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 build a structure that contains moveable wheels and interconnected gears.

Students will make meaning of

How gears, wheels, and axles add benefits to a build.

Students will be skilled at

How to assemble wheels and axles in a design.
How to mesh gears together as part of a larger build.

Students will know

How to build with wheels and axles from the VEX GO Kit.

Objective(s)

Objective

Model how wheels and axles in the VEX GO Kit can be attached and detached.
Demonstrate how gears interact with each other.

Activity

Students will experiment with the wheels, axles, and other pieces from the VEX GO Kit through trials to understand how the pieces fit together.
While designing the second iteration of their buggy in Play Part 2, students will sketch their design while planning and labeling the parts of their building plan with the appropriate piece name.

Assessment

Students will construct a Mars Buggy with functioning wheels from the VEX GO Kit in Play Part 1.
Students will adapt their Mars Buggy to include gears in Play Part 2.

Connections to Standards

Showcase Standards

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

NGSS 3-5-ETS1-1: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

How Standard is Achieved: Students will design and build two iterations of the Mars Buggy in Play Part 1 and Play Part 2 with certain criteria and material constraints. The first design asks students to build a buggy with the criteria of functional, free-spinning wheels that would work if the buggy is rolled across a desk or table. The second iteration asks students to meet new criteria that the buggy must also include functioning gears. Students will be limited by the constraint of the materials included in the VEX GO Kit, as well as the constraint of class-time allotted.

Additional Standards

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.A.1: Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.

How Standard is Achieved: During the Engage section, the teacher will guide the students through a discussion of how the wheels and axles move while being used in a build, including their position and orientation. In the Mid-Play Break, students will be asked to describe how the gears interact with one another based on their position on the build. If one gear is in front of the other, they will need to describe how those gears function with one another. They will also be asked about the position of the wheels in the build and why they were placed in one position versus another (to the left, to the right, inside, outside).

< Return to Labs Next >