Raeleen and I decided to work with the We Do core set 2.0 and chose the activity, Grabbing Objects. We are going to build our instructions by first creating the model to see how long the creating portion of the activity is and how much we need to support our students for this assignment. This activity aims for students to see how technology can mimic everyday functions like grabbing objects. There are many industries that use technology to help lift and move heavy loads.
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The standards we use as a guide are as follows.
Learner
5.1.a - Set professional learning goals to explore and apply teaching strategies for integrating CT practices into learning activities in ways that enhance student learning of both the academic discipline and CS concepts.
Students will practice CT skills by changing code and working with the mechanical hand in order to grab and place objects. Students will have the ability to make changes to the code depending on what they need the mechanical hand to do. This helps students learn and explore while incorporating CT practices.
5.1.c - Leverage CT and CS experts, resources, and professional learning networks to continuously improve practice integrating CT across content areas.
Students will be using the We Do 2.0 program to code sequenced actions for the mechanical claw to follow according to their desired tasks.
5.1.d - Develop resilience and perseverance when approaching CS and CT learning experiences, build comfort with ambiguity and open-ended problems, and see failure as an opportunity to learn and innovate.
As students work with the mechanical claw, they will experience trial and error. This will help build resilience and perseverance when it comes to computational thinking within computer science. Something that is necessary when working in the field.
Facilitator
5.5.c - Use a variety of instructional approaches to help students frame problems in ways that can be represented as computational steps or algorithms to be performed by a computer.
Students will create their own objects and situations to use the mechanical hand model with. They will work through their problems using the provided program. As a facilitator, I will support students in decision-making and will offer solutions when frustration arises. I will also help students navigate algorithms that will be made using the We Do 2.0 program.
Example of Model objects to grab and place
On Day 2
Raeleen and I finished constructing our robot. The creation will be able to grab and place objects with a mechanical hand, operated with a sequenced algorithm using the We Do 2.0 program.
The mechanical hand will sense an object and open its claw. After 2 seconds, the claw will close around the object. Then, it will wait a total of 7 seconds to give students time to position the mechanical claw and the object near its desired location. After 7 seconds, the hand will release. Students will get to practice picking up and moving a flower pot onto a table and a Lego plug into a Lego outlet and create and build their own Lego creations to pick up and place with the mechanical hand. Students will be able to adjust the time of each action as they see fit.
Our design required 82 steps in total to create the mechanical claw. To save time and to give students longer opportunities to work with code, we have decided to keep the creation partially built prior to meeting with Metro Elementary students. Students will only build part of the mechanical claw and spend most of their time working with code and moving objects.
Students will have access to printed instructions as well as online directions.
Steps for Activity:
1. Read the opening prompt to students
The human hand can perform several different movements. When combined, these movements present a whole range of possible motions and actions. These important movements are finger flexion and extension (closing and opening), thumb flexion and extension (closing and opening), thumb rotation, and wrist flexion, extension, and rotation.
What are some of the different movements that you can do with?
What is the role of the muscles in your hand?
What are some machines that help move objects in real life?
3. Tell students they are going to first build the pieces they will be picking up with the mechanical hand using Legos.
4. Explain to students the vocabulary:
Flexion - closing
Extension - opening
Thumb Flexion and extension - Ex: pinching
wrist flexion, extension, and rotation: moving the wrist around
5. Tell students that they will be using the mechanical hand to pick up and place the objects they've created.
6. Open the we do 2.0 application
7. Hand printouts of programming block descriptions to the students.
Go through each coding action within the program and show students how they can set the duration for each interaction.
8. Show students an example of how to use the program
9. Let students build code so that the hand is working
( Having a working code as an example for frustrated students )
10. Let students practice grabbing and placing objects with the mechanical hand.
11. Conclusion: Ask students about their process - What was challenging
- What problems did they run into
- What was the solution
- Is the program user-friendly
- What could be changed to make the program easier to use
- Would you like to use this activity for future lessons
Explanation Video
This is a short video demonstrating and explaining the We Do 2.0 program along with our mechanical hand from the activity we chose.
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