Student confusion with 'if' blocks in Makecode

Victor Rajewski

• November 22, 2020 22:29
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I've noticed a recurring misconception with students using the 'if' block in makecode. When an if block is dropped onto the code area, it is pre-filled with "True" in it's condition area. The "True" value can be changed to "False" in the drop-down in the condition area. Students seem to think that if they change the True to a False, then drop their condition, that this creates the inverse of their condition. So instead of dropping a "not" block into the "if" condition, they are first setting the if's placeholder value to false (under the impression that this switches the "if" to an "if not").

I've seen this with quite a number of students. Also, the very notion of "If True" or "If False" seem pretty strange - perhaps the placeholder values should be removed in this case (or at least restricted to "True" if you think the type-hint is necessary in addition to the block shape)

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• Official comment

  

  Micah M

  • December 01, 2020 03:14

  

  Thanks for the feedback Victor Rajewski. I've passed the feedback along to the MakeCode team.
• 

  Minecraft EDU Official

  • November 24, 2020 03:19
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  Interesting Victor Rajewski! Micah M have you seen this?

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