Week 6 — Ranges, Totals, and Loops Inside Loops

Assignment 6 of the term — predict where a range stops, total numbers with a for loop, count the passes of a nested loop, and explain it all to someone who has never programmed.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a clear, evidence-based report. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. This builds on Week 5's counters and accumulators: a for loop does the counting for you, but its range still decides exactly how many passes run. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Coding Lab practise the same ideas from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

A cousin who coaches a community swim club wrote a short program to call out the laps of a five-lap warm-up: for lap in range(1, 5): with print("Lap", lap) in the body. When your cousin ran it, the lap calls did not match the five-lap plan, and your cousin says, "Python must have skipped something." Your job is to check what Python really did, the way a programmer would: predict each output before you run it, run it in a free browser Python runner, and explain what happened. All four problems are illustrative; Problem 1 uses this week's reading log, which starts at pages_read = 45 and adds 30 pages a day.

Work these four problems. For each one, write your prediction first, then run the code and write the actual output beside your prediction:

1. The reading log starts at 45 pages read and runs for day in range(1, 8):, adding 30 pages on each pass and printing the day and the running total. What is the last number the program prints?
2. Your cousin's loop for lap in range(1, 5): prints the word Lap and the lap number once per pass. How many lines does it print?
3. The star grid runs an outer loop over range(3) and an inner loop over range(4), printing one star per inner pass and a bare print() after each row. How many stars does it print in all?
4. With n = 5, a loop adds every number of range(1, n + 1) into a total that starts at 0. What total does it print?

Beside each answer, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: state how many lines print inside the loop and why the stop 8 is never a day, and say what the unindented last print(pages_read) adds.
• Problem 2: name the lap that never prints and why the range leaves it out, and write the fixed range and run it to show every lap.
• Problem 3: explain why the inner loop runs on every pass of the outer loop. Then move the bare print() four spaces left, out of the outer loop, run it, and say what the output shows.
• Problem 4: run the same total over range(n) instead, say what it prints, and explain which pattern counts from 1 to n.

Explain it to a non-programmer

Write a 3–5 sentence message to your cousin that explains, in everyday words, why the program did not call all five laps and how changing one number fixes it. Use the idea that a range stops before its stop number, and name one limit or caveat, such as what the loop would need if the warm-up changed length from week to week. Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good message is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a teammate whose program printed the name Ana on a name tag one letter per line, A, then n, then a, when the tag needed the whole name on one line. Model message: "Each time Python prints, it starts a new line afterward unless you tell it not to. The loop printed one letter per pass, so each letter landed on its own line. Adding end with empty quotes inside the print tells Python to put nothing after each letter, so the letters stay together, and one plain print at the end finishes the line. One catch: this only changes how the letters are laid out, not which letters print."

Use that pattern for your cousin's question, with your own wording and evidence.

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft all four predictions, the four actual outputs, the four brief interpretations, and your message to your cousin before opening a chatbot. Run every loop yourself in a browser Python runner.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Show your traces when asked. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one trace or explanation, even if your first attempt was correct.
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write the work for you, and it does not run your code; your own runs settle every output.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful learning coach for an introductory computer science course taught in Python 3. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about for loops, range(), totals, and nested loops. Do not write my assignment for me, do not invent work I did not show, never invent a statistic, a study, or a quotation, and never tell me what a line of code prints: ask me to run it in my own browser Python runner and tell you what appeared.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these four problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. All four are illustrative. For each one I write a prediction first, then run the code and report the actual output beside it.
PROBLEM P1: The reading log starts at 45 pages read and runs for day in range(1, 8), adding 30 pages on each pass and printing the day and the running total. What is the last number the program prints?
PROBLEM P2: Your cousin's loop for lap in range(1, 5) prints the word Lap and the lap number once per pass. How many lines does it print?
PROBLEM P3: The star grid runs an outer loop over range(3) and an inner loop over range(4), printing one star per inner pass and a bare print() after each row. How many stars does it print in all?
PROBLEM P4: With n = 5, a loop adds every number of range(1, n + 1) into a total that starts at 0. What total does it print?
After the four answers, I must briefly interpret each one: for P1, state how many lines print inside the loop and why the stop 8 is never a day, and say what the unindented last print adds; for P2, name the lap that never prints and why the range leaves it out, and write the fixed range and run it; for P3, explain why the inner loop runs on every pass of the outer loop, then move the bare print() out of the outer loop, run it, and say what the output shows; for P4, run the same total over range(n), say what it prints, and explain which pattern counts from 1 to n. I must then write a 3-5 sentence message to a cousin whose swim-club program did not call all five laps, explaining in everyday words why the range stopped early, how changing one number calls all five laps, and naming one limit or caveat. I must explain technical terms in everyday words.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply: correct traces (40 points), reasoning about how Python runs a loop (32 points), clarity for a non-programmer (16 points), and showing the trace and the run (12 points). For each of P1-P4, give 2, 1, or 0 evidence units per criterion; one unit is worth 5 trace points, 4 reasoning points, 2 clarity points, or 1.5 showing points. Sum all four problems within each criterion. Count my final message only with P4, not again with P1-P3.
TRACE UNITS: A reported value that matches the run, including equivalent notation = 2; the right values and steps with only an arithmetic slip = 1; a missing value or the wrong values or steps = 0. Do not penalize an alternative valid way of showing the trace.
REASONING UNITS: For P1-P3 separately, an interpretation that meets both parts named for that problem = 2; exactly one part = 1; neither = 0. For P4, the range(n) total named AND the 1-to-n pattern explained AND a cousin message with the fix and a named limit = 2. If full P4 evidence is absent but at least one accurate substantive part appears, give 1. No accurate reasoning = 0; naming a term alone does not earn a unit. An arithmetic slip alone is not a reasoning error.
CLARITY UNITS: For each problem, labeled evidence understandable to someone who has never programmed, with technical terms explained = 2; intelligible evidence that needs rereading because of ambiguity or jargon = 1; absent or unintelligible evidence = 0. Include the final message with P4 if submitted. Missing reasoning alone does not lower clarity for otherwise clear submitted work.
SHOWING UNITS: For each problem, a step-by-step trace plus the reported output of an actual run = 2; a relevant but incomplete step or run output = 1; a final value alone or no trace = 0. A visible trace stays checkable despite an arithmetic slip.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. Probe an unsupported claim and ask me to examine its evidence, usually by running the loop again. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied all four answers with their runs and brief interpretations AND written my message to the cousin AND revised at least one trace or explanation AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score; it may end in .5 and must not be rounded to a whole number. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my traces, runs, and reasoning]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work with all four predictions and actual outputs, their brief interpretations, the runs of the fixed lap loop, the moved bare print(), and the total over range(n), and your message to your cousin — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript, or as a labelled screen capture of your runs with a short note for each; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 6 skills — predicting which numbers a range produces and where it stops, totalling numbers with a for loop and choosing range(1, n + 1) to count from 1 to n, and counting the passes of a nested loop as outer passes times inner passes — for comparable time and effort, about 60 to 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete the same four problems with your predictions and runs, the four brief interpretations, the runs of the fixed lap loop, the moved bare print(), and the total over range(n), and the message to your cousin. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion, and write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one trace or explanation you changed, the evidence that prompted the change (for example, a run that disagreed with your prediction), and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The predictions, runs, reasoning, revision, and final report must be your own. Do not ask the chatbot to create the assignment, to tell you what a loop prints, or to add evidence you did not produce. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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