Summer SAVY 2019: Session 2, Day 2 – Programming and Robotics (Ashley G.) (Rising 3rd/4th)

Posted by hallep on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 in Grade 3, Grade 4, SAVY.

Wow! It was a busy, productive fun day! We started the day with a review of our concept map. The students quickly applied what they learned yesterday to explain that a robot needs a purpose, it needs a “brain (processor) that can receive input and give an output for a sensor and/or a mechanical movement to happen. We reviewed key terms and introduce new ones: debugging, algorithm, programming, sequencing, degrees, rotations, sensors, loop and conditional statements.

Then we picked up where we left off yesterday: coding the EV3 Color sensor. They learned to apply a switch block, which is a conditional statement such as an “if, else” or “True/False “, in order  for the color sensor to read multiple colors. Quickly they realize the more complex they made their code, the harder it was to debug. So the realized that testing small parts of their code as they developed it, helped reduce any errors. Additional they realized that the color sensor sometimes would miss read a color based on the type of surface, perhaps if a surface was more reflective. They will continue tomorrow debugging their code and finish the build of thier EV3 Claw, with the goal of putting it all together.

The end of the day they switch gears back to the fast and fun Sphero. They learn to program their Sphero to spin, travel in a figure 8, as well as simplify their code with the square using loops and logistic conditions. Their challenged now is to program their Sphero to travel through a maze. It will require applying everything they have learned this week so far plus even doing a little math and measuring. They have tested the first part of the maze and will continue with this part tomorrow.