Overview

Grades

K+ (Ages 4+)

Time

40 minutes per lab

Unit Essential Question(s)

What is a programming language?
What is a behavior?
What is a sequence?

Unit Understandings

The following concepts will be covered throughout this Unit:

A programming language is a set of rules in which symbols represent actions.
Actions that a programming language executes are behaviors.
How to change the 123 Robot’s behavior by creating a project using the touch buttons on the robot.
Complex behaviors can be created by sequencing button presses together.

Lab Summary

Click on the following tabs for a summary of what the students will do and learn in each lab.

Lab 1 - Code and Read

Students will be introduced to the concept of a programming language, in the context of the touch buttons on the 123 Robot.
Students will write a simple word, and use the touch buttons on the 123 Robot to code their robots to drive over each letter so that they can sound out the word to read it with their 123 Robots. First, they will do this in their own groups, then they will code their 123 Robots to read the words written by other groups.
Students will share what words they read, and discuss how they used the touch buttons to code their 123 Robots to perform behaviors in the correct sequence to read a word.

Lab 2 - Code and Clean

Students will build on what they did in Lab 1, with more of an emphasis on sequencing, to use the touch buttons to code their 123 Robots to solve a challenge by clearing items off of a 123 Tile.
Students will first create an “invention” to help their 123 Robots push the items, and will attach their inventions to the Art Ring. They will then use the touch buttons to code the 123 Robot to push items off of a 123 Tile, to “clean their room”. First, they will begin with just one item, and then will be challenged to clear more items, by sequencing behaviors correctly.
Students will share how many items they cleaned up and show their projects to the class to highlight the different ways that students went about achieving the same goal.

Unit Standards

Unit Standards will be addressed in every Lab within the Unit.

Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA)

CSTA 1A-AP-09: Model the way programs store and manipulate data by using numbers or other symbols to represent information.

How Standard is Achieved: In Lab 1, students are introduced to the touch buttons on the 123 Robot as a programming language. In the Engage section, they are shown how these symbols represent behaviors performed by the 123 Robot. During the Play sections, students will use the touch buttons to create a project for the 123 Robot to move across letters in the correct sequence, to sound out a word with their robots.

In Lab 2, students build on their experience in Lab 1, to use the touch buttons to code their 123 Robot to drive and push items off the surface of a 123 Tile. During the Play sections, students will use the symbols on the touch buttons to code their 123 Robots to drive and turn in different directions to accomplish their goal.

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