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"The Seeds of Friendship"

Episode 3 ・ Garden Galaxy

Get Ready!

Part 1

Last time on

Star Stuff!

C

R

A

S

H

!

!

!

After making a crash landing on Fruit Galaxy...

LUZ

VALERIA

We met another star-maker named Ed!

ED

Our station's stardust levels were
dangerously low, but these two helped us out!

LUZ

While solving puzzles, we learned
about a new block called  wait for  .

wait for

VALERIA

Using "wait for", we can tell bots to wait for
a specific event before continuing to the next line of code.

wait for

LUZ

That helped us restore the station! With the stardust levels
back to normal, we repaired our spaceship and took off again.

LUZ

But as soon as we landed here,
I felt someone watching us...who could it be?

Our story continues...

Hellooo...? This is the Garden Galaxy station, right? Where is everyone?

VALERIA

I'm telling you, if we want to make a lot of stardust then
we should make stars shaped like roses! Everyone likes roses!

STAR-MAKER A

Huh? Says who? I like dahlias better, and a lot of
my friends do too! We should make dahlia stars!

STAR-MAKER B

No no no, we've done enough flower stars!
We should make cactus stars instead, they're the best!

STAR-MAKER C

Um...hi? We're here to help...could someone show us around?

LUZ

My favorite plant is the best plant!!!

STAR-MAKERS

...Maybe we're better off exploring on our own, Luz.

VALERIA

Yeah. I can't shake the feeling someone's watching us, though...

LUZ

Same here. In that case...

VALERIA

HEY! Whoever's following us, show yourself!!

VALERIA

EEEP!

???

Did you hear that? I think they're hiding in this potted plant!

LUZ

WAH! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! Oh, stars...

???

Who are you? Why were you watching us?

VALERIA

M-my name's Jazmin, I'm a star-maker here.
I saw your spaceship land and I was curious about who it was, but...

JAZMIN

I'm so shy, I ended up hiding!! I totally missed my
chance to greet you...and now I've ruined everything!!

JAZMIN

Hey, chill. Nothing's ruined. In fact, you'd help us
out if you can explain what's going on at this station.

VALERIA

O-okay, I'll try! Ever since Wolf took over the bots,
we've been trying to get our stars back to normal...

JAZMIN

But no one can agree on what kind of stars to make!

JAZMIN

Everyone just wants to make stars of their favorite plant...but I don't get it.
A garden can't thrive with just one kind of plant. It needs diversity!

JAZMIN

True. Have you tried telling them that?

VALERIA

No...I want to help make peace, but I get so scared talking to people.
What if they hate me, or think I'm weird?

JAZMIN

Well...you're talking to us right now, aren't you? And everything's fine.

LUZ

...OH! I guess I am! Maybe because it's just the two of you...
I don't think I can confront my whole station!

JAZMIN

Hmm...here's an idea. What if we work together
to restore some of your station's regular stars? 

VALERIA

If you get used to talking with us, maybe you can
work up the courage to talk with the rest of your station.

VALERIA

You...really want to work with me?! If that's okay...maybe that could work.

JAZMIN

That's good with me. Can you show us the way, Jazmin?

LUZ

R-right! Star Transformer, make me a star!

JAZMIN

Here we are. I see the Starpad
in this puzzle is up in the top left.

VALERIA

Yep. I guess we can start by coding that Grabber bot.

LUZ

O-okay! Let's figure out the right sequence!

JAZMIN

Sequence? I think I saw that word
in the bot manual somewhere...

VALERIA

Oh! A sequence is a set of steps carried out in order.
I read about it in the bot manual, too!

JAZMIN

For example, bots always read code in order,
from top to bottom.

JAZMIN

1

2

3

Makes sense. Let's start from the top, then:
what should the Grabber bot do first?

LUZ

E

B

C

A

D

Hmm...maybe pick up the cube at position D?

VALERIA

E

B

C

A

D

That could be it. We might need to make
it wait for cube tray C first, though.

LUZ

E

B

C

A

D

Maybe it needs to go to button A first?

JAZMIN

E

B

C

A

D

Sounds like we're not sure. Let's try some things out, then.

LUZ

Explore!

Part 2

Think about
this question while you play...

