PRO TIP
Embedded Files
PRIOR TO TEACHING THIS LESSON
Review all of the videos in the Getting Started Folder (takes less than 3 minutes, all videos are very short) and select which worksheet you would like to use for your students to use to plan their coding. Students will use coding buttons, the coder and the board.
GETTING STARTED VIDEOS
Worksheets
Cats vs Robot Vacuum Kittisaurus.mp4What You'll Need:
1 VEX 123 robot per group of 2 students
1 VEX art ring per group of 2 students
1 VEX coder per group of 2 students
Coding Cards
Pipe Cleaners and Pom Poms as needed (at least two of each per group)
Chosen Worksheet(s)
Next Steps:
THERE ARE TWO LABS TO COMPLETE.
Divide students into groups of 2 (or 3 if needed)
Grouped students will share the following responsibilities and alternate between activities or as you see fit:
Building the board.
Placing pom poms on the Tile.
Pressing the touch buttons to create the project or using the coder to create the project.
Placing the 123 Robot on the Tile in the correct location.
Pressing the Start button to start the project.
Students will be coding their 123 Robots to help "clean a room," in this Lab. They will use classroom art supplies to create an invention for the Art Ring, that will help the 123 Robot push items off a Tile to clean their “room.”
Discuss:
We know our 123 Robots can do lots of things. How do we tell our 123 Robots what to do? We use a programming language! What do you think a programming language is?
A programming language is a set of rules in which symbols represent actions. For example, the arrow symbol on the “Move” button has the 123 Robot move forward one robot length.
How do we know which buttons to press to make our 123 Robots do what we want them to do?
Just like we learn words in our language, we have to learn the buttons in the 123 Robot’s programming language.
Demonstrate:
Test each of the touch buttons individually, to help students learn what the touch buttons communicate in the 123 Robot’s programming language. Walk them through turning on the robot and turning off the robot and executing a "project" for the robot. Allow 5 minutes to explore.
Discuss:
What do you think each of the button presses was communicating to the 123 Robot?
How do the symbols on the touch buttons relate to the behaviors performed by the 123 Robot?
Why do you think order is important when we’re coding our 123 Robots?
How can we sequence our button presses to have the 123 Robot move on the path that we want it to move?
Keep Going:
Students will connect pipe cleaners to their art ring and then place the art ring onto the VEX 123 robot. Remind students that the white arrow on the Art Ring should be lined up with the white arrow on the 123 Robot when they attach the Art Ring to the robot.
Students will then get their board and place their robot and pom pom(s) like so:
Lab 1
touch to code lab 2 play 1.mp4The goal of this lab is to remove the pom pom from the board using the robot and the push buttons to do it. Allow students 5 minutes to achieve this goal. Once they have successfully completed this goal, have them try a new starting position on a different square and code the 123 Robot to clear the Tile from the new starting position. They can also move the pom pom to a different location on the board and "clean the room" again. For an additional challenge, have students add a sound to their sequence, so the 123 Robot plays a sound when it reaches the pom pom.
STUDENTS MUST GENTLY SHAKE THE ROBOT TO ERASE THEIR PROGRAM AND RESTART THE SEQUENCE - OTHERWISE THE CODE WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD OFF OF WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN INPUT.
Take Turns
Throughout the Lab, students should take turns in their groups by alternating who creates the touch project, and who places the 123 Robot on the Tile and presses the “Start” button. Students can also alternate who places the pom poms on the Tile.
Discuss
How is sequencing robot behaviors similar or different to giving someone directions to a place?
What could you learn from sequencing robot behaviors, that could help you give better directions to a person?
Were there any challenges to creating your sequences that you had to figure out in your groups?
How did you solve the problem?
Are there any successful strategies that your group would like to share, that you think will help the class to sequence behaviors better?
Facilitating:
Facilitate students planning and testing sequences to clean their rooms.
To help students connect the individual commands to the sequences they are building, ask questions like:
Can you explain your sequence to me in words?
Can you show me each robot behavior in your sequence with your hands?
To help students when their 123 Robot does not move as they intended, have them identify what went wrong before they shake the robot to erase the project to try again.
Make sure that the 123 Robot starts off facing the direction of the pom pom.
Did the 123 Robot turn the wrong way?
Which way does it need to turn instead?
When students rebuild their project, be sure that they make that change before testing it.
Remind students that testing and iterating are a part of coding and that each time they find a mistake in their project, it helps them learn.
Lab 2
The goal of this lab is to clean the room again - only using the coder and coder cards.
Discuss
Direct their attention to the coders.
What do you notice about the Coder?
What do you think these cards are used for?
What do you think the robot would do if we ran this project using the Coder?
Why do you think it is a good idea to use the Coder to code our 123 robot?
Instead of pressing the Touch buttons, they will control the robot's behaviors with the Coder cards that they insert into the Coder.
L1 Play 1 - Moving from Touch to Code.mp4Demonstrate:
Model for students how to follow the step-by-step process to code their 123 Robots using the Coder and Coder cards.
Turn on the Coder by pressing the Start button. The indicator light on the Coder will glow when the Coder is powered on.
Insert Coder cards to build the project.
All Coder projects begin with 'When start 123'. Note that this Coder card is slightly smaller than the others, and that it is the only Coder card that fits into the top slot on the Coder.
Insert the first command, or Coder card, of their project, into slot 1. (under 'When start 123')
Model for students how to plan their project using the fill-in printable, then build and test the project with the Coder and Coder cards.
Facilitating:
Facilitate conversations with students about the steps of the connection process as you work through them together.
Why do you think it is helpful to plan a project, like we did with the fill-in sheet?
How can this help you be successful when coding with the Coder and Coder cards?
Help students to think about the audio and visual cues throughout the process, so that they can look for them when connecting in the future:
What do you see or hear on the Coder that tells you that it is powered on?
What do you see or hear on the 123 Robot that tells you that it is powered on?
What do you see or hear to let you know that the robot and Coder are connected?
What do you see or hear to let you know that the project is starting? What about when it is complete?
Remind students that just as they did not always reach their goal on the first try with a Touch project, they will likely need to try different sequences with Coder projects as well.
Have students share some strategies that they have used to stay focused and to be problem solvers when they coded with Touch buttons, that they can continue to use when coding with the Coder and Coder cards.
What is something that you learned from coding with Touch buttons that will help you code with the Coder and Coder cards?
What did you and your partner do to help you take turns when you are coding the 123 Robot? How can you use that strategy when coding with the Coder?
What is something you can do if you are starting to feel frustrated when coding your 123 Robot?
How can that help you to be a problem solver when you are using Coder cards to code?
Ask students about other times that planning a project before doing it helped them to be successful.
Have they ever thought about a story before starting to write it?
How did project planning help them to reach their goal or accomplish the task?
How might the same kind of planning be useful when coding the 123 Robot with the Coder and Coder cards?
The Coder lets us see our project in a different way than the Touch buttons do.
Why do you think this could be helpful when we are coding our robots?
If someone needed to connect a Coder and 123 Robot for the first time, how would you explain that process to them?
Which coding method do you like better – Touch or Coder – and why?
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