Engage

Launch the Engage Section

ACTS is what the teacher will do and ASKS is how the teacher will facilitate.

ACTS	ASKS
Show students each of the tasks for the Expand the Village Competition - aligning the Wind Turbine and lowering the Bridge. Show students the green beams on the Wind Turbine, how they move and how to align them. Next show students how to lower the Bridge. You may want to have a Hero Robot and the Stage 2 Field, or the Tiles containing the Wind Turbine and Bridge, to use for demonstration, as students share ideas of how to drive the Hero Robot to accomplish each task. Show students the Wind Turbine to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to align the Wind Turbine. Show students the Bridge to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to lower the Bridge. Note student responses on the board as they brainstorm how to be a good teammate. If you left the list visible from Lab 1, add any new ideas to the list. You may want to leave them visible to reference throughout the lab. Have students brainstorm ideas for completing each task using the Hero Robot. You may want to have a robot and the Stage 2 Field, or the Wind Turbine and Bridge tiles available for a visual aid, as students share ideas about how to align the Wind Turbine and lower the Bridge.	In Lab 1, we used our Hero Robots to lift and transport three different types of house components from their trailers/container and moved them to the red tile where a teammate constructed a house. In this lab, we have 2 new tasks to complete in order to earn points in the Expand the Village Competition. We're going to take a look at them, and talk about how we might drive the Hero Robot to complete each task. Let's take a closer look at the Wind Turbine. What do you notice about it? How can you push the game elements to align the green beams of the Wind Turbine? The next task is to lower the Bridge. What do you notice about how the bridge moves? How might you use the Hero Robot to lower the Bridge? What do you remember about working as a team in the previous lab that could help you be a good teammate in this competition? How do you think you will need to drive your Hero Robot to score the point for aligning the Wind Turbine and the point for lowering the Bridge? Which task would you complete first?

ACTS

ASKS

Show students each of the tasks for the Expand the Village Competition - aligning the Wind Turbine and lowering the Bridge. Show students the green beams on the Wind Turbine, how they move and how to align them. Next show students how to lower the Bridge. You may want to have a Hero Robot and the Stage 2 Field, or the Tiles containing the Wind Turbine and Bridge, to use for demonstration, as students share ideas of how to drive the Hero Robot to accomplish each task.
Show students the Wind Turbine to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to align the Wind Turbine.
Show students the Bridge to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to lower the Bridge.
Note student responses on the board as they brainstorm how to be a good teammate. If you left the list visible from Lab 1, add any new ideas to the list. You may want to leave them visible to reference throughout the lab.
Have students brainstorm ideas for completing each task using the Hero Robot. You may want to have a robot and the Stage 2 Field, or the Wind Turbine and Bridge tiles available for a visual aid, as students share ideas about how to align the Wind Turbine and lower the Bridge.

In Lab 1, we used our Hero Robots to lift and transport three different types of house components from their trailers/container and moved them to the red tile where a teammate constructed a house. In this lab, we have 2 new tasks to complete in order to earn points in the Expand the Village Competition. We're going to take a look at them, and talk about how we might drive the Hero Robot to complete each task.
Let's take a closer look at the Wind Turbine. What do you notice about it? How can you push the game elements to align the green beams of the Wind Turbine?
The next task is to lower the Bridge. What do you notice about how the bridge moves? How might you use the Hero Robot to lower the Bridge?
What do you remember about working as a team in the previous lab that could help you be a good teammate in this competition?
How do you think you will need to drive your Hero Robot to score the point for aligning the Wind Turbine and the point for lowering the Bridge? Which task would you complete first?

Getting the Students Ready to Build

Before we can drive our Hero Robots to complete the tasks in the Expand the Village Competition, we first need to build our competition Hero Robot.

Note: If you have already built your Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robots, you can skip this section.

Facilitate the Build

InstructInstruct students to join their group, and have them complete the Robotics Roles & Routines sheet. Use the suggested Role Responsibilities slide in the Lab 2 Image Slideshow as a guide for students to complete this sheet.

