Subject
Technology (CLIL)
01
What is coding?
Coding means giving a machine a list of clear and ordered instructions so it can solve a problem or do a task — just like following the steps of a recipe. A computer (or a robot) does not "understand" what we want: it only does exactly what we tell it, in the exact order we tell it.
Light-Bot is a puzzle game that helps us practise this way of thinking before writing real code: we guide a small robot around a board using instruction blocks, without typing a single line.
02
Curriculum focus
Key content
Programming and computational thinking: instructions, sequences and repeat structures.
Specific competence
Breaking a problem down into small, ordered and clear steps.
Context
A first contact with programming logic, before using tools like Scratch.
03
Content & Language Aims
CLIL · Technology + English
Content aim — students will be able to…
- Explain what an instruction and a sequence are.
- Identify the basic Light-Bot commands.
- Understand how a loop repeats actions.
Language aim — students will be able to…
- Use action verbs: move, turn, jump, light up.
- Use sequencing words: first, then, next, finally.
- Say how many times an action repeats.
04
Key vocabulary
instructiona single order for the robotinstrucción
commanda block you can useorden / bloque
sequenceinstructions in ordersecuencia
algorithman ordered list of stepsalgoritmo
loopactions that repeatbucle
to repeatto do againrepetir
procedurea mini-program with a nameprocedimiento
to light upto turn on a tileencender / iluminar
05
The game screen
In each level, you see a board with the robot and one or more blue tiles it must light up. Below the board is the instruction palette. On the right, you find the MAIN program (it runs first) and, in later levels, a procedure called PROC1.
Main
Proc1
💡 Tip: put the PROC1 block inside PROC1 to make a loop.
06
Types of instructions
Move forward
The robot takes one step forward.
Turn left
Turns 90° left, without moving.
Turn right
Turns 90° right, without moving.
Jump
Goes up or down one block in height.
Light up
Lights the tile the robot is on. Usually the goal of the level.
07
Sequence: order matters
The robot runs the instructions one after another, in the same order we place them in the program. If the order is wrong, the robot will not reach the right tile — even if we used the correct instructions. This ordered list of steps is called an algorithm.
08
Loops: repeat without repeating
Many levels ask the robot to move forward several times in a row, or to repeat the same pattern again and again. Instead of placing the "move forward" block ten times, a loop lets us say "repeat these steps" and save instructions. In Light-Bot, we build a loop with the procedure PROC1: if you place the PROC1 block inside PROC1 itself, the robot will repeat those instructions again and again.
Proc1
↻
PROC1 calls itself, so the instructions inside repeat forever — that is a loop.
09
Procedures: small, reusable "recipes"
A procedure (in Light-Bot, PROC1) is a mini-program with its own name. You can call it from MAIN as many times as you need, without writing the same instructions again. This is the same idea as a function in a real programming language.
10
Useful language
- First, I move forward. Then, I turn left. Finally, I light up the tile.
- I repeat this step three times.
- I use a loop to avoid repeating instructions.
- My program has six instructions.
11