Materials Needed
The following is a list of all the materials that are needed to complete the VEX GO Lab. These materials include student facing materials as well as teacher facilitation materials. It is recommended that you assign two students to each VEX GO Kit.
In some Labs, links to teaching resources in a slideshow format have been included. These slides can help provide context and inspiration for your students. Teachers will be guided in how to implement the slides with suggestions throughout the lab. All slides are editable, and can be projected for students or used as a teacher resource. To edit the Google Slides, make a copy into your personal Drive and edit as needed.
Other editable documents have been included to assist in implementing the Labs in a small group format. Print the worksheets as is or copy and edit those documents to suit the needs of your classroom. Example Data Collection sheet setups have been included for certain experiments as well as the original blank copy. While they offer suggestions for setup, these documents are all editable to best suit your classroom and the needs of your students.
| Materials | Purpose | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
|
VEX GO Kit |
For students to build the Hero Robot. | 1 per group |
|
VEX GO Competition Kit |
To create Stage 4 of the Ocean Science Exploration Field. | 1 per class |
| To build Stage 4 of the competition field before beginning the Lab activities. | 1 per class | |
| For students to build the Competition Base Hero Robot. | 1 per group | |
| For students to add onto the Competition Base to build the Competition Advanced Hero Robot. | 1 per group | |
| For students to use VEXcode GO. | 1 per group | |
| For students to drive the Hero Robot using the Drive Tab. | 1 per group | |
| For teachers and students to reference throughout the Lab. | 1 for teacher facilitation | |
| Editable Google Doc for organizing group work and best practices for using the VEX GO Kit. | 1 per group | |
|
Pencils |
For students to fill out the Robotics Roles & Routines sheet. | 1 per group |
| To help remove pins or pry beams apart. | 1 per group | |
|
Blueprint Worksheet (Google / .docx / .pdf) and/or Data Collection Sheet (Google / .docx / .pdf) (optional) |
For students to document their learning throughout the Lab. | 1 per group |
| To show students the order they will compete during the classroom competition. | 1 per class | |
|
VEX GO Leaderboard (optional) |
To keep track of teams' scores during the competition. | 1 per class |
|
Engineering Design Process Organizer (optional) Google / .docx / .pdf |
For students to document the iterative process of design or strategy throughout the Lab. | 1 per group |
Engage
Begin the lab by engaging with the students.
-
Hook
Introduce students to the new goal of moving the turbines, opening the clam and delivering the pearl in the Mission Relocation competition. Using what you learned about raising and lowering game elements in Lab 3, how do you think you might move the turbines? How would you open the clam? What do you remember about working as a team in the previous Labs, that could help you be a good teammate in this competition?
-
Leading Question
How do you think you will need to move your Hero Robot to score points in this competition?
-
Build
Competition Base + Competition Advanced
Play
Allow students to explore the concepts introduced.
Part 1
Introduce the goal of the Mission Relocation competition activity with the three tasks of aligning the turbines, opening the clam, and delivering the pearl to the green tile on the Field. Introduce the Mission Relocation practice activity that focuses on the first task of aligning the turbines to the white beam. Then model how to connect a Brain to VEXcode GO, and use the Drive tab to drive the Hero Robot to align the turbines. Students will take turns driving the Hero Robot to align the turbines to the white beam.
Mid-Play Break
Students will talk about how they worked as a team to figure out their driving strategy to align the turbines. They will compare and contrast strategies between teams, to help them learn more about how to be successful with these tasks in the Mission Relocation competition activity.
Part 2
Students will apply what they practiced in Play Part 1 to participate in the Mission Relocation competition. For this competition, students will align the turbines in addition to opening the clam and moving the pearl to the green tile. Model for students how to open the clam and retrieve the pearl. Discuss with students how game strategy plays a role in this competition with the one minute time limit. Each team will try to score as many points as they can in a one minute match using game strategy.
Share
Allow students to discuss and display their learning.
Discussion Prompts
- Which tasks did your team succeed doing? How would you change your game strategy next time?
- Which task did you choose to do first? Would you do this order again?
- What have you learned about aligning the turbines with your Hero Robot that might be useful in future competitions?
- What have you learned about opening the clam and moving the pearl with your Hero Robot that might be useful in future competitions?