Parsons Problems

Parsons programming problems are a type of scaffolded program construction tasks where the learner is given a set of code fragments, blocks of a single or multiple lines of code, and the task is to piece together a program from these. Learners not only select and order but also indent code fragments.

Parson’s problems are designed to get you thinking about the order of code, and think logically about how code can be constructed.

In a Parson’s problem you have all the code that you need – you just need to put it into the right order!

In terms of computational thinking, the puzzle is asking you to think about the design of the algorithm, without having to worry about the actual code you need or that you have got the syntax correct.

Title	Category	Concept	Level
Fuel Cost	Sequence	Input, output	1
Curtain Making	Sequence	User input	1
Employee Pay	Sequence	User input, calculation	1
Fence Cost	Sequence	User input, calculation	1
Paint Calculator	Sequence	Multiple processes	1
Basketball Players	Selection	IF...ELSE	2
Salesperson Wages	Selection	IF...ELSE	2
Voting Age	Selection	Multiple IF...ELSE	3
Calculate Discount	Selection	IF...ELSEIF...ELSE	3
Dice Simulation	Selection	Random numbers	2
Collect Donations	Iteration	For loop	2
Simple Login	Iteration	While loop	2
Login - Restrict attempts	Iteration	While loop	3
Average Score	Iteration	While loop, array	2
Birthday Message	Modularisation	Parameters and arguments	2
Calculate Average	Modularisation	Parameters, arguments and return	3
Values in a Range	Modularisation	Parameters, arguments, loop	3
A Cube	Modularisation	Parameters, arguments, return	3
Highest Temperature	Modularisation	Parameters, arguments, array, nesting	4