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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Edison Robots

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Edison Robots

A 5th Grade STEM Lesson

Kimberly

Tornquist

May 2023

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Notes for Teachers

Context: This lesson takes place in a classroom for one or more hours.

Students may work in small groups of 1-3 students depending on how many robots you have.

Throughout the Google presentation, I wrote a variety of notes for each slide located in the speaker notes.

List of Materials

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AZ Educational Technology Standards

3-5.1.d. Students explore age appropriate technologies and begin to transfer their learning to different tools or learning environments.

3-5.7.b. Students, in collaboration with an educator, use technology to connect with others, including peers, experts, and community members, to explore different points of view on various topics.

Science and Engineering Practices:

Ask questions and define problems
Develop and use models
Plan and carry out investigations
Analyze and interpret data
Use math and computational thinking
Construct explanations and design solutions
Engage in argumentation from evidence
Obtain, Evaluate and communicate information

Computer Science Standards

5.CS.D.1

Analyze and model how internal and external parts of computing devices communicate as a system.

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Objective(s):

Today we will meet Edison and understand what a robot is.

Today we will understand what can you do with Edison.

Today we will identify the parts and how they function.

Today we will learn how to get Edison to do different tasks.

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Agenda (60 minutes or more)

Group activity with story cubes and present stories
Read Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover
Draw Edison front and back and identify parts
Use barcodes to program Edison
Use EdBlocks to program Edison
Share out reflections

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Group Activity-Story Cubes

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Read Aloud

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What is a Robot?

A robot is a machine that can be made to do a task on its own. There are many types of robots. Different robots can do different things. What do you think of when you imagine a robot?

Draw your own robot-

TV Animated Robots

Real-Life Robots

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

Play helpful video to get started.
Decorate their robot with LEGOs and identify the 3 buttons on the top and the switch on the bottom.
In a group of 2 or more depending on how many robots you have. Use the EdBlocks Lesson Activities. Choose 5 or more activities for the students to do.

Use Chromebooks or ipads for www.edblocksapp.com.

Use a notebook to record observations about the robot (I wonder how……)

Decorate their robot with legos and identify the 3 buttons on the top and the switch on the bottom. Note: Make sure they are not covering the buttons on the top with LEGOs.
Group the students into groups of 2. Ideally it would be better if every student had their own robot but that might not be the case in the classroom setting.
Refer back to slide 3 and click on the lesson activities and download the EdBlocks lesson activities. Pick 5 or more activities for the students to program with.
Then load a program on the students Chromebooks or ipads and type in www.edblocksapp.com.
While the students are using the barcodes and program, they need to write down their findings in a notebook and share out and wonders they had or questions. Example: What if I changed the color of the line to red, would edison still follow the red line?
Use the Edsketch pack found on slide 3 and program Edison to make a square using the markers.
What I observed while doing this lesson is you just need to let them explore and play with the barcodes and program. It sounds chaotic but it’s not. I saw one of my students taking out their band book and programing Edison to play certain music. They can be so creative!!!

Here’s some helpful information when you get to www.edblocksapp.com.

Check the computer. Make sure the volume is turned up all the way on the computer.
Select Menu and after opening the app, look in the top left corner.
Load Demos- can be helpful to start off with.
Plug Edison in-Connect Edison to the computer with the EdComm cable.
Get Edison Ready-Push the record (round button) on Edison one time.
Program Edison-Look in the top right corner of the app. See where is says ‘ProgramEdison’? Click on Program Edison. A new pop-up message box will open. In the bottom of the box, click on Program Edison. You will hear the program being downloaded to Edison. Once it is done downloading, Edison will beep. Don't’ unplug Edison until you hear the beep! To run the program, unplug Edison, then push the play button (triangle button).

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Assessment

We ran our program and tested it on Edison to see if it would work and revised it.

We shared our best program with the class.

We shared our wonder how.

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Differentiation

One way to differentiate in this lesson is to provide rotations with the different barcodes. You could have around 6 different rotations.

You could also provide them with an example of a edblocksapp program after they have played with the demos.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Students who are successful right away can move onto EdScratch.

EdScratch is a vertical block-based programming language for the Edison Robot based on Scratch. EdScratch combines the ease of drag-and-drop programming with powerful, flexible functionality and is supported by a range of educational resources.

EdPy is the more advanced programming which you can use for higher grade levels.