The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
Obstacle Course Challenge (Sphero Ball/RVR)
Obstacle Course Challenge
A 4-6th Grade STEM Lesson
Carol Nowakowski
7/18/2023
Notes for Teachers
This was assigned after giving the students time to practice with coding. Depending on other units, this can be coincide with other units.
Depending on class size, this may take a couple of days - two trials and one final. The two trials lets the students go back and adjust timing, directions, and angles.
Students may need extra support on how to use the protractor.
List of Materials
Science Standards
P2: Objects can affect other objects at a distance.
P3: Changing the movement of an object requires a net force to be acting on it. P4: The total amount of energy in a closed system is always the same but can be transferred from one energy store to another during an event
U2: The knowledge produced by science is used in engineering and technologies to solve problems and/or create products
U3: Applications of science often have both positive and negative ethical, social, economic, and/or political implications
Science and Engineering Practices
Crosscutting Concepts
Technology Standards
1. Empowered Learner - Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
2. Digital Citizen - Students recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.
3. Knowledge Constructor - Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts, and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
4. Innovative Designer - Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.
5. Computational Thinker - Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions
6. Creative Communicator - Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.
7. Global Collaborator - Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.
Engineering Standards
STANDARD 2.0 CREATE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS BY APPLYING A STRUCTURED PROBLEM-SOLVING/DECISION MAKING PROCESS
STANDARD 3.0 APPLY MATHEMATICAL LAWS AND PRINCIPLES RELEVANT TO ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY
STANDARD 4.0 APPLY SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND PRINCIPLES RELEVANT TO ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY
STANDARD 5.0 APPLY TECHNOLOGY AND TOOLS TO ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
STANDARD 7.0 APPLY PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
Mathematical Practices and Standards (Possible)
MP.1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically
MP.6 Attend to precision
4.MD.C Geometric measurement: Understand concepts of angle and measure angles.
4.G.A Draw and identify lines and angles, and classify shapes by properties of their lines and angles.
5.G.B Classify two-dimensional figures into categories based on their properties.
6.G.A Solve mathematical problems and problems in real-world context involving area, surface area, and volume
7.G.A Draw, construct, and describe geometrical figures, and describe the relationships between them
7.G.B Solve mathematical problems and problems in real-world context involving angle measure, area, surface area, and volume
8.G.A Understand congruence and similarity
8.G.B Understand and apply the Pythagorean Theorem.
ELA Standards
W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content
W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.5 With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
W.6 Use technology, including the internet, to type and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to complete a writing task in a single sitting
SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one‐on‐one, in groups, and teacher‐led) with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly
L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.5 Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
L.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
Objective(s):
Students will design a course of action for a Sphero/RVR/Edison by coding instructions through an app.
Students will develop a plan that includes a sequence of steps for a Sphero/RVR/Edison by coding it to move within an obstacle course.
Agenda
This may take two days.
Day 1: Coding
Day 2: Trial and Final Run
Intro/Driving Question/Opening
Today’s challenge is to maneuver the Sphero/RVR/Edison to complete a list of tasks in a timely manner. You will have some required tasks, but you will have control of the order of completing the tasks. You will be provided the following tools to help you code the Sphero/RVR/Edison. Today will be spent coding, tomorrow you will have two trials and one final run.
The goal is to complete all the tasks the quickest.
Hands-on Activity Instructions
Day 1
Day 2
Assessment
Differentiation
Instead of actually coding, use the drawing option.
Partner students up in larger groups.
Provide key vocabulary with images.
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment
Allow them to build their own obstacle course.
Use as a final unit for a history project and assign a location for each group.