Mazes and Dice Games

Creating Mazes

There are numerous ways to create mazes.

I like to use off-cuts of 19mm X 19mm timber and cut it into 150mm long (1 BeeBot step), 300mm long (2 BeeBot steps and 450mm long (3 BeeBot steps).

I initially use these to create simple mazes laid out on a grid to make it easier for students to visualise what the maze entails.

Once students have mastered this, I remove the maze and allow them to construct their own maze.

A great extension for more able students is to simply give them a starting point and an end point for them to drive their robot to. The end point needs to be relatively large like under a chair to allow for little errors in turns due to external forces!!

I will add some sample work sheets over coming weeks.

Dice Games

Creating dice games is a great way to get students to work at much higher levels of thinking skills. I provide a grid similar to the ones pictured at right and simply place a few "obstacles".

I then take out a dice and discuss with students what the aim of the game is which may be as simple as "Taking turns, roll the dice and the first BeeBot in the garage at the other end of the track is the winner!"

I then let them start - whoa!! First question/ argument: WHO GOES FIRST? Followed by what happens if there is a BeeBot in my road etc, etc.....

This leads into a great conversation about how does the group decide on the "rules?" Do the rules actually work? Are they Fair? Can a different set of students understand how to play the game?

Try it - you won't be disappointed!