Looking for ways to extend students learning with VEXcode VR and the CS Level 1 Blocks Course? Recently, a Capstone Challenge Unit was added to the course using the Coral Reef Cleanup Playground. The goal is simple - code your robot to collect as much trash as possible before the battery runs out. The open-ended nature of this challenge means that there are so many different ways that students can accomplish this goal, and the opportunities for iteration are endless.
Within the Capstone Unit, students are guided through a three-phase process for solving open-ended challenges - Planning, Pseudocoding, and Building & Testing. This structure fosters student collaboration and communication as they begin with brainstorming ideas and strategizing together. Once they have an agreed-upon idea, students then break that down into pseudocode, and think about how they will accomplish that task with code. Then comes the incremental building and testing of the project, in order to make their idea a reality.
This structure puts the focus on thinking conceptually about code, as students spend significant time and energy planning and pseudocoding their project. Students are prompted to check in with their teacher between each phase, so that you can help them articulate their thinking, ask questions, and guide them to next steps.
The beauty of this open-ended challenge Unit is that students can apply their learning from the course in the ways that make the most sense to them, and have the autonomy to truly make their learning their own. The challenge can become a celebration of learning and is a beautiful opportunity for students to share their learning with one another and to collaborate within and between groups.
For teachers, content has also been added to the CS Level 1 Blocks Intro Course to give context for how learning takes place in open-ended challenges, as well as facilitating the Unit itself.
Have you used open-ended coding challenges with your students? Is Coral Reef Cleanup a hit in your class? I’d love to get a conversation going about how others are using this playground or this style of challenge to bring learning to life for their students!
