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Teacher Portal

Engage

Launch the Engage Section

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

ACTS ASKS
  1. Show students each of the tasks for the Water Transit Competition, giving them an overview of all of the tasks for this Lab. Have students share their ideas about how they could move the Water Pipe off the trailer and across the Field to the Water Tower. Show students how the Water Tower can be lifted upright on the Field. You may want to have a Hero Robot and the Stage 3 Field, or the Tiles containing each game object, to use for demonstration, as students share ideas about how to move the sample with the robot. 
  2. Show students the Water Pipe, to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to lift and transport this game object.
  3. Show students the Water Tower, to help prompt ideas about how to use the robot to lift the game object.
  4. Note student responses on the board. You may want to leave them visible to reference throughout the Lab.
  5. Have students brainstorm ideas for completing the game tasks using the Hero Robot. You may want to have a robot and the Stage 3 Field, or the Tiles containing each game object available for a visual aid, as students share ideas about how and in what order to complete each of the tasks. 
  1. In Lab 2, we used our Hero Robots to rotate the Wind Turbine and lower the Bridge. In this Lab, we have three new tasks to complete in order to earn points in the Water Transit Competition. Let's take a look at them, and talk about how we might drive the Hero Robot, and use the arm on the robot to complete each task. 
  2. Let's take a look at the Water Pipe. What do you notice about it? How do you think you might remove the Water Pipe from the trailer? How might you move it across the Field to the Water Tower?
  3. Now let's look at the Water Tower. What do you notice about how it moves? How might you can use the robot to lift the Water Tower? What might your game strategy be with your partner?
  4. What do you remember about working as a team in the previous Labs, that could help you be a good teammate in this competition? 
  5. How do you think you will need to drive your Hero Robot to score points in this competition? Which task might you complete first?

Getting the Students Ready to Build

Before we can drive our Hero Robots to complete the tasks in the Water Transit 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

  1. InstructInstruct students to join their group, and have them complete the Robotics Roles & Routines sheet. Use the Suggested Role Responsibilities slide in the Lab 3 Image Slideshow as a guide for students to complete this sheet.

    Instruct students that the Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot is built 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.

  2. 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.
    Competition Base 2.0 Hero Robot

    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 Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot
    Competition Advanced 2.0 Hero Robot
  3. FacilitateFacilitate the building process.
    • Builders and Journalists should begin building based on their responsibilities in the Lab 3 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 the 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?
  4. 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

Facilitation Strategies

  • Allow extra time in the Engage section if you choose to have students build Stage 3 Village Engineering Construction Build together with you. This stage builds the Water Tower, Small Trailer and Water Pipe to add to the Field. All elements from Stage 2 stay intact, and are part of this stage as well. To help students stay organized, divide up build instructions by team. Suggestions for how to do this include:
    • Team A completes steps 1-7 of the Water Tower build instructions 
    • Team B completes steps 8-18 of the Water Tower build instructions 
    • Team C completes steps 19-28 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team D completes steps 29-34 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team E completes steps 35-46 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team F completes steps 47-56 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team G completes steps 57-65 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team H completes steps 66-70 of the Water Tower build instructions
    • Team I completes steps 1-14 of the Small Trailer build instructions
    • Team J completes steps 1-7 of the Water Pipe build instructions
  • 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 allow students time to make modifications to their robot, in order to complete the various game tasks more easily. In this case, allow students time to iterate on the changes they are making to their Hero Robot, using the engineering design process.
    • Because there are a variety of ways to complete the tasks in the Water Transit Competition, encourage teams to think carefully as they are practicing about how they want to plan their competition strategy, balancing the time and difficulty it takes them to complete the tasks in order to score the most points.
  • The speed of the Hero Robot depends on how slowly 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 VEXcode GO, read the Using the Drive Tab in VEXcode GO article.
  • Think ahead about how you want to structure the Water Transit 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 driver in the competition. To learn more about running VEX GO classroom competitions, see this article. 
  • 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.