TOPIC 1: COMPUTATIONAL THINKING

Merge sort

LESSON PLAN FOR Y10-05-CT25

Lesso Specific Details Resources

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CT25 1.2.1 Learning outcomes Lesson slides
1.2.6  Describe the merge sort algorithm
6.2.2 Python IDE (e.g.
 Merge two sorted lists. PyCharm,
Thonny, IDLE,
Lesson plan etc.)
 Recap previous learning on linear searches
(Slide 3). Explain that there are many different Lesson activities
sorting algorithms.
 Explain that merge sorts are commonly used Used in lesson:
to sort large quantities of data (Slide 4). https://
Explain that the merge sort is a ‘divide-and- student.craignda
conquer’ algorithm, i.e. one that breaks a ve.org/videos/
problem down into smaller parts and then gcse-edexcel-
solves each of them separately. topic-1a-merge-
In this case, the algorithm splits a dataset sort
repeatedly in two, until it has been split into
single items. The algorithm then merges the
single items back into pairs that are in the
correct, sorted order. This merge operation is
repeated until the whole set has been sorted.
Show
https://student.craigndave.org/videos/gcse-
edexcel-topic-1a-merge-sort. (Tutor: This
would be a good time to mention the concept
of recursion. It ties in well with the idea of
‘divide and conquer’.)
 The diagram on Slide 5 shows how the
algorithm works. Note that this example uses
an odd number of items. You may wish to
complete a simple worked example on the
board (in addition to explaining the diagram) to
help students understand the method. Ask
students to complete Activity 1. (Tutor: When
the list to be sorted has an odd number of
elements splitting it will result in one sublist
having one more element than the other. It
doesn’t matter which of the two sublists it is,
although – by convention – it’s usually the one
on the left.)
 Recap some of the list skills in Python that
students have covered in previous lessons
(Slide 6). Explain to the students that they are
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TOPIC 1: COMPUTATIONAL THINKING

Merge sort

Lesso Specific Details Resources

n ation
content
not expected to be able to implement a full
merge sort in Python. However, in this lesson
they will complete part of the algorithm in
Python to better understand the merge back
together stage. Explain that they will need to
be able to complete repetition, use indexing
on lists, add items to a list, and compare items
to find the smallest (using selection). Ask
students to complete Activity 2. This is a
‘complete the code’ activity.
(Tutor: A full recursive merge sort written in
Python is beyond the scope of the GCSE
specification, but a problem involving the
merging of two already sorted lists can be
solved with the programming skills students
are expected to have. There are many
different ways to solve this merging in Python.
One common strategy is to delete items from
each source list as they are appended to the
result list. This does work and students will
understand this method. However, following
this strategy destroys the original contents of
the source datasets. Another method is to
append all the lists and use the Python sort
function to produce the result. Again, this does
work, but the use of the Python sort function is
not in the Programming Language Subset.
In the Paper 1 exam students may be asked
to show on paper how the data set is
progressively divided into subsets until each
subset has exactly one item, or how pairs of
subsets are merged in order.)
Wrap up (Slide 7).

Homework
 See homework document.

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