In this unit students explore movement and direction concepts in the context of programming a robot to move. They will be developing sets of instructions to accomplish tasks, focusing on the use of right, left, forward, backwards and quarter turns.
At Level 2 the position and orientation element of Geometry builds on work started at Level 1. Students continue to develop the ability to describe position and the direction of movement, and interpret others’ descriptions of position.
The ability to give clear instructions that describe direction and movement clearly is an important skill, which is useful in a wide variety of situations. The context of programming a robot in this unit requires students to think in a logical and systematic way. Finding mistakes, identifying the cause and fixing them will be a feature of the thinking prominent during this unit. This unit also allows skills to be developed that will be useful as students work with computers.
This unit can be differentiated by altering the difficulty of the tasks to make the learning opportunities accessible to a range of learners. For example:
Focus on contexts for giving and following instructions which will appeal to students’ interests and experiences and encourage engagement. Examples may include:
Authentic links could be made to digital technology, and the use of coding programmes. Links could also be made to explanation and procedural writing.
Te reo Māori vocabulary terms such as whakamua (forwards), whakamuri (backwards), mātau (right), maui (left) and kua mutu (end) could be introduced in this unit and used throughout other mathematical learning. Other te reo Māori that could be used for this unit include karehiko (robot) and ngā tohutohu (instuctions).
Over the next 2 or 3 days the students will work in pairs, using the instruction cards to programme the robot to do a series of tasks. The number of tasks and the choice of tasks, need to be worked out by the teacher to ensure all students are challenged and engaged. The tasks do not need to be completed in order, although they do get progressively more difficult going down the page.
The tasks are designed for an 8 x 8 grid with the following headings.
An important part of this unit is developing the students' ability to debug. “Debugging” is the process of finding a mistake, identifying the cause and fixing it. To help students think through the mistake they will make, a counter with an arrow on it to show direction moved over a paper grid may help. Others may need to walk through their instruction cards on the walk-on grid. Working out the set of instructions away from the walk-on grid is important.
Getting the students to place their set of instruction cards onto a ring, a length of string or a pipe cleaner will keep their cards in order when dropped.
Start the robot at 7, facing into the grid. Move around the grid and leave at D.
Start the robot at 5, facing into the grid. Move around the grid and leave at G. There must be more than one direction cards used, i.e. more than one L or R.
Start the robot at F, facing into the grid. Move around the grid and leave at 8. Each type of instruction card, L, R, F, B must be used at least two times.
What is the least number of instruction cards needed to start the robot at E, facing into the grid and move around the grid and leave at 6?
Start the robot at F, facing into the grid. Move around the grid and leave at 8. Each type of instruction card, L, R, F, B must be used at least two times. For the next two tasks two new instruction cards need to be introduced.
PD means to put down the object the robot is carrying in the square the robot is in. PU means to pick up the object in the square the robot is in. The robot doesn’t move or change directions as it picks up the object.
Start the robot at F, facing into the grid. Move around the grid and pick up the object from the diamond and place it at the cross. Leave at F
What is the least number of instruction cards needed to start the robot at A, facing into the grid and move around the grid, picking up an object at the star and putting it down at the circle, then leaving the grid at 1?
Challenge each other by designing a task for others in your class.
Ask students to think about the things they have learnt this week and discuss. Giving each student a blank piece of paper, ask them to write down one or two important things they have learned, as well as to write down their favourite set of instruction cards. Conclude the week with each team selecting one set of instruction cards, i.e. a completed task, the teacher reads out the instruction task as a student, not the developers, follows the instructions.
Dear family and whānau,
At home this week the homework task is to talk to your family about robots. Find as many situations as you can where robots are used. Think into the future and predict the jobs robots may do in the future or jobs you wish you could programme a robot for.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/robots at 8:42pm on the 26th February 2024