Implementing VEX 123 STEM Labs

STEM Labs are designed to be the online teacher’s manual for VEX 123. Like a printed teacher’s manual, the teacher-facing content of the STEM Labs provides all of the resources, materials, and information needed to be able to plan, teach, and assess with VEX 123. The Lab Image Slideshows are the student-facing companion to this material. For more detailed information about how to implement a STEM Lab in your classroom, see the Implementing VEX 123 STEM Labs article.

Goals and Standards

Goals

Students will apply

How to create and start a VEXcode 123 project that makes the 123 Robot move forward, backward, and turn.
Drivetrain blocks in the correct sequence to create a project to solve a challenge.

Students will make meaning of

How to solve a challenge with the 123 Robot and VEXcode 123.

Students will be skilled at

Waking the 123 Robot.
Connecting the 123 Robot to VEXcode 123.
Adding VEXcode 123 blocks to a project.
Sequencing blocks in a project.
Using Drivetrain blocks in a project to have the 123 Robot drive to a specific location.
Changing parameters in VEXcode blocks.
Starting a project in VEXcode 123.

Students will know

How scientists learn about Mars with rovers, which collect samples of rock and soil for a possible return to Earth to be studied.
How to use VEXcode 123 with the 123 Robot to solve a challenge.

Objective(s)

Objective

Students will develop a VEXcode 123 project that orders behaviors in a sequence to complete a challenge.
Students will communicate behaviors, through words and gestures, that the 123 Robot will need to complete in order to accomplish a task.

Activity

In Play Part 1, students will create and test a VEXcode 123 project that has the 123 Robot drive to collect a sample. In Play Part 2, they will add to their project to have the 123 Robot return to the base (starting position).
Students will describe how the 123 Robot moves forward, backward, and turns in order to drive to collect a sample as they build their projects in Play Part 1. In Play Part 2, students will describe how to move the 123 Robot to return to the base as they add to their projects.

Assessment

Students will create a project that successfully sequences Drivetrain blocks to move the 123 Robot to collect a Mars soil sample in Play Part 1. In Play Part 2, students will successfully add to their projects to have the 123 Robot return to the base —or starting position. In Share, students can demonstrate their projects and discuss how they ordered the blocks in the project to complete the challenge.
In the Mid-Play Break, students will discuss how they ordered the blocks in their project. In the Share section, students act out the projects using gestures to show how the 123 Robot moved.

Connections to Standards

Showcase Standards

Computer Science Teaching Association (CSTA)

CSTA 1A-AP-10: Develop programs with sequences and simple loops, to express ideas or address a problem.

How Standard is Achieved: Students will build a VEXcode 123 project to drive the 123 Robot to collect and return a sample in the Play section activities. Students will need to sequence the project so that the 123 Robot drives to the location, waits for the sample to be collected, then plays a sound before turning and driving back to the base. In the Share section, students will discuss how they built their VEXcode 123 projects.

Showcase Standards

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.1: Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

How Standard is Achieved: Students will describe the intended movement of the 123 Robot using words and gestures as they build their VEXcode 123 projects in the Play sections of the Lab. In the Share section, students will explain how the 123 Robot moved, and compare that to the intended behaviors using spatial language, movements and gestures.

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