Summer SAVY, Session 4 Day 2, “Coding and Robotics” (3rd-4th)
The focus of today’s morning meeting was the history of computer programming. I read Grace Hopper, Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark. We also watched a video about Grace Hopper and her impact on computers and programming. For our “unplugged” coding activity today, the students created rules for a new card game using conditions. Each group made a list of “If ____, then ____” statements related to drawing cards. Each group came up with a unique game and played the game to test it. All the conditionals worked well when tested. Then, students created fun games and had the chance to do some math! Today’s career connection was a video featuring an aerospace engineer from NASA. She explained how she programs spacecraft to collect data from space and other planets.
Today, the toy companies have developed a mission statement. We used Lego’s mission statement: “Inspire and develop builders of tomorrow” as inspiration. Each company presented its logo, mission, and explained its products. We talked about how companies are systems using the systems generalizations: systems have parts that work together to complete tasks, systems interact, and systems are composed of subsystems. During small group rotation, each group completed a challenge that used block code. The Hour of Code website has several free activities if you would like to have your child practice programming at home.
The Lego Spike Prime challenges today involved shipping and receiving packages. We did a virtual tour of the FedEx World Hub in Memphis. We saw how automation combined with a workforce of 10,000 people allows them to process roughly 2 million packages daily! Our first Prime challenge was a “quality check” robot that had a color sensor. When it sensed an acceptable package, it nodded “yes” and smiled. When an unacceptable package was scanned, the robot shook its head “no” and frowned. For the second Prime build, each group chose a challenge at their comfort level. The first option was to design and program their own robot to sort packages. The second option was to follow the provided steps to create a robot that tracks shipments by following a line. We connected the process of sorting and tracking shipments to the generalization: “Systems have inputs and outputs.”
Today’s home connection is an extension of today’s unplugged game. Select a deck of cards (playing cards, Uno cards, etc.). Ask your child to write a new set of rules using conditional if/then statements. Test out the game as a family and talk about how outcomes differ based on the random draw. Ask your child to think of a new way to play that involves strategy instead of chance.