Buildologie Bulletin
October 2018
On a Mission
This month, our students started working on their showcase project: Food Factor. We gave the students a set of food-themed missions for their robots to carry out. For example, the students are learning to practice sustainability by catching adult "fish" with their robot while leaving the baby fish behind so it has a chance to grow up and make more fish.
The food theme goes perfectly with 5th grade's Benchmark Unit 3 Essential Question, "How do we decide which resources we should develop?".
The teams also chose a type of food to research, tracing its path from the farm to the table. They'll talk about their research in their Buildologie showcase presentation.
Attachments
Our students must engineer attachments that will help their robot complete the missions. Here, a Bytes & Bots mentor helps them think it through. SMP 5: Use appropriate tools strategically
A Strong Start
Our students' programs will only work if the robot starts in the same place every time, so they have to experiment with starting point and record the coordinates of where they place each tire. SMP 6: Attend to precision
The Missions
These are the 5 missions our students are working on (click to enlarge). SMP 1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Mission: Distant Travel
Food has to travel a long way to get to your table! This deceptively tricky mission represents that journey by asking students to program their robot to touch the playfield's furthest wall. That may seem simple enough, but there are several obstacles to get past. Most teams struggled with running over a fish, which makes the robot turn and run into the kitchen table. The team below was successful, though!
https://youtu.be/CcSQra72BqI
Save the Date!
Interested in checking out Buildologie (or Codologie)? Our showcases are open to visitors! We'll also be inviting classes (in most cases) and parents. There is no need to come the entire time - feel free to drop in even for a few minutes!
Check out the schedule below:
Created by Heather Boling
Heather is AESD's Bytes & Bots Digital Learning Coach, supporting Codologie at Ross, Stoddard, Ponderosa, and Jefferson Elementary Schools and Buildologie at Ross. She writes curriculum, coaches the Bytes & Bots mentors, and supports teachers in a variety of ways.
Email: hboling@anaheimelementary.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/anaheimelementary.org/buildologiestudent/home
Location: 313 South Melrose Street, Anaheim, CA, USA
Phone: (714)517-7532 --- 4191
Twitter: @hcboling