Summer SAVY, Session 4 Day 3, Coding and Robotics (5th – 6th)
Engaging Creativity and Collaboration: Day 3 of SAVY-Robotic Engineering
Welcome to Day 3 of our exciting journey into the world of robotics. Throughout this week, we’ve witnessed an impressive display of creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork from our enthusiastic rising 5th and 6th graders. Today, the students explored movement and sensor programming. As we progress, students continue to push the boundaries of their imagination, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
Exploring Mechanics, Sensors, and Movement
We started the day with a “Getting to Know You” activity where students presented their “All About Me” Robot Infographic. With this activity that kickstarts our mornings, we learn more about each other’s interests and future endeavors. This team-building activity has contributed to a viable and positive learning community. Before starting our next coding lesson, students reviewed the components of the engineering design process. This included watching a short clip on how the engineering design process could be used to have a taco party! Please continue the discussions at home on how the design process can be used for solving everyday life challenges.
Continuing our theme of learning about mechanics and movement, students participated in the “Breaker Bot Challenge”. Within this challenge, students were given three tasks: sync the legs of the dancer, sync the arms, and program sound that syncs with the robot’s movement. After they finished the challenge, each student presented their robot and received positive peer feedback. We enjoyed a “Robot Dance Party” using our robots as the main dancers! We all danced until we increased our appetites just in time for lunch!
Applying the Engineering Design Process, Coding Prototypes
Our next project, from Invention Squad, involved creating a robot that moved without wheels. Prototypes of this robot looked very similar to grasshoppers! After a discussion on biomimicry and robotics, students drew brainstorming sketches. Once the Hopper Bots were built, students were given the task of modifying the Hopper Bot’s legs to make a faster robot in preparation for our Hopper Race Championship match tomorrow!
I am inspired as I witness students’ dedication, determination, and problem-solving skills while they iterate their prototypes. Projects created today fostered critical thinking as the campers experimented with different coding techniques, such as loops and conditional statements. Collaborative efforts were on full display as students shared strategies and offered suggestions.
Each student’s innovative ideas demonstrated the power of combining imagination and engineering. Throughout the design process, the students honed their teamwork skills by brainstorming, prototyping, and redesigning together. They learned the value of effective communication and compromise as they worked towards a common goal. As we move forward to the remaining days of the camp, we are excited to witness the growth and development of these young innovators. They have already demonstrated exceptional potential, and we can’t wait to see how their skills and creativity will continue to flourish as we learn about robotics and space in the later days of camp. Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on new adventures in the world of robotics and coding!
Ms. Young