This elective invites students to analyze and think critically about the strategies they use to build models, create their own designs and program their models on a computer, to operate. Students will also be introduced to Coding, through the Code.org organization. Students collaborate in teams. They work together to inventory the model elements, understand the visual diagrams and directions, build the model and reflect on the process.
First, students study "simple machines" and play with those machines to facilitate understanding of the components that make up a simple machine and how the machine operates and is used in the real world. Then as a team, they choose the model they want to build. Some models are more challenging than others. They will build it and program it. Finally the class develops a theme, usually futuristic, or participates in a "WE DO Challenge" or if we have the money a Junior FIRST® LEGO ® Team Challenge. Through the challenge, students develop their analytical thinking. They learn about meta-cognition and think about their thinking as they reflect in their journals about the model the team built and the challenges and solutions the team encountered. Students adapt the strategies they developed to new problems as they learn to program the computer to operate their model. Teaching them to problem solve in this way, using tools with which they are familiar and then providing opportunities to transfer those skills to new learning situations develops 21st Century learners. |
CODE.COURSE CROBOTICS REFLECTIONVOCABULARY WORDS:
USB Port USB Dongle BlueTooth CODE - Program Motor – a machine that converts energy into motion: a power source How does the computer talk to your Robot? |