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

Strategies for creating, decoding, and managing passwords to secure access to sensitive areas, like the lab for the cooling cells.

Students will make meaning of

Why is it important to keep login information private.
The reasons behind using passwords to secure critical areas and information, such as the cooling cells in the lab.

Students will be skilled at

Connecting a Brain to a tablet or computer in VEXcode GO.
Saving and naming projects in VEXcode GO.
Changing parameters in VEXcode blocks.
Starting and stopping a project in VEXcode GO.
Creating and managing passwords using various techniques and technologies.
Decoding a given password communicated through the lights on the LED Bumper.
Altering code to change the password for their robot.
Collaborating with peers to brainstorm and implement diverse methods for remembering passwords.

Students will know

The role of passwords in securing sensitive information, such as cooling cells in a lab.

Objective(s)

Objective

Students will decode a given password communicated through the LED Bumper on the robot.
Students will create and manage their own passwords for their robots.

Activity

In Play Part 1, students will watch the patterns seen on the LED Bumper to decode their starter password. They will observe that the number of flashes of the LED Bumper corresponds to the number in the password.
In Play Part 2, students will use VEXcode GO to create their own passwords by changing the numbers in the Repeat loops and ensuring that all group members can remember the password without writing it down.

Assessment

In the Mid-Play Break, students will explain the process they used to decode the password and demonstrate their understanding of the code that generated it. In Play Part 2, students will edit the project to code their new password, and use VEX GO pieces as a strategy to help them remember it.
In Share, students will explain the steps they took to ensure password security and memorability for the password they have created.

Connections to Standards

Showcase Standards

Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

1B-IC-20: Seek diverse perspectives for the purpose of improving computational artifacts.

How Standard is Achieved: Students are decoding and then creating their own passwords in this Lab. They will share with one another the techniques used to remember their new passwords and also techniques for keeping their password safe. Students use those varying perspectives in order to create and remember those new passwords.

Additional Standards

Computer Science Teachers Assocition (CSTA)

1A-IC-18: Keep login information private, and log off of devices appropriately.

How Standard is Achieved: In this Lab, students decode the 'default' password for entering the cooling cell lab on their robot, which is represented by a series of flashes of the LED Bumper. They then alter the password by modifying a VEXcode project to create their own secure passwords for each robot.

Additional Standards

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

1.4d: Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

How Standard is Achieved: In this Lab, students create a new password for their robot to enter the cooling cell lab together with their partner. They discuss password safety, and are tasked with the open-ended problem of creating a unique method to remember the numbers using pieces in the VEX GO Kit. Students then share their memory strategy with the teacher and code the LED Bumper to flash to represent the new password they created. Students demonstrate perseverance for dealing with ambiguity as they work to create a password and strategy that is unique to their own needs and perspectives.

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