Have you used the Little Red Robot STEM Lab Unit with your students? There is now a third Lab in the Unit - where students build upon what they’ve learned about sequence and selection in the first two Labs, to add iteration and create a Wolf Detecting Algorithm!
In the Wolf Detecting Algorithm STEM Lab students learn that the Eye Sensor on the robot can detect colors. Using a red Wolf on the Field, students create projects to make the Little Red Robot perform different behaviors based on the color detected – if red is detected, it will ‘scare away’ the Wolf, else, it will ring the doorbell to arrive at Grandmother’s house.
Throughout this Lab students talk about and follow the project flow of the conditional statement built using the “If red”, “Else”, and “End if” Coder cards, and talk about things like the decision the robot is making, and predict the behavior the robot will do. They then go on to add a loop to their projects with the “Go to start” Coder card, to create their own ‘Wolf Detecting Algorithm’, so they can both scare away the Wolf and arrive at Grandmother’s house safe and sound in the same project.
This whole Unit is a great way to teach CS concepts of sequence (Lab 1), selection (Lab 2), and iteration (Lab 3), the building blocks of an algorithm, while blending in literacy, storytelling, and creative expression in really fun and engaging ways.
Check it out and please share your experiences with this Unit - How do your students scare away the Wolf? How did your students iterate on their algorithms to make them their own? What kinds of Little Red Robot Art Ring designs did your students come up with?
