Applying VEX GO

Connection to VEX GO

The Digital Citizens Unit immerses students in a scenario that provides the background for learning and practicing essential concepts in digital citizenship and literacy. They assume the role of citizens who are faced with an environment that is so hot their homes are nearly uninhabitable. This crisis requires them to collaborate to solve community problems using technology. They will do so by creating VEXcode GO projects for their robots. As they develop these solutions, they will be required to include the ideas and suggestions of other groups, gaining first-hand experience on how a diversity of ideas can make solutions to problems stronger and more robust. 

They will also be tasked with considering the needs of community members with different backgrounds, ability levels, points of view, and disabilities as they work to develop solutions. They will experience how taking the needs of others into account can often lead to improvements for all. As they collaborate to solve their community's problem, they will also practice working appropriately and safely with technology, making sure they know how to keep passwords safe and attribute credit when using others' work and ideas. At the same time, students will be required to use their spatial reasoning skills as they build and code with VEX GO.

In Lab 1, students will be introduced to a scenario where people are living in a desert climate and need cooling cells in order to live. For safety, robots must be used to transport cooling cells to the people who need them. They will collaborate to create a VEXcode GO project for their robot to drive from the factory, pick up a cooling cell at the lab, then take the cooling cell to the neighborhood. After building and testing their projects, student groups will share their work with each other and incorporate their ideas to improve on their projects to deliver the cooling cells faster. As they do so, they will practice asking permission to use others' ideas and learn to properly attribute the ideas as well. This Lab gives students the opportunity to experience how an inclusive computing culture leads to stronger solutions to problems.

In Lab 2, students will turn their attention to password safety.  As robot operators, they will need to have a unique password to enter the lab where the cooling cells are produced. They will be provided with a VEXcode GO project that causes the LED Bumper to blink in a red and green pattern, the "default password" for all robots. They will first decode the pattern, and then modify the VEXcode project so that their robot has its own secure password. This provides the opportunity to talk about the importance of keeping passwords private.

Teaching Coding

Throughout this Unit, students will be engaged with different coding concepts such as decomposition and sequencing. The Labs within this unit will follow a similar format:

• Engage:
  • Teachers will help students make a personal connection to the concepts that will be taught in the Lab.
  • Students will complete the build.
• Play:
  • Instruct: Teachers will introduce the coding challenge. Ensure that the students understand the goal of the challenge.
  • Model: Teachers will introduce commands that will be used in the creation of their project to complete the challenge. Model the commands by projecting VEXcode (GO/123) or by showing physical (representations of the blocks/Coder cards). For Labs that include pseudocode, model for students how to plan and outline the intention for their projects.
  • Facilitate: Teachers will be given prompts to engage students in a discussion about what the goals of their project are, the spatial reasoning involved in the challenge, and how to troubleshoot unexpected outcomes of their projects. This discussion will also verify that the students understand the purpose of the challenge and how to properly use the commands.
  • Remind: Teachers will remind students that the first attempt of their solution will not be correct or run properly the first time. Encourage multiple iterations and remind students that trial and error is a part of learning.
  • Ask: Teachers will engage students in a discussion that will connect the Lab concepts to real-world applications. Some examples could include, “have you ever wanted to be an engineer?” or “where have you seen robots in your life?”
• Share: Students have an opportunity to communicate their learning in multiple ways. Using the Choice Board, students will be given a “voice and choice” for how they best display their learning.