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Summary:STEM Labs are fun STEM engagements that align to educational standards. All STEM Labs contain activities that are structured around iterative, engineering design processes, real-world applications and opportunities for students to build teamwork and collaboration skills. STEM Labs provide students with hands-on, minds-on engagements that encourage students to design creative solutions and innovate through experimentation. STEM Labs are flexible enough to be used in any instructional setting (e.g. in-school, after-school, camps, VEX robotics teams/clubs, etc.)

The following 18-Week Pacing Guide will first expose students to building the M.A.D. Box, Grabber, and the Tallest Tower. They will use these builds to begin studying the engineering design process. Students will gain experience with building as well as explore other concepts such as mechanical advantage and the mechanics of scissor linkages. Students will then gain experience with VEX IQ Sensors by building the Testbed. Students will compete in the Sense It Challenge to become more familiar with all of the VEX IQ sensors. After the students have experience with engineering design and basic building techniques, the students will begin to build the Autopilot robot. After students build the Autopilot robot, they will also explore the Vision Sensor and its capabilities while programming the Autopilot to drive forward, in reverse, turn left, and turn right all at different velocities.

Next, the students will have experience building and programming the Autopilot, they will then learn to build the Clawbot. The Clawbot is similar to the Autopilot, but allows for more manipulation with the addition of the Arm and Claw. With the Clawbot, students will first explore how to build it and then use it to study programming concepts.

Students will program the Clawbot to maneuver obstacles utilizing the Arm and Claw. They will learn important programming concepts such as loops and conditionals. Students will also gain experience utilizing the Controller with example projects.
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WeeksSTEM LabLevelDescriptionBuildProgramming?Key Concepts
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Week 1M.A.D. BoxBeginnerStudents explore how the mechanical advantages of torque and speed are related to gear ratios, where gear ratios can be found in daily life, and how they can be applied to their builds. There is a full investigation of calculating different gear ratios.M.A.D BoxNo (build only)Engineering Design
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Week 2GrabberBeginnerStudents will build a device that uses scissor linkages to convert the direction of motion and explore the mechanics of a scissor linkage.GrabberNo (build only)Engineering Design
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Week 3Tallest TowerBeginnerStudents are asked to follow an engineering design process to build the tallest tower possible that can withstand a simulated earthquake.Completed Earthquake PlatformNo (exploring Device Info)Engineering Design
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Week 4Testbed - VEX IQ SensorsBeginnerStudents will build a Testbed to investigate how the VEX IQ Sensors work and compete in the Sense It Challenge!TestbedYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Sensors
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Week 5Drive Forward and ReverseBeginnerStudents will explore robot behaviors and create a project to drive the Autopilot robot forward and in reverse using VEXcode IQ Blocks.AutopilotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Week 6TurningBeginnerStudents will explore robot behaviors and create a project for the Autopilot robot to turn using VEXcode IQ Blocks.AutopilotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Week 7Changing VelocityBeginnerStudents will explore changing the velocity of the Autopilot robot while creating projects that drive the robot forward, move it in reverse, and turn the robot using VEXcode IQ Blocks.AutopilotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Week 8Vision SensorBeginnerStudents are asked to build and utilize an Autopilot robot that will detect objects using the Vision Sensor. Students will engage in configuring, tuning, and programming the Vision Sensor.AutopilotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Engineering Design (using the Vision Sensor)
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Weeks 9 & 10Movement ChallengeIntermediateStudents will program their Autopilot to drive on a designated path through a sequence of movements using VEXcode IQ Blocks.AutopilotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Weeks 11 & 12Speedy DeliveryIntermediateStudents are asked to navigate a warehouse by programming the Claw and Arm of a Clawbot to grab and move packages to a loading dock for delivery.ClawbotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Weeks 13 & 14Loop, There It Is!IntermediateStudents are asked to complete several mini-challenges to experiment with using loops within their projects. This information will be used later in the “Groove Machine Challenge,” where students will program robot movements to repeat, causing their robot to "dance."ClawbotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Weeks 15 & 16To Do, or Not To DoIntermediateStudents will explore conditional statements and how button presses can provide input for a program to decide if a conditional is true or false. They will also explore how a conditional statement can be looped, repeating a decision or executing a behavior.ClawbotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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Weeks 17 & 18Clawbot with ControllerIntermediateStudents will explore programming the Controller to maneuver the Clawbot. They will analyze different ways to program the Controller by running the example Clawbot Control example project and engaging in mini-challenges.ClawbotYes (VEXcode IQ Blocks)Programming
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