School of Environment, Science and Engineering

Introduction to Lego Robotics in the Classroom

A 2 day introductory robotics course aimed at STEM teachers with little or no experience of coding. Basic computer literacy is assumed. The course demonstrates Problem Based Learning (PBL), with the driving task of designing, building and programming a robot to enter the RoboCup Junior Primary Search and Rescue Challenge.

RoboCup Junior Search and Rescue; http://www.robocupjunior.org.au/rescue Images from the 2016 State final; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5No9L1YiUY

Participants work in small groups, they are encouraged to be self-directed, interdependent and independent as they attempt to solve the set problem. There is a strong emphasis on providing feedback and assessment. PBL courses need a significant facilitator input, so the student/facilitator ratio is capped at 9.

At the end of the course participants will have a deeper understanding of PBL and have developed the confidence to consider using Lego based robots and MindStorms software in the classroom.

Pre-Reading and Problem Solving

Understanding problem solving as a pedagogical technique is difficult. Try using the technique to understand it – How do I understand the problem-solving technique? Look at these web sites for help in finding the answer:

https://ansusconsultingblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/the-problem-solving-cycle-an- effective-step-by-step-approach-to-find-viable-solutions/

https://www.humorthatworks.com/learning/5-steps-of-problem-solving/

Teaching the technique is an excellent way to understand it:

https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/ developing-assignments/cross-discipline-skills/teaching-problem-solving-skills

EV3

Some familiarity with the EV3 robot and MindStorms software helps a lot when first approaching the course’s driving problem. Lego provide an overview:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/about-ev3

The MindStorms software used to drive the EV3 robots is freely available, either for a PC or tablet:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/learn-to-program

With PBL learning what content you access is determined by you. But some useful resources are:

RoboCup Rescue with EV3; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jblYWsdDxM Club Engineer produced a detailed series of videos detailing the programming of a

RoboCup rescue robot. The series uses NXT, the predecessor to EV3. The structure of the software is the same, though the syntax and look is slightly different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w13yQsFNdY&list=PLTQ6QLxcLDA5qvdxPPrSVJ8I3DkCLCBN8