S10 Create and interpret flow charts
Initial skills rating *
September 2011
I do not know what this section is about either! Help. I do not know where to start looking.
I do not know what this section is about either! Help. I do not know where to start looking.
17th February 2012
I remember vividly, being introduced to flowcharts that could be created on the computer using Flowol. Flowol is the software for creating flowcharts for Picaxe and can be found in Picaxe editor. I remember at the time I struggled: to locate the program on my computer, to remember sequences of information, to put the symbols down on the flowchart, to save my work or to screen shot it. I struggled with pretty much everything! But despite struggling I did manage to make my first simple flowcharts on a computer. I had to keep asking Kelly and Biff how to do things, where things were. That was all right at first but I began not wanting to ask as them as they raced ahead of the class, I felt like such a nuisance. I was so embarrassed and afraid. I was almost waiting for Dean to say go home now and that he had made a mistake in putting me on the course. I was actually questioning where the error had occurred. Was it my fault, had I misled Dean in my interview? He thought I could do this but I felt ashamed that I was finding it so hard.
I realised this was not the first time I had seen flowcharts either. I vaguely remembered them from my college days whilst doing an engineering apprenticeship. Oh but the memories were not good! I seemed to remember none of the mechanical apprentices, of which I was one, could get their heads around them. Homework was a collaborative effort that mostly involved copying. Will my aged brain cells have improved or will they be past it I wondered. I feared the later.
Later that evening
Not wanting to feel the way I had felt earlier in the day and knowing the only way to get better at something is to practise; I sat down at my laptop and tried again. In the quiet of my own home where I felt no pressure to perform I could slowly work things out. I could observe the cause and effect of what I was doing. It may have taken a lot of effort but I was getting there.
Not wanting to feel the way I had felt earlier in the day and knowing the only way to get better at something is to practise; I sat down at my laptop and tried again. In the quiet of my own home where I felt no pressure to perform I could slowly work things out. I could observe the cause and effect of what I was doing. It may have taken a lot of effort but I was getting there.
I attended another lecture Dean was giving to teachers as I wanted to take all the tuition I could get. It was here I heard about “filling jam jars”, each time a subroutine was completed it was like putting a bean in the jam jar. This concept is proving very helpful to me as I progress. If I could go back now with my understanding what would I want to put here for future reference? Well I would explain that flowcharts use different shaped boxes to distinguish different commands. Well that is easy to put right I can take a picture of my notes.