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 gain building skills while engaging in the Engineering Design Process.
How to use connectors in a build.

Students will make meaning of

How differing objectives can be addressed in the Engineering Design Process.

Students will be skilled at

How to design and build a structure using connectors.
How to engage in the Engineering Design Process.

Students will know

How to follow the Engineering Design Process on the build for the spaceship to adhere to the constraints.
How to incorporate connectors into a design.

Objective(s)

Objective

Students will be able to produce a design that includes connectors and the Gray Slide Beam.
Students will implement the iterative design process while designing a spaceship.

Activity

Students will build an exposed version of a spaceship using the newly introduced pieces from the VEX GO Kit, the connectors and the Gray Slide Beam in Play Part 1.
During Play Part 1, students will sketch and label their designs of the spaceship on their Blueprint Worksheet. At the Mid-Play Break, they will be asked how they would change their designs if they had more time.

Assessment

Students will design and build a secondary version of a spaceship where the Astronaut is enclosed in Play Part 2.
At the beginning of Play Part 2, students will be given new criteria for their spaceship design. They will document all changes to their designs on the same Blueprint Worksheet to denote how they adapted their design from Play Part 1 to 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 a spaceship in Play Part 1 and Play Part 2 with specific criteria and a constraint on time. The first design asks students to build a spaceship that leaves an Astronaut exposed. The second iteration asks students to meet new criteria that the Astronaut needs to be enclosed.

Showcase 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 ask students to describe the inside of a car using spatial language and then do the same using a photo of a spaceship. In the Mid-Play Break, students will be asked to describe their spaceship designs using spatial language and how they might improve on those designs.

Additional Standards

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

How Standard is Achieved: During the Engage section, the teacher will guide the students through a spatial demo showing them how the VEX GO pieces, like the connectors, can create a larger three-dimensional build. In the Mid-Play Break, students will be asked to engage in a conversation to describe how they designed the exposed spaceship in Play Part 1 and be asked how their designs will change to enclose the Astronaut.

Additional Standards

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP5: Use appropriate tools strategically.

How Standard is Achieved: Students are challenged in this Lab to take new pieces from the VEX GO Kit and incorporate them into a functioning design. The student’s ability to use the connectors, Slide Beam, and Slide Block determines their success within the build.

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