Instruct students that the competition Hero Robot is build in two stages. First they will build the Competition Base 2.0, then they will add onto that to build the Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot.
DistributeDistribute build instructions for the Competition Base 2.0 to each team. Journalists should gather the materials on the checklist for the Competition Base 2.0 to begin.

Front view of a completed VEX GO Competition Base 2.0 Hero Robot build.

As students complete the Competition Base 2.0, have them check in with you. Then, distribute build instructions for the Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot. Students will add onto the Competition Base 2.0 to build the Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot. Journalists should gather the materials on the checklist.

Front view of a completed VEX GO Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot build.
FacilitateFacilitate the Building Process.
- Builders and Journalists should begin building based on their responsibilities in the Lab 2 Image Slideshow.
- Depending on the amount of time you have, you may want to have students build the Competition Base 2.0, then stop, and resume building during the next class time.
- Circulate around the room to help students with building or reading instructions where needed. Remind students that they can orient pieces they are holding and building with the same way they are shown in the build instructions, in order to help them be successful in their build.
- Engage students' prior knowledge by asking questions about how this build is similar or different to other VEX GO builds that they have used before, like the Code Base. Why do they think that is? What might the competition robot be able to do that is new or different?
OfferOffer positive reinforcement for teams that are working well together, taking turns, and using respectful language as they are building. If there are particular teams or students that excel at building, offer them the opportunity to help teams that may be struggling with the build.

Teacher Troubleshooting

Leave Competition Base and Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robots built from Lab 1 to save time.
Students can test that their Competition Base 2.0 is build correctly before moving on to the Competition Advanced portion of the build. Have them power on the Brain, connect to the VEXcode GO and open the Drive tab. Use the joysticks to move the robot forward or backward. If the robot is build correctly, it should drive successfully when it is connected to VEXcode GO.
Remind students that forward/reverse is based on the location and position of the robot. If the Hero Robot is backwards on the Field with the fork facing the student, moving the controls forward will drive the robot towards the student, not towards the Field.
If the robot does not respond, try disconnecting and reconnecting the Brain and try again. This may happen if too much time passes between turns driving the robot.

Facilitation Strategies

Allow extra time in the Engage section if you choose to have students build Stage 2 of the Village Engineering Construction Field together with you. This stage builds the Lab to add to the Field. All elements from Stage 1 stay intact, and are part of this stage as well. To help students stay organized, divide up build instructions by team. There are two main builds for this stage: Wind Turbine and Bridge. Suggestions for how to do this include:
- Team A completes steps 1-7 of the Wind Turbine
- Team B completes steps 8-14 of the Wind Turbine
- Team C completes steps 15 - 20 of the Wind Turbine
- Team D completes steps 21 - 30 of the Wind Turbine
- Team E completes steps 1 - 9 of the Bridge
- Team F completes steps 10 - 18 of the Bridge
- Team G completes steps 19 - 27 of the Bridge
- Team H completes steps 28 - 35 of the Bridge
Allow time during Play Part 1 for all students to take a turn driving the Hero Robot on the Field. Remind students that they can change the controls to find a drive mode that works best for them.
- You may want to have students practice using just the robot, as well as using the robot arm to explore different ways to move the Wind Turbine and the Bridge.
- When using the robot arm, have the students practice controlling the arm motor with the Drive tab in VEXcode GO. This should be review from Lab 1. Remind students that the arm can move quickly.
The speed of the Hero Robot depends on how slow or quickly the controls are moved in the Drive tab. The slower the joystick is pushed, the slower the robot will move. For more information about remote control driving in the VEXcode GO, read the Using the Drive Tab in VEXcode GO article.
Think ahead about how you want to structure the Expand the Village Competition. It is recommended for each team to have at least two matches to compete in, so that as many students as possible get to have the chance to be a drive in the competition. To learn more about VEX GO classroom competitions, see this section of the VEX Library.
Encourage students to document their learning by drawing or writing about their robot, driving practice, and competition strategy. Use the Blueprint Worksheet (Google Doc/.docx/.pdf) or the Data Collection Sheet (Google Doc/.docx/.pdf) as a basic template for students to take notes. These artifacts can then be used to share student learning and progress with others in the classroom and school community on a bulletin board or student portfolio.

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