Arizona STEM

Acceleration Project

Car LEGO and a Maze

Car LEGO and a Maze

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A 6th-8th Grade STEM Lesson

Elda Sandoval

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March 2023

Notes for Teachers

• Context: This lesson takes place in a classroom for one or more hours.
• Students may work in small groups of 2-4.
• Students have previous experience using programmable robots (ex: EV3 Legos or Spike LEGOs) or any other type of LEGO robotics.
• Students or teacher can design the maze.
• Students should be able to navigate their programmable car robot though the maze.
• Students must have experience with coding their car robots on their computer/device.

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List of Materials:

• cardboard
• masking tape and or glue gun
• scissors
• LEGO robotics kit (or other programmable robot)
• access to technology

Standards

• ISTE 1.1.d Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

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• 2.0 Create Engineering Solutions by applying a structured problem-solving/decision-making process
• 2.1 Identify the problem.
• 2.2 Develop a problem statement based on facts, research, and experience.
• 2.3 Explore possible issues or options to the problem.
• 2.4 Select the best solution within the constraints and criteria.
• 2.5 Develop a prototype or model to test the selected solution.

ELA:

• EL.6-8.S6. Participate in grade appropriate oral & written exchanges of info, ideas, & analyses, responding to peer, audience, or reader comments & questions.
• PE/E-1: participate in conversations and discussions about familiar topics.
• B-1: participate in discussions about familiar topics and texts.
• I-1: participate in extended conversations & discussions about a variety of topics & texts.

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Ed Technology:

6-8.5.d. Students understand how automation works and apply algorithmic thinking to design and automate solutions.

Objective(s):

Students will learn how to:

• Construct a moving car robot
• Program a car robot using block-based coding
• Students will be successful when they have coded the car robot to navigate through the maze without touching the walls.

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Agenda (120 to 180 minutes)

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• Build a moving car robot.
• Program their car robot using coding.
• Share or present their car robots going through the maze.

Practice Skills: (if students don’t have any practice skills with this)

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1. Students build their car robot.

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• Students move their car robot forward.

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• Students move their car robot backward.

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• Students move their car robot to make a square.

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Instructions

In a group of 2-3, students will be able to build a car robot and practice different movements on the floor.

Students will then build the maze using cardboard.

Students will take their car robots through the maze.

Constraints:

• Your car robot should be able to navigate the maze without touching the walls.

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Example picture:

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How do we assess our work?

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• We built the car robot and maze.
• We seek feedback though conversation with the teacher and teammates.
• We iterate and repeat.

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We evaluate our final iteration’s ability to meet requirements and stay within constraints.

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Assessment

Test your car robot:

• Did you code your car robot to move?
• Did you practice moving your car robot forward, backward and in a square?
• Did you code your car robot to navigate the maze without touching the walls?

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ELA Assessment

Students make observations about the way their car robot travelled a certain distance.

Example:

move forward 5 inches

move backward 3 inches

move in a square

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Students will then write and explain which situation was the easiest or difficult to perform and why.

Differentiation

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Teacher will spend extra time explaining possible solutions to move the car robots to different directions and provide coding tips.

Example:

I see you are struggling with ….(maybe you can try this step……)

Extension/Enrichment

Students may try using different places to find a new way to go to the exit.

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Practice speed and precision on a larger surface.

Remediation