Fifth Period
First Time Here?
Go to the first strip and
see how it all started!
Join students Sophie, Tomás, Emma, and Marcus during Fifth Period! This STEM comic strip chronicles the exciting and often hilarious adventures of a close-knit group of four friends as they learn about science, technology, engineering, and math from their kooky, inspiring, off-the-wall science teacher, Mr. Kepler. When they're not in class, these kids love to explore the vast world of STEM on their own, launching weather balloons, programming computer games, and cataloging insects, sometimes with unpredictable and highly entertaining results!
Check back on the first and third Friday of every month for a new Fifth Period strip!
Robodog Reboot
Well, thank goodness there was nothing wrong with Robodog's programming and that he was only stuck in the vending machine! Otherwise, Tomás would have to go in and correct Robodog's code, which is the set of written instructions stored in Robodog's memory that makes it possible for the little guy to operate. (Tomás is able to do this with the help of another computer that's connected to Robodog's memory.) Going into the code and correcting mistakes is a process call debugging. Code mistakes (called bugs) can cause devices to behave really strangely, or not work at all! Robodog may have real bugs, but at least he's operating properly!
Think about it!
Tons of things use code to operate, including your favorite video games (on the console or on your personal computer)! Next time you're playing a video game, look to see if there's anything strange in the graphics. If you do see something, you've found a bug in the game!