Implementing VEX GO STEM Labs

STEM Labs are designed to be the online teacher’s manual for VEX GO. 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 GO. 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 GO STEM Labs article.

Goals and Standards

Goals

Students will apply

How to use Build Instructions to create a model that demonstrates the cycle of day and night.
How to use a scientific model to demonstrate a cyclic pattern.

Students will make meaning of

How a model can be used to demonstrate and explain scientific patterns, such as the day and night cycle.

Students will be skilled at

Following Build Instructions to build the Day/Night with Switch VEX GO build.
Using the Day/Night with Switch VEX GO build to model the day and night cycle.
Turning the Switch on to the ‘+’ position to spin the Motor.
Identifying the position of themselves on the Earth in relation to the Sun during the day and night.

Students will know

That the Earth is constantly rotating on its axis, which is tilted.
That when their location on the Earth is facing away from the Sun, it is night, and when it is facing towards the Sun, it is day.
That one full rotation of the Earth on its axis is equal to one complete cycle of day and night.

Objective(s)

Objective

Students will use the model to observe the Earth spinning on its axis, while the Sun remains stationary.
Students will identify the position of their location on Earth relative to the Sun when it is day, and the position of the earth relative to the Sun when it is night.
Students will identify that one full rotation of the Earth is equal to one day.

Activity

Students will push the Switch to the '+' position to start the Motor on their Day/Night model, and observe how the Earth rotates continually on its axis.
Students will place a dot on the Earth in the model, to identify their approximate location on the planet. They will use the Switch to stop the rotation of the Earth in the model so that the dot is facing away from the Sun, and predict whether it is day or night. They will again use the Switch, this time stopping the rotation when the dot is facing towards the Sun, and predict whether it is day or night in this position.
Students will observe that one rotation of the Earth corresponds to one complete cycle of day and night.

Assessment

Students will record their observations and describe the process being demonstrated by the model – that the Earth is spinning on its axis, while the Sun does not move.
Students will describe the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun when it is day, and when it is night.
Students will describe one complete cycle of day and night as equal to one day.

Connections to Standards

Showcase Standards

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

TEKS 5.8C: Demonstrate that Earth rotates on its axis once approximately every 24 hours causing the day/night cycle and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky.

How Standard is Achieved: In Play Part 1, Students will observe the Earth spinning on its axis in the model when they activate it using the Switch. They then will place a dot on their model representing themselves on the face of the Earth, and then observe what they notice about the position of the dot as the Earth rotates. They will record their observations, and then discuss them during the Mid-Play Break, and then in Play Part 2, use the Switch to stop the rotation of the Earth when the dot is facing directly away from the Sun. They will predict whether the model is showing day or night for the dot's position. Then they will rotate the Earth so that the dot is facing directly towards the Sun, and predict whether the model is showing day or night again. They will record their observations, and then discuss them during the Share part of the Lab.

Additional Standards

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

NGSS ESS1.B: The orbits of Earth around the Sun and of the moon around Earth, together with the rotation of Earth about an axis between the North and South poles, cause observable patterns. These include day and night; daily changes in the length and direction of shadows; and different positions of the Sun, moon and stars at different times of the day, month and year.

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