem solving today.

What was the hardest choice in "Variable Vault", and why?
score = 5, then score = score + 3. score is… — explain your reasoning to a partner.
What is a variable — explain your reasoning to a partner.
lives = 3. You lose one: which code — explain your reasoning to a partner.
Where could you use problem solving outside school this week?
If you did this again, what would you change?

Support: Read prompts aloud, pair with a confident partner, and accept spoken or drawn answers for writing steps.

Stretch: Ask pupils to create their own extra step for a partner and explain the correct answer.

Pupil sheet

Name: ____________________ Date: __________

1. score = 5, then score = score + 3. score is…
☐ 3
☐ 53
☐ 8
2. What is a variable?
☐ A fixed number
☐ A named box that stores a value
☐ An error
3. lives = 3. You lose one: which code?
☐ lives + 3
☐ lives = 1
☐ lives = lives − 1
4. Design a game: list three variables it would need and what they store.