3. Field Activity 03¶
This week I worked on creating this field activity - Finch Olympics.
Project: Finch Olympics¶
This week we launched a transdisciplinary PBL called “Make it Move”. Students were tasked with making anything they wanted that could move by mechanical or electrical means. The launch activity was designed to alleviate any fear about coding, called “Finch Olympics”. This activity took about 2 hours.
Part 1: Finch Mazes - students competed in a “race” to complete a maze and knock a ping pong ball off a cup. The students had to build a “joust” out of LEGOs and code the robot through the maze. To meet the science standards built into this activity students calculated the kinetic energy of their robot’s journey. KE = mass*V^2
Part 2: Finch Sumo Wrestling - students built a ping pong ball “container” in addition to the jousting device out of LEGOs and then competed head to head with another robot. The winner was first to knock off their opponent’s ping pong ball. The coding was more challenging in this instance because they used a second microbit as a remote control to move the Finch robots. They accomplished the communicaiton between robots using radio blocks.
The lesson plan can be found on ScopesDF. Link
Gallery¶
Maze pictures:
Maze Win Video
Sumo Wrestling Video
Student Feedback¶
Where are the learners struggling?¶
Some learners struggle with measurements. In order to code the robot to move through the maze, they need to have accurate measurements. Some learners forget cm versus inches. Then they had to do multiple calculations to determine the “physics” of the maze. Interestingly, once they figured out to use cm and NOT inches the calculations were not too hard.
How is the timing of your activities/ lesson?¶
As I plan PBLs I include a “launch activity” designed to get kids excited out the challenge of the PBL. The timing of the entire “Make it Move” PBL was 12 hours and this lesson took about 1.5 - 2 hours (depending on how long they spent doing the calculations). The rest of their time was spent going through the engineering design process to make something.
How does the activity support learners with differing needs?¶
Students were able to choose their partner(s) for this activity as well as the entire PBL. However, if I had students who needed extra help I could have paired them intentionally. Perhaps pair a student who struggles with math/science with a learner who does not. The very nature of this hands on activity, gives learners a more concrete way to understand the the physics of kinetic energy, which may be hard for some students to understand.
Does the lesson plan teach or reinforce the learning objectives developed for the lesson plan? (your assessment)¶
In the Finch Maze lesson we focused on the science learning objecting of measuring kinetic energy.
To meet the science standard, students will calculate the kinetic energy of their robot. KE = Mass * V^2
They will measure the total distance to the ping pong ball (Distance) and the time it takes to complete the maze (Time) to calculate Velocity (V=D/T)
They can measure the mass of their robot using a scale.
The winner of the maze race will be the robot with the greatest KE.
The Sumo Wrestling lesson focused on the SEL skills of collaboration, metacognition, and creativity. Students were asked to reflect on these skills and document their progress in FabFolio.
What improvements can be made?¶
I did not make a graphic organizer to help students document their measurements and calculations. I will next time. They wrote notes all over the place and it was very difficult to help them find their mistakes (if they made them).
What surprised you or your learners?¶
Several students who had never coded before were pleased at the simplicity of using the makecode block coding successfully. They were proud of their ability to code and make the robots move as expected. One student in particular noted that he was always “afraid” to code, and now he feels like he has the confidence to try it without trepidation.
Reflection¶
1. Collaboration: Reflect on how you worked with colleagues or FLA participants during the Field Activity. At what stages of development and testing did the collaborator contribute? Please be detailed in your description. How did your collaborator’s perspective change the way you developed the lesson?¶
I collaborated with the PWC (Physical World Concepts) teacher while planning the launch activity. PWC is a ninth grade science class all of our 9th grade students take. He helped me choose a science standard that could be reinforced with this challenge. He does a lot of science experiments and hands-on activities with his class, but he wanted to give students another opportunity to measure kinetic energy, since all his examples usually involve dropping an object and this challenge did not. I feel like by adding a science standard, students were able to see the multidisciplinary connections of coding and science. The science teacher returned to watch students give their final presentations in the “Make it Move” PBL.
2. Instructional Challenges: What challenges did you encounter while teaching this lesson? How did you address or plan to address them? How are diverse learners’ needs being met in the lesson plan facilitation?¶
These questions are addressed above.
3. Integrating Disciplines: Where does your lesson plan fall on the continuum and why? How might you move the lesson plan along the continuum to the next level?¶
Current Connections: Multidisciplinary: This lesson incorporates physics (kinetic energy calculations), computer science (robotics and coding), and engineering (design and problem-solving), though each area is assessed separately.
Transdisciplinary: The lesson encourages problem-solving beyond subject boundaries by having students apply collaboration, creativity, and metacognition to a real-world robotics challenge, fostering holistic learning.
I think the rest of the PBL could be moved farther along the continuum, by asking students to continue their physics evaluations of the products that they create in “Make it Move”. I also could have asked students to make changes in their coding based on the physics data collected to optimize their robot’s movements - this would move the multidisciplinary concepts toward interdisciplinary by strengthening the connections between the two.
4. AI Usage: If you used AI, describe how it was used and in which steps of the Field Activity.¶
I used AI to write the assessment rubric for this lesson. I fed ChatGPT the lesson plan (objectives and instructions) and asked for a rubric. The results were pretty solid the first time, however, I made some suggestions and ask a question to get the final results. The rubric is attached to the lesson plan in Scopes.
5. Reflect on the course in general:¶
* How has your teaching changed as a result of this course?¶
The reflective nature of this course - by asking me to document my progress after each lesson, has helped me be more intentional with my lessons. I think this experience will help me build better PBL lessons especially along the continuum of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary.
* What are some concepts that you would like to learn more about?¶
I struggle with creating advanced projects with coding/micro-controllers. I could use 3 more weeks pushing my learning with additional sensors and arduinos. However, learning about using ChatGPT to help write code has been a game changer.
* How can you support other teachers in your practice to use digital fabrication with their students?¶
As part of a digital fabrication (eLab) network in our community, I feel like I support other teachers along their journey by creating workshops and professional development opportunities. However, these are only offered 4 times a year. That isn’t really enough to give teachers a deep learning experience. I want to apply to become a NODE in the Fab Learning Academy and use my lab for local teachers in the program. This would be an indepth, sustained learning opportunity for novice and advanced digital fabricaiton teachers in our community.