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 create and start a VEXcode GO project that makes the Code Base move forward, backward, and turn.
How to create and test a project that has the Code Base drive to and from multiple sites.
Drivetrain blocks in the correct sequence to create a project to solve a challenge.

Students will make meaning of

How to solve a challenge with the Code Base and VEXcode GO.

Students will be skilled at

Using build instructions to build the Code Base 2.0 - LED Bumper Top.
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 blocks.
Starting and stopping a project in VEXcode GO.

Students will know

How scientists use rovers to collect and bury samples of soil and rock for future collection, in order to study changes on Mars over time.
How to use VEXcode GO with the Code Base to solve a challenge.

Objective(s)

Objective

Students will develop a VEXcode GO project that orders behaviors in a sequence to complete a challenge.
Students will communicate behaviors, through words and gestures, that the Code Base will need to complete in order to accomplish a task.

Activity

In the Engage section, students will follow along with the teacher as they build a project to collect and “bury” the first sample together. In Play Part 1, students will create and test a VEXcode GO project that has the Code Base drive to collect two samples. In Play Part 2, they will add to their project to have the Code Base collect a third sample. Students can choose the order in which the Code Base drives to collect the samples.
Students will describe how the Code Base moves forward, backward, and turns in order to drive to collect a sample as they build a project during Engage. In the Play sections, students will describe how to move the Code Base to collect multiple samples and return them to the base as they add to their projects.

Assessment

Students will create a project that successfully sequences Drivetrain blocks to move the Code Base to collect two Mars soil samples in Play Part 1. In Play Part 2, students will successfully add to their projects to have the Code Base collect a third sample. In Share, students can demonstrate their projects and discuss how they ordered the blocks in the project to complete the challenge.
In the Mid-Play Break, students will discuss how they ordered the blocks in their project. In the Share section, students discuss their projects using words and gestures to show how the Code Base moved.

Connections to Standards

Showcase Standards

Computer Science Teaching Association (CSTA)

CSTA 1A-AP-10: Develop programs with sequences and simple loops, to express ideas or address a problem.

How Standard is Achieved: In the Play section activities, students will build a VEXcode GO project to drive the Code Base to collect samples from three distinct locations on a GO Field, then return them to the base to be “buried.” Students will need to sequence the commands in their project so that the Code Base drives to the location, collects the sample, returns to the base, and buries the sample. In the Share section, students will discuss how they built their VEXcode GO projects, and compare projects with other groups to identify that there are multiple ways that commands can be sequenced to achieve the goal of the challenge.

Showcase 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: Students will describe the intended movement of the Code Base using spatial language as they build VEXcode GO projects in the Engage and Play sections of the Lab. In the Mid-Play Break, students will discuss how they sequenced movements for the Code Base to collect and bury samples. In the Share section, they will describe how they coded the Code Base to move in their project, as compared to how other groups made the Code Base move to complete the challenge.

Additional Standards

Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

CSTA 1B-IC-20: Seek diverse perspectives for the purpose of improving computational artifacts.

How Standard is Achieved: Students brainstorm and plan the path the robot needs to take in order to complete the task. They discuss their plan with other groups and share ideas on how to complete the activity. The teacher facilitates these discussions so students have guidance on how to seek those differing perspectives from other groups in order to improve their VEXcode GO projects.

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