ELIA GJIKA

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Environment Guide

Code for Albania; Y1 2020-2021

• Elia Gjika
• 10th Grade
• GDQ International School

#Tech4Good

#ProtectingTheEnvironmentIsAboutYou

Idea

• Fires in California -> Climate Change -> “Environment Guide”
• Teach the effects of Climate Change ; Bring Awareness
• Working on the “Anderva” app on a block-based app-builder, I wanted to explore how to develop something similar in a real, professional language like Python

How is it unique?

• Interactive
• First Albanian environmental-knowledge quiz on the web *(prototype is in English, but translatable to Albanian)
• Impactful
• Insightful (Self-Evaluation)
• Short, memorizable facts

Application to real life?

• Integrate into a Web-Page (similar to National Geographic’s web-quizzes)
• Develop into a computer game with more gamification (add levels + other features)
• Teach young Albanian kids about environmental issues in an attractive way

Similar to the English NASA version ->

Functions to draw the background :

Building the Quiz’s question format :

Setting up the question alternative boxes :

Checking if the user’s answer is correct :

Computer Science features

• Loops (ie. draw the petal of the flower 9 times)
• Conditional Statements (if the user’s score is >7, print “Good job!” )
• Boolean expressions (if ‘Fill’ variable is equal to ‘true’, fill the answer box with a white color)
• Variables
• Functions (both Python functions such as “turtle.clear()”, and self-created functions, such as “draw_question_box()”
• Console features -> Input, Print
• Lists (ie. possible correct answer responses)
• Turtle Commands (write, forward, penup, pendown, left, turtle fill, etc.)

Additional CS features & Challenges

• turtle.write(...) -> write the questions and alternatives
• “If (name) in (list)” -> checked whether a name was inside that list
• turtle.reset(...) -> reset after finishing drawing a scenery
• I was able to explore event listeners and tried using key presses for the user to answer the question, but I found those difficult to implement.
• I also tried “turtle.onclick()” on the answer boxes as another way to answer the questions, but faced some challenges in setting this up

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BUT ...

Challenge overcome!

• Turtle Speed was going slow for drawing the background, so I had to be very patient and comment it out after finishing with the drawing in order to continue coding the Quiz
• Many variables to keep track of
• Many turtles and functions
• Making the size of the stamped turtles bigger

What I liked

• Sense of achievement - completing a project from start to end
• Continuity - a project which had a storyline, combined with user interactivity ; the outcome is never the same
• Trying to think like the user in order to create a user-friendly product
• Applying what I learned in Python to serve my passion for environmental action

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What I learned

• Smart planning is better than working too hard
• Work step by step, and don’t think too much
• Being efficient is key - no distractions, positive feelings, push yourself
• Brave coding over perfect coding - don’t be afraid to make mistakes
• Learn by doing
• There is a positive feeling of achievement waiting for you at the end!

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THANK YOU!

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*The questions and facts represented in the quiz are taken from credible, well-known sources, such as NASA and the National Geographic. However, they might need additional refining if the quiz is to be shared or made public.

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Computer Science is a very usable art that stands at the core of everything we do and how we think.

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