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 projects using the Coder and Coder cards.
- How to use a step-by-step process to get started using the Coder.
- How to connect each desired robot behavior to a touch button or Coder card command.
- How to use the Coder and Coder cards to code the 123 Robot to move in an intended way to complete a challenge.
Students will make meaning of
- How each button press or Coder card is a command that corresponds to a robot behavior or action.
- How to plan a path for a coding project using a step-by-step process.
- How to use the Coder to code the robot to solve a challenge, such as driving to visit animals in an imaginary zoo.
Students will be skilled at
- Creating a project using the Coder and Coder cards.
- Connecting the 123 Robot to the Coder.
- Sequencing Coder cards in a project.
- Starting a project using the Coder.
- Planning a path for the 123 Robot by decomposing a challenge into individual behaviors and associating each with a Coder card.
Students will know
- How to create a project using the Coder and Coder cards.
- How one Coder card corresponds to one behavior of the 123 Robot.
- How Touch buttons on the 123 Robot correspond to Coder cards.
- How to use a step-by-step process to plan a path for the 123 Robot and use it to create a Coder project.
Objective(s)
Objective
- Students will explain how the symbols on the 123 Robot's Touch buttons correspond to specific Coder cards and result in the same robot behaviors.
- Students will demonstrate how to use the Coder and Coder cards to build a project that has the 123 Robot solve a challenge.
Activity
- In Engage, Students will be introduced to the idea that the 123 Robot is on a field trip to the zoo, and they will need to code the robot to drive to visit certain animals. Using the Touch button side of the Side by Side Planning Printable, they will work as a class to plan a path for the 123 Robot to visit the lions. In Play Part 1, they will be introduced to the Coder. They will begin to use the Coder to recreate the Touch button project they made in the Engage section by connecting a drive forward button press to a 'Drive 1' Coder card. In the Mid-Play Break, they will continue this process using the planning sheet to compare the Touch buttons to coder cards in order to correctly add the next Coder card to their project. In Play Part 2, students will build on what they did in Play Part 1, as they finish the Side by Side Planning Printable and the Coder project to drive to the lions.
- In Play Part 1, students are introduced to a step-by-step procedure for successfully getting starting with using the Coder. In Play Part 2, they will finish building the project to get the 123 Robot to the lions, using the Coder and Coder cards, and run their project to test it.
Assessment
- In the Share section, students will be asked to explain how they knew which Coder cards to use in their project to succesfully code the 123 Robot to visit the lions. They will also document this process using the Side by Side Planning Printable.
- In Play Part 2, students will be able to successfully sequence Coder cards to complete the project to code the 123 Robot to visit the lions. In the Share section, students can describe the process they used to do so.