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Summary

Materials Needed

The following is a list of all the materials that are needed to complete the VEX GO Lab. These materials include student facing materials as well as teacher facilitation materials. It is recommended that you assign two students to each VEX GO Kit.

In some Labs, links to teaching resources in a slideshow format have been included. These slides can help provide context and inspiration for your students. Teachers will be guided in how to implement the slides with suggestions throughout the lab. All slides are editable, and can be projected for students or used as a teacher resource. To edit the Google Slides, make a copy into your personal Drive and edit as needed.

Other editable documents have been included to assist in implementing the Labs in a small group format. Print the worksheets as is or copy and edit those documents to suit the needs of your classroom. Example Data Collection sheet setups have been included for certain experiments as well as the original blank copy. While they offer suggestions for setup, these documents are all editable to best suit your classroom and the needs of your students.

Materials Purpose Recommendation

VEX GO Kit

Exploring Kit to familiarize students with parts.

 1 per group

Robotics Roles & Routines

Google Doc / .docx / .pdf

Editable Google Doc for organizing group work and best practices for using the VEX GO Kit.

 1 per group

Engineering Design Process Organizer

Google Doc / .docx / .pdf

Editable Google Doc for students to document their design ideas and take notes.

 1 for teacher facilitation

Pencils

For students to document their design ideas and fill out the Robotics Roles & Routines worksheet and Engineering Design Process Organizer.

 1 per student

Lab 6 Image Slideshow

Google Doc / .pptx / .pdf

For teacher and student context and inspiration during the Lab.

 1 per student

Pin Tool

To help remove pins or pry beams apart.

 1 per group

Engage

Begin the lab by engaging with the students.

  1. Hook

    Ask the students if they have ever gone on a trip. What kinds of things do they need to pack when they go somewhere? Astronauts also need to bring things when they go on a trip, like on a mission to Mars.

    Ask students, "What are some requirements to live on Mars? How can we include all those things into a Mars Base? How do the requirements affect the design?"

    Then, tell students that today they will be building their own structures by designing and building a Mars base.

  2. Leading Question

    What factors will you have to consider when designing your Mars base? Show students the images in the Lab Image 6 Slideshow for background information on Mars.

  3. Build Work in groups to design and build a Mars base.

Play

Allow students to explore the concepts introduced.

Part 1

Students will design and then build their first iteration of a base that will stay on Mars. There is only one constraint: students can only use the pieces from the VEX GO Kit. Thus, materials are limited. Direct students to use the Engineering Design Process Organizer to take notes and plan their builds.

Mid-Play Break

Discuss the students’ designs from Play Part 1. Ask them how their designs could have been made stronger. Encourage students to use spatial vocabulary when explaining. Ask students to share their designs with other groups.

Part 2

After students have discussed their designs and future ideas with the class, ask them to edit their designs based on the feedback from others.

Share

Allow students to discuss and display their learning.

Discussion Prompts

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