Engage
Launch the Engage Section
ACTS is what the teacher will do and ASKS is how the teacher will facilitate.
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Getting the Students Ready to Build
Spaceships need to be stable for an Astronaut to travel to Mars. We will now get ready to build a spaceship for the Astronaut using the connectors and the Slide Beams that we saw in the example. Let’s see if our Astronaut has any special requests for their ship! Show students the Letter from the Astronaut in the Lab 4 Image Slideshow.
Instruct students to join their group, and have them complete the Robotics Roles & Routines sheet. Use the Suggested Role Responsibilities slide in the Lab Image Slideshow as a guide for students to complete this sheet.

Teacher Troubleshooting
- Every hole does not need to have a connector in it for the structure to be secure. Have the students look at how many they can remove before the structure becomes unstable.
- If students are having trouble with the pins, offer the Pin Tool as support.
- The connectors are meant to help connect two pieces at a right angle. If students are struggling with creating a three dimensional shape, suggest this piece.
- The Slide Beam needs to be connected to the spaceship and the Slide Block to a secondary structure in order to work properly.
Facilitation Strategies
- As you ask students questions, include opportunities for the students to use spatial language in each answer.
- Offer in-the-moment observations as groups work well, and invite them to share group-work strategies with the class.
- Create a Help-Desk for build questions. Because this Lab is focusing on students learning to use the kit, you can limit each group to a certain number of ‘Help Tickets’ for big problems. Encourage students to ask other groups for help so they can retain their Help Tickets.