How is the Robotic Arm like a human arm? How is it different?
MS-LS1-3: Use arguments supported by evidence for how the body is a system of interacting subsystems composed of groups of cells.
MS-LS1-8: Gather and synthesize information that sensory receptors respond to stimuli by sending messages to the brain for immediate behavior or storage as memories.
Students explore the five senses through various hands-on activities. Students then build the Robotic Arm and run its sample code.
NERVE IMPULSES: a signal that is transmitted along a nerve fiber
PERCEIVE: to attain awareness or understanding of
STIMULI: plural for stimulus; a detectable change in the internal or external environment
TACTILE: of, relating to, or being the sense of touch
STUDENTS WILL:
DISCUSS the various body systems and organs, specifically the skin, touch receptors, and sense of touch.
EXAMINE the sense of touch through hands-on activities.
ASSEMBLE the Robotic Arm from the UKIT Advanced set.
COMPARE and CONTRAST the robot to a human arm.
TIME ESTIMATE
2-4 sessions (60 minutes each)
MATERIALS FOR EACH GROUP
UKIT Advanced
1 device with a USB port or adapter and access to uCode
LESSON RESOURCES
Unit Vocabulary
KWL Chart
"The science of skin - Emma Bryce"
Your Skin and Sense of Touch
Review the lesson resources and decide how to distribute these to students either digitally or in print, if applicable.
The KWL chart is used explicitly in this lesson and as a suggested way to wrap up the unit. If preferred, it could be incorporated into the remaining lessons.
Review the Evaluate section for this lesson and consider how students will be assessed. This will determine the need to print assessment materials or provide additional materials for students to record their responses.
Ensure available devices have the Arduino IDE app installed and access to uCode.
Check that the sample code for the Robotic Arm is available in uCode. If it is not, download the file and add it to uCode by clicking File, then selecting Open. The sample code shown on page 35 was created in Upload Mode. There is also a sample code for Stage Mode that could be utilized.
Refer to the uCode Quick Start Guide for more information on the two coding environments available in uCode.
Determine student pairs or groups for this lesson.
If time permits, build the Robotic Arm so you know what is expected of your students. This will also allow you to better assist them as they build.
Note: Students will continue to use the Robotic Arm build in Lessons 2 and 3. To save on time, the builds should be kept intact until the completion of Lesson 3.
Share the lesson resources with students.
After students have viewed the content and had time to discuss on their own, ask the class to address the following questions in the KWL chart provided:
• Can you name other body systems and organs?
• What additional questions do you have on skin, its purpose, and the sense of touch?
• What thoughts or questions do you have on the material you looked at?
Have students explore the sense of touch through one or more of the following activities:
• Sense of Touch: Find areas of your body that have a better sense of touch.
■ Have students work in pairs with a small object such as a paper clip, eraser tip of a pencil, end of ruler, or something similar. One student will stand or sit with their eyes closed while the other student uses the object chosen to touch areas of the body such as the inside of the wrist, top of the hand, and outer or inner arm to see the difference in sensitivities to touch.
■ Discuss with students, or have them decide together, what areas are on/off limits. They should notice a big difference in how well they feel the object on their arm as opposed to the inside of their hand.
• Mystery Bags: Describe an object using just the sense of touch.
■ Place various objects in opaque containers or bags. Paper bags work great for this.
■ Have students reach in and describe the object inside with a partner, small group, or the class. Students should use words to describe the texture, temperature, features, and so on.
■ Ask listeners to guess what the object is.
• Mystery Object: Determine what an object is using body parts other than your hands to feel it.
■ Working in pairs, one student will feel out objects using parts of their body other than their hands. They will do this with their eyes closed or blindfolded. Their partner can help place the object or direct them to where the object is. Students could use their knees, forearms, face, back of hand, feet, and so on.
■ Students switch roles once the student has guessed the object correctly.
• Confusing the Senses: Determine if a glass of water is hot or cold.
■ Have three glasses of water, in the same type of glass, set out on a table. One should be noticeably cold, one should be noticeably hot (not enough to burn anyone), and one should be at room temp. Do not tell the kids the temperatures of each water glass.
■ Ask students to grab the hot and cold glasses at the same time, one in each hand. They should hold them for about a minute and then set them down. Ask them to immediately grab the room temperature glass using both hands and see if they can tell group members if it contains hot or cold water.
Ask students to summarize how their sense of touch came into play throughout the hands-on activity or activities. Any connections between the activity and the resources they looked at should be discussed and shared with the class.
Have students work in pairs to build the Robotic Arm from the UKIT Advanced set.
With the build complete, students should run the sample code to see what the Robotic Arm is capable of.
Coding Tip: How-To: Access the Sample Code
Once students have tested the sample code, ask them to compare and contrast the Robotic Arm to a human arm using all resources and experiences from this lesson as a reference.
Informal Assessment Ideas
• Observation
■ Student pairs built and successfully tested the Robotic Arm.
■ Students were active participants during the hands-on activities and contributed to all class or group discussions.
• Self-Assessment Rubric
■ Ask students to rate the following:
◦ Participation in discussions and activities
◦ Understanding of science content
◦ Confidence level building the Robotic Arm
◦ Understanding of the sample code or other code used
Formal Assessment Ideas
• Written Response Rubric
■ Score written responses to questions posed in this lesson using a rubric. Consider focusing on the driving question, science content, and/or learning goals for this lesson.
• Lesson 1 Quiz
■ Assign a quiz in digital or print format to gauge students’ understanding of the science concepts covered in this lesson.
SIMPLIFY THIS LESSON
• Introduce the vocabulary prior to students reading “Your Skin and Sense of Touch”. Read and discuss this as a class.
• Review the major body systems and organs prior to this lesson.
TAKE THIS LESSON TO THE NEXT LEVEL
• Ask students to create their own code to test rather than using the sample provided.
MATH/CODING
• The code blocks used in the sample code incorporate number inputs such as servo numbers, angles of rotation, and wait time in milliseconds. Math and/or coding lessons that cover these concepts could be covered prior to this lesson or built into this lesson.
SCIENCE
• Additional lessons that expand on the NGSS standards covered in this lesson could be covered prior to or after this lesson, built into this lesson, or added to the unit.