Putting Things in Order

Spread four number cards on a table: 3, 1, 4, 2. You want smallest on the left. Look at the first pair: 3 and 1. Three is bigger, so swap them. Now it reads 1, 3, 4, 2.

Move one position right. Compare 3 and 4. Three is not bigger than four, so leave them. Compare 4 and 2. Swap. After one full pass, the biggest number often drifts toward the end.

Open the card sort lab and step through Four cards. Read each sentence aloud. The lab never jumps ahead; it shows every compare and every swap.

If you repeat passes until no swap happens, the cards end up sorted. Try the Backwards preset: 4, 3, 2, 1. Watch how many comparisons that takes.

Computers sort names for phone books, scores for leaderboards, and prices for shopping sites. The numbers are bigger, but the idea is the same: compare, maybe swap, repeat.

You do not need to remember the name of the method. You need the habit: check two, fix if wrong, repeat.

Class 3 to 5 you learned sequences, loops, choices and now ordering. That is the skeleton of every program you will meet later.

In class 11 you will meet named sorts and Big-O notation. They will feel familiar because you already watched cards move one swap at a time.

Finish the path quiz, then show someone the robot lab and the card lab. Teaching it back is the best check that you understand it.