Squeak Robot Challenge
 Description
The
purpose of this activity
is to give students a
feeling for the experience
of creating an artifact
to complete a mission
by using problem solving
skills and geometry.
They will be asked to
design a robot to perform
the stated mission aboard
the International Space
Station. From reading
the mission statement,
they will need to select
the appropriate robot
parts to complete the
mission. They can use
either a Norbot (bigger
robot) or a Zotbot (smaller
robot) and they need
to use the smaller robot
if it can complete the
mission. The robot parts
are color-coded and the
same for both the Norbot
and the Zotbot. They
are in the shape of either
a triangle, a parallelogram
or a trapezoid. By having
to fit the parts exactly
into the space available
with no overlap, your
students will use geometry
to solve their problem.
The highest level learning
will come if you challenge
your students to create
their own missions and
Norbots or Zotbots to
complete the mission.
They can do this part
on paper. To raise the
stakes and take the learning
to an even higher level,
have them reconstruct
the Squeak project to
work for their mission.
Instructional
Objectives
The student
will
- use reading
comprehension skills
to understand statement
of the mission.
- read
and create design criteria
and constraints in
story form.
- use problem
solving skills to determine
the correct robot parts
needed to complete
the mission.
- apply geometry
to fit the triangle,
parallelogram, and
trapezoid robot pieces
into the robot.
- will
use higher order thinking
skills to create new
missions, design robots
to complete their designed mission, and reconstruct the Squeak project to fit
their mission.
- will work cooperatively
with other students
and discuss and compare
results during the
interactive activity.
Go to
Squeak Robot Challenge
Web Activity |
