Overview

Grades

3+ (Ages 8+)

Time

40 minutes per lab

Unit Essential Question(s)

How can I use tools to help solve authentic problems?
How are mechanisms used in everyday life and work?

Unit Understandings

The following concepts will be covered throughout this Unit:

How tools or mechanisms can be used to make things easier.
How mechanisms can be used in work and life applications.

Lab Summary

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

Lab 1 - Speed Stacker

Main Focus Question: How can I use the Adaptation Claw to solve an authentic problem?

Students will work in small groups to build an Adaptation Claw using build instructions and the VEX GO Kit. After, groups will explore the Adaptation Claw by investigating and filling out a list of questions to test and learn about the Adaptation Claw. Lastly, groups will create a strategy together to build a tower using the Adaptation Claw to stack as many plastic cups as possible in one minute, with the constraint of having limited mobility.

Lab 2 - Adapting the Claw

Main Focus Question: How can I improve the Adaptation Claw?

Students will make connections with how mechanisms, such as the Adaptation Claw, can be used to help humans complete tasks that they may not be able to do on their own. After, groups will test the Adaptation Claw's abilities by picking up five different items that vary in shape, size, and weight to determine which types of objects the claw is capable of picking up efficiently. Then, the students will make adaptations to their claw in order to pick up an object they found difficult to pick up initially.

Unit Standards

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

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

ISTE - (3) Knowledge Constructor - 3d: Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

How Standard is Achieved: Lab 1: During the Engage and Mid-Play Break, the students will discuss how mechanisms are used in assisted living facilities to help people. Students will share their thoughts and ideas about how real-world problems like limited mobility can be solved using mechanical devices, such as the Adaptation Claw. During the Play Part 2, students will be presented with a challenge where their mobility is limited to simulate a real-world problem. Students will have to develop a plan to stack as many plastic cups as they can in one minute using the Adaptation Claw, while experiencing limited mobility.

Lab 2: In the Engage section, students will connect their experiences with sharpening a pencil to how mechanisms help to make tasks easier. Students will have a conversation during the Mid-Play Break about grabbers and other mechanisms used to pick up trash, and which items from their checklist would be best picked up by the Adaptation Claw in real-world situations.

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