Python lesson 9: Asking questions with input()
UK version. UK school years and UK spelling. · US version of this lesson
input() waits for the user to type something, then gives it back as a string. A complete 40-minute Python lesson for complete beginners (Year 7, KS3), from Unit 3: Input and decisions. It runs right here in your browser – nothing to install.
- Time
- 40 minutes + 20 min homework
- Year
- Year 7, KS3 (ages 11–12)
- You need
- A computer or tablet, paper and a pencil
- Marked
- Instantly, with explanations
For parents: how to use this lesson
You don't need to know Python yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, the way Mr Babbage, our Head of Computing, likes it: a worked example first, then a go for your child. Code questions run your child's program in the browser and mark it straight away.
- Read what your child will learn together.
- Press Start the lesson below. Sit with your child for the teaching and the worked example (about 16 minutes): ask them to say what each line does.
- Let them do the practice on their own. When code goes wrong, the error message is a clue – let them read it out and try again before you help.
- Finish with the exit questions and the talk question: “Which input would you test first, and why?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- input() gives a number if you type digits. Try input() + input() with 5 and 3: you get 53.
- One test is enough. Hidden tests try other values – so should you.
Miss Lovelace's tip for home: ask your child to explain one line of their program to you in their own words. If they can explain it, they understand it – and every error message is a clue, not a failure.
What your child will learn
We are learning to read what the user types with input().
Success looks like
- I can read what the user types with input().
- I can turn the input into a number.
- I can test a program with different inputs.
Key words
input · convert · test · user
What to have ready
- A device with a web browser (the code runs in the browser – nothing to install)
- Paper for tracing
- A keyboard helps for typing code (a tablet or phone works too)
The big ideas (for the adult)
input() waits for the user to type something, then gives it back as a string.
To do sums with it, convert it: age = int(input()).
Test with different inputs – including 0, big numbers and the edge of any rule.
Worked example
food = input() print(food, food)
It prints:
lemon lemon
The lesson, step by step
| Part | Time | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | 5 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Teaching input | 8 min | Read, watch and talk |
| See it, then predict | 8 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Put it in order, write it, fix it | 14 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Plenary and exit ticket | 5 min | Marked by Classfern + self-check |
The lesson
It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser. Each visit picks a new mix of questions.
Homework
20 minutes: 7 questions – predict what code prints, write or fix a short program, and check the key ideas – then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.
Practice tests
Curriculum
National curriculum in England, computing, key stage 3: pupils should be taught to use 2 or more programming languages, at least one of which is textual, to solve a variety of computational problems; make appropriate use of data structures [for example, lists, tables or arrays]; design and develop modular programs that use procedures or functions; and to design, use and evaluate computational abstractions that model the state and behaviour of real-world problems and physical systems.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board. Python is a registered trademark of the Python Software Foundation; Classfern is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.