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Focused Task

Throughout the unit plan there will be suggestions for teachers on discussion topics, lesson structure and class management.  Teachers will find these tips by clicking on the APPLE ICONS .

Tip one: Discussion on the Research Report
  Tip two: Prototype Folder (organizing observations)
  Tip three: Speedlab Set Up

We suggest that students work collaboratively in groups, in order to facilitate teamwork and problem solving.  Groups should be between 3 and 4 students, as any more would impede communication and cooperation. 

It is important to discuss group work skills and strategies before starting the unit. 

• All students must discuss and compromise on design changes and program ideas.
• Group member must share the different tasks, to ensure that each student enjoys equal learning opportunities in the different areas of robotics construction. 
• Students must understand that they need to develop strategies to solve their problems, and that the adults supervising, are there to support them rather than solve their problems.

Whole Class Discussion

• Review and Discuss problems, celebrations and strategies developed from the previous lesson.  Elicit children's ideas, and discuss individual group's goals. 
• Mini-lessons/discussions on topics relating to the unit.  Ex.  Discussions how robots affect society, or a discussion on how gears work.  Teacher mays give mini experiments for the children to work on to solidify concepts.

•  Children will work with groups on the floor throughout the class area
•  Children will share lego material from bins (two groups per bin)
•  Robolab should be set up and ready to save on computers during this time.
•  Children should be able to freely move between the building, programming and testing components of the project.

• The class should reconvene as a group after each robotics period to share their progress. This time is valuable for children to learn from each other, and to help them to think meta-cognitively about their learning.

• Give students time to write in their reflections journal.  Here children will individually write about their learning process, including their frustrations, celebrations and goals. 
• Journals can include drawings and digital pictures.
• Teacher should give feed back in these journals between robotics lessons.

*Communication with parents/guardians is essential for creating a collaborative community learning environment.  It is important to keep parents involved in what is happening in the classroom, and understand the learning objectives of the Robotics Unit.  Because Robotics is a new concept many parents will have questions. Sending a Unit Study letter home can aid in these communication goals.  SAMPLE LETTER

*YOU WILL NEED PARENTAL SUPPORT!  Due to the exploratory nature of the unit, it is very helpful to exlict the support of parental volunteers to aid the children in their work.  It is important to give parents expectations of what they would be responsible for in the classroom. 
SAMPLE LETTER

• We suggest that Teachers who are unfamiliar with the Robolab Kit,  practice with the material and programming before they commence the unit.  This experience will help teachers facilitate the student's work.
• Visit the Robotics Links, Spreadsheet and Programming Tutorials for great ideas and background on Robotics.