Lesson Plan CSC 522

Robotics in Conjunction with Simple Machines

No. of Students : 25 (1 IEP, 1 LEP)Approx. 60 minutes

4th Grade – Physics and Motion

Program of Studies Skill

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Students will use tools and resources, such as stopwatches, sonic rangers, microscopes, computer simulations/animations and video clips, to observe motions that are hard to see or quantify and compare the usefulness/limitations of such tools

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Students will infer causes and effects of pushes and pulls (forces) on objects based on representations or interpretations of straight-line movement/motion in charts, graphs, and qualitative comparisons. (We will achieve this through looking at Simple Machines)

Objectives: Students will be able to use robots to perform basic simple machine activities and monitor/graph the number of times the robots are able to perform basic push/pull functions in a timed atmosphere.

Actions:

Students will begin by either using laptops individually or using a SMART board collectively to complete the Simple Machines activity at edheads.com. This activity introduces the major simple machines (i.e. ramps, wedges, axles) and shows how they work in your house and everyday environments. This will be used as a precursor to the activity utilizing robotics. In addition, this assumes that the robots are already assembled and programmed with a basic function.

Context:

The simple machines concept will be discussed as part of the robot (which parts of the robot are simple machines) and will build on the physical science unit being presented in 4th grade science.

Materials: Laptops/Computer/SMARTboard, Robots with Lego Mindstorm NXT program, floor or desk space, balls or other objects for pushing/pulling, pencils, assessment sheets, graphs, some sort of time telling device

Procedures:

  1. Working off the above introduction (utilizing the edheads web resource) begin discussions of what simple machines are and how they are useful for us.
  2. Discuss with students how simple machines can be used to make tasks such as pushing and pulling easier.
  3. Introduce concept of cause and effect (robots vs. plastic balls) and introduce students to theme/I can statement of identifying pushes, pulls and interactions of the two for the purpose of graphing.
  4. Have students identify some of the simple machines found on the robots (axles/wheels/levels/screws) and how these machines can perform pushes or pulls.
  5. Assign students to teams and discuss how they are going to monitor how many times a robot can push a ball off a stand (using simple machines) in a certain time frame (example: 2 minutes).
  6. The students will be responsible for taking the programmed robots (subsequent lesson) and monitoring their ability to push a plastic ball from a perch or from the floor during this time frame.
  7. Students will be responsible for recording the data, operating the robot, running the program, resetting the ball and watching the time (can be used with classroom clock or individual timers).
  8. Students will complete a basic graph (bar or line) representing their findings after they have completed the task a designated number of times.

Modifications: As students will be participating in groups and whole class technological activities, few modifications will be needed. IEP students will be accommodated to as the website used in the introduction speaks and provided visual and oral cues. In addition, each student in the group can be assigned a task, so tasks can be given appropriately and every student have participation. LEP students will also be accommodated using technology in this way.

Assessment: Students will be assessed both on their completion of the graph successfully and their completion of a short flashback. This can be completed on regular notebook paper as I would ask the students list four kinds of simple machines we learned about today and how they make our lives easier. I would also ask them to list two kinds of simple machines found on the robots we used for our pushes.

Reflection/Lesson Extension: This lesson would be part of a greater physical science unit. The robots would be used again for subsequent experiments, including critical thinking and problem solving math oriented experiments.