  1. Pick up at D
  2. Wait for C
  3. Go to A

Be ready to vote then discuss
how you know after time is up!

go to 

A

wait for 

C

pick up at

D

What should the
Grabber bot do first?

Vote before Discussing

Polling...

Responses

What should the Grabber bot do first?

go to 

A

wait for 

C

pick up at

D

1

2

3

E

B

C

A

D

What should the Grabber bot do first?

Let's Pair Share!

go to 

A

wait for 

C

pick up at

D

1

2

3

E

B

C

A

D

What should the Grabber bot do first?

Let's Pair Share!

go to 

A

wait for 

C

pick up at

D

1

2

3

E

B

C

A

D

Learn!

Part 3

VALERIA

My idea didn't work. The bot can't pick up the cube
at position D yet because this bridge is off.

Same. I tried adding     "wait for C"     as the first line,
but I didn't have a way of turning on cube tray C.

LUZ

wait for

C

So looks like the only thing the bot can
start with is "go to A"        . Jazmin was right.

VALERIA

go to 

A

Yeah. When the bot is on button A, that turns on this
bridge here. That gives us a path to get the cube!

LUZ

Hehe...I'm glad I could be helpful.

JAZMIN

How'd you figure out the first step? Process of elimination?

LUZ

That's one way of doing it! But for me, I understand these systems by looking at how the hardware is connected.

JAZMIN

Hardware? I think that's another word from the bot manual...

VALERIA

Oh! Sorry, I should explain! Hardware means the physical parts of a computing system, like a bot or a button.

JAZMIN

Then there's software, which is the code that tells hardware what to do. The bot code is an example of software.

JAZMIN

So if you're stuck on writing the software...try looking at how the hardware connects, starting from the goal!

JAZMIN

The goal? So we should start by looking at the Starpad?

LUZ

Yeah! We know reaching the Starpad is our last step, so we can trace the path we need to take backwards from there.

JAZMIN

Let me try. Working backwards from the Starpad,
we know this bridge needs to turn on.

VALERIA

And to do that, we need to flip switch E. I know by looking at the wiring of the hardware.

VALERIA

E

Right! So keep working backwards from there!
To flip switch E, we need this bridge to be on...

JAZMIN

E

...Which we can do by turning on cube tray B.
We can't reach it from here, so the bot will have to do that.

LUZ

B

Right. For the bot to turn on cube tray B,
it needs to get the cube at position D. 

VALERIA

B

D

For that, the bot needs this bridge on. Looking at the wiring, we can turn it on by putting a cube in cube tray C.

LUZ

C

And we just figured out how to get a cube —
by turning on the bridge connected to button A.

VALERIA

A

And the bot can press button A right from the start —
so that's the first step in our sequence!

JAZMIN

A

We can figure out the rest of our sequence
by tracing back the steps we just talked about.

JAZMIN

   Got it. The first step is to have the bot
go to button A, so let's add that to our code.

LUZ

  After that, we'll move the cube to cube tray C.

VALERIA

C

A

Then the bot can pick up the cube at position D...

LUZ

...And drop it at cube tray B!

VALERIA

Then we can flip switch E,
which lets us cross over to the Starpad!

JAZMIN

E

That code looks good, Luz. Let's run it and see what happens.

VALERIA

...The bot just fell into space. Whoops!

VALERIA

Hmm...that seemed like the right order,
but the bot went through the steps too quickly.

JAZMIN

If a bot did something too fast for us, it usually
means we need a "wait for" block somewhere.

LUZ

wait for

But where in the code should we add it? Let's think a bit.

LUZ

Think independently before starting poll

Luz needs to add a "wait for" block
to the code. Where should it go?

Poll Preview

E

C

Vote!

Luz needs to add a "wait for" block
to the code. Where should it go?

Before:

Polling...

Responses

E

B

C

D

A

pick up at

D

drop at

B

1

2

3

Before:

Before:

A

go to 

Vote!

Luz needs to add a "wait for" block
to the code. Where should it go?

Polling...

Responses

E

B

C

D

A

Before:

pick up at

D

drop at

B

1

2

3

Before:

Before:

A

go to 

When sequencing "wait for", it helps to ask ourselves:
which command did the bot do too quickly? 

VALERIA

wait for

Whatever the answer is, we should put the "wait for"
before that line to give ourselves more time.

