I had such great experiences during workshops at this years VEX Robotics Educators Conference, and wanted to share one that really brought out a lot of fun-filled enthusiasm, perseverance, and learning!
During the Innovative Classroom Competitions with VEX IQ workshop, we brought classroom competition out in a different way - instead of using a STEM Lab or the VIQRC game, we turned a VEX IQ Activity into a competition. In the Sammy Rescue Competition the goal is to rescue Sammy from a crater as quickly as possible, using a rescue mechanism of your own creation!
Here’s the setup:
- The first task was to use the pieces in the Kit to create your own version of Sammy. Each group was given a Clawbot and the IQ Kit it was built from.
- Then we introduced the competition and the rules. Sammy is stuck in a crater on the chair, about 12 inches below the surface of the table. Using any pieces of the Kit, each group was tasked with building a rescue mechanism that could go down to Sammy, and pull Sammy back up and onto the table. Here’s the link to the Activity document that summarizes the competition.
- Each group had some time to plan together and sketch out their ideas. They could use the robot on the table, but it wasn’t required (which made for some interesting iteration as the competition went on!) After some planning time, groups set to building! Partway through, we had a whole class pause for scouting, where everyone moved around to other tables to share their ideas, ask questions, and see how groups were progressing.
- When teams were ready to compete, they flagged someone down to time their rescue and add it to the leaderboard! Everyone could compete as many times as they wanted to, which inspired some great communication and collaboration iteration!
- To wrap up, we celebrated everyone’s success with an Awards Ceremony! Not only ere the top placing teams awarded, but awards for things like persistence, risk taking, collaboration, communication, creativity, iteration, coding, and engineering were given out to celebrate success in more ways than just the fastest time. Here’s a link to the slides with all of the Awards.
The creativity that was demonstrated was really inspiring! Groups began to talk more and more with each other as the workshop went on, taking inspiration from the times that hit the leaderboard to the construction of pulley systems. Some found ways to use the robot, while others explored how to rescue Sammy in a different way - seeing the robot as more of a ‘red herring’ on their table! From ‘swings’ to pulley lifts, to detachable claws, the rescue missions were all successful in the end, and were as unique as the participants in the workshop!
This is definitely a situation where the same setup and competition could yield different results every time it happened. It’s also something that teachers were talking about taking directly into their classrooms in the next few weeks! [Here’s a link to the Google slides from the workshop, in case that is helpful to you.] (VEX IQ: Innovative Classroom Competitions - Google Slides)
As you go back to your classrooms in the coming weeks - is this a competition you could see bringing to your students? What innovative competitions does this idea inspire for you in your setting? Please share your ideas!
