Robotics Lab Kit

Alex Brenon-HodasLearning, Design, and Robotics: Gateway to Critical Thinking

<Robotics

Lab Kit>

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<Contents>

Introduction

Week 3: Kinetic Sculpture

Week 2: Simple Machines

Week 1: Character Design & Indigenous Builds

Week 6: Independent Project

Week 5: Robotics Event

Week 4: Initial Robot Prototype

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<Introduction>

Audience: Teachers Purpose: Share the benefits of teaching robotics using culturally responsive methods. Grade/Subject: 8th grade Computer Science

Teaching Philosophies

Culturally Responsive Teaching

• Give students choice
• Connect learning to students' lives and interests

Design Thinking

• Process: Define, Prepare, Try, Reflect
• Iterative design, focusing on users

Forum Post

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// Character Design and Indigenous builds

Students will design a companion robot then build it with primarily found materials. Afterward, they will share their projects through a gallery walk and answer reflection questions about their process and final project.

Lesson Plan

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// Week 1 FOrum Post

It really struck me that the Barajas-López and Bang chapter “began with erasure”. This is unfortunately a very accurate, but also disconcerting, way to place indigenous ways of knowing and teaching within a current context. As all the readings discuss, there are so many ways for students and teachers to bring in these concepts to enhance their education. This is particularly evident in a "making" context, and can be applied well to STEAM topics. Eglash makes this connection explicit by showing how traditional African concepts provide a foundation for the modern maker movement, and can enrich the movement both inside and outside of classrooms. Robotics, especially, has many barriers to entry - it's a mainly white male-dominated field, and coding is seen as "too difficult" to many. The incorporation of Friere's "problem-posing education" (as opposed to "banking education") can help students see how they bring many different assets to the world of robotics and ideally help lower some of those barriers. Not only can students then access this topic, this previous knowledge greatly enriches the projects they are capable of making, as seen in the "Underwater Dreams" project. Shifting the general educator mindset to this "problem-posing education" then can vastly improve the education these students are recieving, as well as the knowledge they are forming both inside and outside of school.

Forum Post

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// Simple Machines

Students will learn about wheels and axles, then build one to scoop up pennies. They will be challenged to build a basket that will pick up as many pennies as possible. (Note: This lesson is designed to be situated within a unit about simple machines.)

Lesson Plan

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// Week 2 FOrum Post

I think framing students as "heroes" of their robotics journey can help them both get excited about the projects and start to see themselves as very capable learners who can take ownership of their work (...I think I use the phrase "take ownership" in pretty much everything I write for this class and others - it's definitely one of my main focuses!). Additionally, the fact that the hero's journey includes the refusal of the call as well as trials and failure can help reframe those insecurities into an expected part of the process. One thing I'm considering now to frame a future unit is to have kids create a "secret identity" to see themselves as STEM heroes, and explicitly link the different steps of the hero's journey to things we complete in class. I reached out to my grade's English teacher to see if she incorporates this concept so we could potentially collaborate on this. This also leads into "gamifying the classroom", which is a big buzzword right now in terms of increasing engagement and motivation. Someone in this class (sorry, I don't remember who) framed their project as a "mission", which I really liked to add into this concept as well. Ultimately, a lot of this is just rewording things we already do, but the power of rephrasing can make all the difference in the classroom!

Forum Post

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// Kinetic Sculpture

Students will work in pairs to design a kinetic sculpture that represents a social movement. Physical movement will be added by a micro servo controlled by a micro:bit.

Lesson Plan

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// Week 3 FOrum Post

My 8th grade computer science is a generally required class, so students end up taking it regardless of their desire or interest. However, I just started a maker club and so far only white male students have joined. I need to do more recruiting efforts once I get the club more set up and running, but with just a brief initial advertisement, none of the students that are in traditionally under-represented groups were initially motivated to join. My current plan is to emphasize the spread of creative endeavors we will do and potentially reach out to specific groups of students to see if they're interested to join. Any other advice for this would be greatly appreciated!

Forum Post

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// Initial Robot Prototype

All students will begin by building miniature buildings from their community. Then, they will use servos to turn the micro:bit into a moving robot. Finally, the buildings will be placed on a maze-like map and students will need to program their robots to drive to the building.

Lesson Plan

Forum Post

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// Robotics Event

Event Description: Come join us to see the projects our 8th graders have been creating in Computer Science! These projects include robotics, apps, websites, and more. We will also have some hands-on activities for you to try, including guiding robots through an obstacle course and creating light-up cards to take home.

