Teacher guide · Think Lab · Harder · about 40 min
🤖 Build a Game Brain
Pupils practise problem solving through "Build a Game Brain": Reason through variables, conditions and game rules.
Lesson guide
1. Hook · 5 min
Show the 🤖 mission title and read the opening: "lives = 3; lose one life twice. What is lives now?". 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 · 15 min
Pairs work through the 5 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.
Discussion questions
- What was the hardest choice in "Build a Game Brain", and why?
- lives = 3; lose one life twice. What is lives now — explain your reasoning to a partner.
- Which rule unlocks a door only with a key AND 10 points — explain your reasoning to a partner.
- Why test a game with 0, 9 and 10 points — 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?
Adapting it
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.
Curriculum links
- National Curriculum: Computing: algorithms, debugging and online safety
- National Curriculum: Maths: reasoning mathematically and problem solving
- National Curriculum: Computing: logical reasoning and algorithms
- PSHE: Living in the wider world: making decisions and evaluating choices
Pupil sheet
🤖 Build a Game Brain
Name: ____________________ Date: __________
1. lives = 3; lose one life twice. What is lives now?
☐ 0
☐ 1
☐ 2
2. Which rule unlocks a door only with a key AND 10 points?
☐ Both conditions must be true
☐ Either condition is enough
☐ Neither condition matters
3. Why test a game with 0, 9 and 10 points?
☐ To avoid testing the door
☐ To change every rule
☐ To check boundary cases
4. Connect the clues to their meanings.
Variable → ________________
Conditional → ________________
Test case → ________________
5. Invent a game rule using score and a key. Give three test cases, including one that should not unlock the door.