VALERIA

wait for

In this case, the bot went to      pick up at D      too quickly.
We didn't have time to get the cube and put it in cube tray C.

LUZ

D

pick up at

So let's add the "wait for" before    "pick up at D."   

LUZ

D

pick up at

wait for

And we'll want the bot to wait for cube tray C since that's how we turn on the bridge. That tells the bot it's safe to cross!

JAZMIN

Now let's run our revised code and see what happens.

LUZ

Great! Now that the bot's waiting,
we have time to get the cube.

VALERIA

It worked! Now for the last steps...

JAZMIN

Let's flip the switch...

LUZ

And cross over to the Starpad!

LUZ

We did it! Thanks for all your help, Jazmin. You said
you're shy, but you taught Luz and I a lot just now.

VALERIA

Agreed. I hadn't thought about working backwards from the goal before. That helped us sequence our steps correctly.

LUZ

W-wow...you're both so nice...reading the entire
bot manual 50 times was worth it for this moment!

JAZMIN

Did...did you just say 50 times?!
I've only read the first couple chapters...

VALERIA

Hehe...I just wanted to be prepared in case
the bots ever stopped working! Plus, I like to read!

JAZMIN

Oh, cool! Tell us more about what
you like while we keep restoring stars.

LUZ

...Okay!! I'm gonna tell you all about my favorite plants!! 

JAZMIN

Hmm. She seemed timid at first,
but she's actually pretty brave.

LUZ (THINKING)

Now if we can just get her to realize that,
she can settle this station's arguing once and for all!

LUZ (THINKING)

Keep Going!

Part 4

Keep this in mind as you play...

Plan out the order of your steps.

If you're having trouble, try working backwards from the goal.

When sequencing  wait for
ask yourself:

Which line of code happened too quickly? You may need "wait for" before that line!

wait for

wait for

Check In!

Part 5

You're ready, Jazmin. Go talk things out with your station —
don't worry, we're right behind you.

VALERIA

O-okay...okay! I can do it...here I go!

JAZMIN

Ugh, we're getting nowhere. Dahlia stars? Cactus stars? At this rate,
we're not going to have any stars except for the ones shaped like Wolf!

STAR-MAKER A

Um...can I say something?

JAZMIN

Huh? Jazmin? It's rare to hear you speak up...go ahead.

STAR-MAKER A

I think...I think people like gardens with a lot of variety. A diverse
garden attracts more wildlife, improves the soil, and looks beautiful!!

JAZMIN

So...can't we just make stars for everyone's favorite plant?
This is a space for all of us, right?

JAZMIN

...

STAR-MAKERS

...Jazmin's right. Why are we trying to only make ourselves happy?
We should share in each other's interests!

STAR-MAKER A

Yeah...we were being selfish. Sorry, Jazmin.

STAR-MAKER B

You're...not mad?

JAZMIN

While we were arguing, you and your friends gathered
all this stardust for our station, right? How could we be mad?

STAR-MAKER C

Yeah, thanks for that! Now, should we try making
a new star together? What do you think, Jazmin?

STAR-MAKER A

Let's do it!!

JAZMIN

A while later...

What a pretty bouquet star! You did great, Jazmin!

LUZ

Luz, Valeria...thank you so much!
Talking with you two gave me the courage I needed.

JAZMIN

But, before you leave...um...oh, I'll just say it!
Can I join you two on your adventure???

JAZMIN

Fine with me. Is it okay with you, Luz?

VALERIA

Definitely! Seeing you be so brave, Jazmin...it gives me courage, too.

LUZ

On that note...Valeria, I'm sorry we drifted apart the last couple years.
It was my fault. I felt like I could never reach your level...in anything.

LUZ

Luz...no, I'm sorry. I wanted you to see for yourself
how capable you are...but I ended up pushing you around. 

VALERIA

Can we be close friends again...?

VALERIA

Of course!

LUZ

Hehe...so nice to see everyone getting along.

JAZMIN

Yeah. Looks like we can head to the next station soon.
Are you two ready to go?

VALERIA

Yes!!

LUZ & JAZMIN

Alright, we're approaching our next destination...

VALERIA

Hang on. Is that...a giant claw?

LUZ

And it's heading right for our ship?!

VALERIA

E

E

E

E

K

!

!

!

Until next time...