Peanut butter and Jelly
[This is due to a teacher from the States, I neglected to
write down her name, if she is reading this: please let me
know so that I can attribute it to you!]
Props: Jar of Peanut butter, Jar of Jelly, Butter,
Loaf of sliced Bread, knife, paper towels
Description: Ask the students to help you make
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Everyone knows how to make
one! Your job is to do exactly what they say, that is, to
misinterpret the statements that have multiple meaning.
For example: If a student says "Butter the bread" then butter
the bread still inside the bag using your fingers! Once you
get to the point of having a slice with peanut butter on it
and a student says "Put it down", then you put it down with
the peanut butter side down. Makes an awful mess, they are very
interested, and will remember this for a very long time!
Develop the properties of an algorithm after wiping up the mess.
Lynn Andrea Stein, Professor at MIT, uses the Peanut-Butter-and-
jelly Model for describing sequential programming in her
"Rethinking CS101"