Hi everyone,
As we prepare for the Ocean Science Exploration competition, I’m looking to provide my teachers with activities students can do in their classrooms that mimic the skills needed for this competition. We have the actual competition boards in our VEX labs, but want students to be able to practice comp skills in their classrooms as well.
Simple ideas like opening a hard book cover to teach students how to open the clam shell. Or things they can build with the GO kits that are similar to tasks in the competition field.
Thanks in advance!
@Aimee_DeFoe @Audra_Selkowitz @Tina_Dietrich
What a great question @Mike_Bothwell! I just took a quick look through the Ocean Science Exploration PDF book to refresh my memory - this could be a great place to start with classroom activities also. Have kids make their own Exploration Logs like Col. Jo to detail the things they’re doing “in training”.
As for robot activities, here are a few that I came up with:
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To mimic moving the sensors - Have students build objects (similar to the sensors) with extra pieces in the GO Kits. They can then practice moving them in and out of locations, lifting them up onto a stack of books, etc.
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To mimic closing the pipeline - Make a line with tape, and set up a row of objects (like blocks or toilet paper tubes) on top of it. Move some of the objects in front or behind the line, and have students use the robot to line up all the objects on the line.
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To mimic moving the wind turbines - Have students use the Slide Beams in the GO Kits to build their own ‘practice turbines’ that can slide when pushed by the robot. Attach those to beams on tiles, so that students can practice moving them side to side with the robot.
I hope that’s helpful to get you started!
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This is perfect, thank you!!
I think the pipeline was the one I was stuck on the most! I definitely thought about building “sensors” with parts in their GO kits…anything that resembles the shape for the Hero Bot to carry/place.
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So I made a few “example” slides today of the sensor, the wind turbines, and the pipeline along with the pieces I used. Hope this can help anyone in the same boat as us!
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Those look great @Mike_Bothwell! I hope the kids have fun building and testing them out 
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@Audra_Selkowitz - these classroom-built examples ended up being a big hit! I saw a lot of students making them in their classes as the competition neared. Definitely helped them practice for the days they weren’t able to practice on an actual field. A few teachers also used their classroom tiles to set up a similarly shaped board.
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That’s awesome! I’m so glad to hear it
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