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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

  • Using the [If then] block with the <Detects color> blocks in a project to have the Code Base sort a Disk based on its color.
  • Creating a project where the Code Base uses sensor data to make a decision, if the condition in an [If then] block reports as True or False.

Students will make meaning of

  • How to code the Code Base to solve a challenge, such as sorting a Disk to a specific location based on Eye Sensor data.

Students will be skilled at

  • Using build instructions to build the Code Base - Eye + Electromagnet.
  • Connecting a Brain to a tablet or computer in VEXcode GO.
  • Saving and naming projects in VEXcode GO.
  • Adding VEXcode GO blocks to a project.
  • Sequencing blocks in a project.
  • Using Drivetrain blocks in a project to have the Code Base drive to a specific location.
  • Changing parameters in VEXcode GO blocks.
  • Starting and stopping a project in VEXcode GO.
  • Creating a project in VEXcode GO that uses the Eye Sensor and Electromagnet.

Students will know

  • How the Eye Sensor and Electromagnet on the Code Base can be used to carry Disks and sort them by color.
  • That the <Detects color> block is a reporter block that reports True when the Eye Sensor detects the selected color and False when it detects a different color.
  • That the [If then] block is a ‘C’ block that runs the blocks inside of it if the Boolean condition is reported to be True.

Objective(s)

Objective

  1. Students will develop a VEXcode GO project using the [If then] block and <Detects color> block together to make the Code Base move a Disk to a location based on its color.
  2. Students will identify that the Eye Sensor on the Code Base can be used with the Electromagnet to sort Disks based on their color.
  3. Students will communicate behaviors, through words and gestures, that the Code Base will need to complete in order to accomplish a task.

Activity

  1. During Engage, students will be introduced to how the Eye Sensor on the Code Base can be used to detect the color of the Disk the Electromagnet is carrying, and how they can use this information to have the robot make a decision with an [If then] block. They will then apply this information to build a project together with the teacher in Play Part 1, where they will use the data from the Eye Sensor with the <Detects color> block and the [If then] block to move a Red Disk to a sorting area.
  2. In Engage, students will be introduced to the Eye Sensor on the Code Base - Eye + Electromagnet, and will look at how it is positioned to work with the Electromagnet in a project. They will see a demonstration of how the Eye Sensor can report the color of the Disk on the Electromagnet. In Play Part 1, students will build upon this information to create a project in which the Code Base collects a Disk and sorts it to a specific location based on its color.
  3. Throughout the Lab, students will communicate with their class, and in their groups, how the Code Base will need to move, and the order of behaviors it will need to do, in order to successfully collect and sort a Disk to the desired location. They will use spatial language and gestures to show and describe these sequences of behaviors.

Assessment

  1. In Play Part 2, students will move the location of the Red Disk and the sorting area, and will iterate on their project to move the Disk to the new location, based on its color. In order to successfully accomplish this task, students will change the parameters in their project to collect and deliver the Disks, using Eye Sensor data to make the Code Base make a decision, and move a Disk to a location based on its color. During Share, students will discuss how these blocks worked in their project to accomplish their goal.
  2. During Play Part 2, students will iterate on their projects to collect and deliver a Red Disk to a new location. During their conversations in their groups during Play, and the Share discussions, students will accurately describe how the Eye Sensor worked with the Electromagnet to have the Code Base pick up a Disk and drop it in the desired location to show their learning of how these two sensors worked together in their VEXcode GO project.
  3. During the Share discussion, students will accurately communicate the behaviors they coded their Code Base to do, using spatial and relational language and gestures to describe how they were able to use the Code Base to collect a Disk, and use the Eye Sensor data to sort that Disk based on its color.
     

Connections to Standards