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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 an Adaptation Claw as a mechanism to pick up objects in the classroom.

Students will make meaning of

  • How mechanisms can be used in everyday life to make things easier such as using the Adaptation Claw to pick up objects when out of reach or with limited mobility.

Students will be skilled at

  • Building an Adaptation Claw using a VEX GO Kit.
  • Collecting data to investigate how the Adaptation Claw functions and moves.
  • Using the Adaptation Claw to effectively pick up an object such as a cup.

Students will know

  • How the Adaptation Claw functions and moves.
  • How to use the Adaptation Claw as a mechanism.
  • How the Adaptation Claw is a tool or mechanism that can be used to help make life easier for people with limited mobility such as the elderly picking up items.

Objective(s)

Objective

  1. Students will identify how mechanisms can be used to make tasks easier.
  2. Students will investigate how to use the Adaptation Claw to solve an authentic problem.

Activity

  1. During Engage, students will discuss how mechanisms are used in assisted living facilities to help people and make connections to the Adaptation Claw.
  2. In Play Part 1, groups will investigate how the Adaptation Claw functions. Students will fill out a Data Collection Sheet to record their observations of the Adaptation Claw. Students will discuss their observations during the Mid-Play Break.

Assessment

  1. During Share, students will discuss and make connections between the challenge from Play Part 2, and real-world applications of the Adaptation Claw, including the use of mechanisms for people with limited mobility.
  2. In Play Part 2, groups will investigate how to build a tower using the Adaptation Claw. Students will be challenged to stack as many plastic cups as possible on a desk in one minute. The challenge represents the authentic problem of completing a task with limited mobility, as the students are required to remain seated throughout the challenge.

Connections to Standards

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