Each school year at the Meridian Parent Partnership Program (MP3), students in first through eighth grades have the opportunity to take a semester of robotics.
The class is taught by MP3 teacher Laney Brannen. She plans the coursework for each grade level and builds on concepts from previous years using project-based learning, particularly with open-ended exploration. The class uses Lego education kits and VEX robotics kits.
“Robotics is a project-based learning opportunity that combines creativity, engineering and technology. Students build and program mechanical models that meet specific design and performance briefs,” Brannen said.
First graders begin with learning to manage materials, build simple 3D models, and are introduced to programming. In second grade they transition to more complex builds and simple machines, where they learn the operations of gears, levers and pulleys. By third grade students are working on building and programming. The combination of structure plus programming comes together in fourth grade. Students transition to Lego Mindstorm Education EV3 in fifth and sixth grades and design programming specific to real-world industrial simulations. In addition to design programming specific to real-world situations, seventh and eighth graders are introduced to virtual coding environments.
“Everything they are learning in the classroom has a direct link to the outside world to make their learning meaningful and impactful,” Brannen said. “My approach is to allow students to look at a problem, brainstorm a solution and then work backwards to identify the skills needed to reach the solution. When students are allowed to create something interactive they find interesting, their engagement increases, and they retain more information.”
Currently first graders are building and programming mechanical models of wild animals such as a hungry alligator with a snapping jaw or a roaring lion that sits up and lies down with a roar. Third graders are working on a variety of projects, where they are provided an initial brief and starting points but allowed to use their own creativity to model a solution. Fifth graders are programming robots to perform a series of commands or tasks such as picking up and moving an object through a series of obstacles and seventh graders are designing robots to traverse slopes and rough terrain.
“Automation is heavily emphasized in today’s technology driven world. Coding and robotics will help students adapt better for what is to come,” Brannen said.