Event Plan

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// Week 5 FOrum Post

My school has a robust competitive robotics team, and the students who are on it seem to enjoy it greatly. One interesting thing is that the competitive team is only for high schoolers (we are a combined middle and high school) and there's not really anything similar for middle schoolers. On one hand, I think the competitive aspect (as others have mentioned) might be a bit overwhelming for younger students, but ideally there would be some type of analogue for middle schoolers. I'm currently starting a "makers club" that is only for middle schoolers, and hoping to build that as an opportunity and potentially pathway to the competitive team - giving them a few years of non-competitive time to build skills and confidence before joining the team. The only thing I've been keeping in mind as I'm doing this is trying not to step on any toes... I'm a new teacher here and the team is very well-established, so I don't want to accidentally throw a wrench in the works.

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// Interactive Pet Toy

Students will work in pairs to design a toy for a pet. The goal will be to think about both the pet and pet owner as “users” in the design stage. Then, students will build a toy using a combination of found objects, existing pet toys, a servo motor, and a micro:bit. They will finish by sharing their projects in a ‘Shark Tank” - style pitch.

Lesson Plan

Week 1 Forum Post

It really struck me that the Barajas-López and Bang chapter “began with erasure”. This is unfortunately a very accurate, but also disconcerting, way to place indigenous ways of knowing and teaching within a current context. As all the readings discuss, there are so many ways for students and teachers to bring in these concepts to enhance their education. This is particularly evident in a "making" context, and can be applied well to STEAM topics. Eglash makes this connection explicit by showing how traditional African concepts provide a foundation for the modern maker movement, and can enrich the movement both inside and outside of classrooms. Robotics, especially, has many barriers to entry - it's a mainly white male-dominated field, and coding is seen as "too difficult" to many. The incorporation of Friere's "problem-posing education" (as opposed to "banking education") can help students see how they bring many different assets to the world of robotics and ideally help lower some of those barriers. Not only can students then access this topic, this previous knowledge greatly enriches the projects they are capable of making, as seen in the "Underwater Dreams" project. Shifting the general educator mindset to this "problem-posing education" then can vastly improve the education these students are recieving, as well as the knowledge they are forming both inside and outside of school.

Week 2 Forum Post

I think framing students as "heroes" of their robotics journey can help them both get excited about the projects and start to see themselves as very capable learners who can take ownership of their work (...I think I use the phrase "take ownership" in pretty much everything I write for this class and others - it's definitely one of my main focuses!). Additionally, the fact that the hero's journey includes the refusal of the call as well as trials and failure can help reframe those insecurities into an expected part of the process. One thing I'm considering now to frame a future unit is to have kids create a "secret identity" to see themselves as STEM heroes, and explicitly link the different steps of the hero's journey to things we complete in class. I reached out to my grade's English teacher to see if she incorporates this concept so we could potentially collaborate on this. This also leads into "gamifying the classroom", which is a big buzzword right now in terms of increasing engagement and motivation. Someone in this class (sorry, I don't remember who) framed their project as a "mission", which I really liked to add into this concept as well. Ultimately, a lot of this is just rewording things we already do, but the power of rephrasing can make all the difference in the classroom!

Week 3 Forum Post

My 8th grade computer science is a generally required class, so students end up taking it regardless of their desire or interest. However, I just started a maker club and so far only white male students have joined. I need to do more recruiting efforts once I get the club more set up and running, but with just a brief initial advertisement, none of the students that are in traditionally under-represented groups were initially motivated to join. My current plan is to emphasize the spread of creative endeavors we will do and potentially reach out to specific groups of students to see if they're interested to join. Any other advice for this would be greatly appreciated!

Week 3 Forum Post

My 8th grade computer science is a generally required class, so students end up taking it regardless of their desire or interest. However, I just started a maker club and so far only white male students have joined. I need to do more recruiting efforts once I get the club more set up and running, but with just a brief initial advertisement, none of the students that are in traditionally under-represented groups were initially motivated to join. My current plan is to emphasize the spread of creative endeavors we will do and potentially reach out to specific groups of students to see if they're interested to join. Any other advice for this would be greatly appreciated!

Week 5 Forum Post

My school has a robust competitive robotics team, and the students who are on it seem to enjoy it greatly. One interesting thing is that the competitive team is only for high schoolers (we are a combined middle and high school) and there's not really anything similar for middle schoolers. On one hand, I think the competitive aspect (as others have mentioned) might be a bit overwhelming for younger students, but ideally there would be some type of analogue for middle schoolers. I'm currently starting a "makers club" that is only for middle schoolers, and hoping to build that as an opportunity and potentially pathway to the competitive team - giving them a few years of non-competitive time to build skills and confidence before joining the team. The only thing I've been keeping in mind as I'm doing this is trying not to step on any toes... I'm a new teacher here and the team is very well-established, so I don't want to accidentally throw a wrench in the works.