Robots Everywhere

Contributor
Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry
Type Category
Instructional Materials
Types
Lesson/Lesson Plan
Note
This resource, vetted by NSTA curators, is provided to teachers along with suggested modifications to make it more in line with the vision of the NGSS. While not considered to be "fully aligned," the resources and expert recommendations provide teachers with concrete examples and expert guidance using the EQuIP rubric to adapted existing resources. Read more here.

Reviews

Description

This is a 5E lesson plan from the book Picture Perfect STEM Lessons, K-2 Using Children's Books to Inspire STEM Learning by Emily Morgan and Karen Ansberry. The books Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep! by Todd Tarpley and National Geographic Kids: Robots by Melissa Stewart are used in the lesson. Students will learn about different types of robots and model how robots are programmed to perform tasks. They will design their own robot with the purpose of solving a human problem.

Intended Audience

Educator and learner
Educational Level
  • Elementary School
Language
English
Access Restrictions

Free access - The right to view and/or download material without financial, registration, or excessive advertising barriers.

Performance Expectations

K-2-ETS1-1 Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

Clarification Statement: none

Assessment Boundary: none

This resource is explicitly designed to build towards this performance expectation.

Comments about Including the Performance Expectation
Students will learn about robots, their parts, and how they function. In doing so they will ask questions, make observations, and as a final project design a robot with the purpose of solving a human problem or meeting a human need in their own home or classroom. There is teacher background given in the lesson that would be helpful to read before teaching this lesson.

2-PS1-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.

Clarification Statement: Observations could include color, texture, hardness, and flexibility. Patterns could include the similar properties that different materials share.

Assessment Boundary: none

This resource appears to be designed to build towards this performance expectation, though the resource developer has not explicitly stated so.

Comments about Including the Performance Expectation
As students learn about robots there could be an investigation of what kind of materials would work best when designing and building a robot. Various materials could be investigated for their strength, flexibility, hardness, absorbency, etc. Students could choose materials that would work best for the robot they will design and possibly build.

Science and Engineering Practices

This resource is explicitly designed to build towards this science and engineering practice.

Comments about Including the Science and Engineering Practice
Students are designing a robot with the purpose of solving a human problem or meeting a human need in their own home or classroom. They are designing the robot on paper but could develop a working model if they were provided materials.

This resource is explicitly designed to build towards this science and engineering practice.

Comments about Including the Science and Engineering Practice
After learning about robots and how they operate, each student will be develop a model of a robot by designing and describing it on paper. This robot will be designed to perform a task to help the student at home or school.

Disciplinary Core Ideas

This resource is explicitly designed to build towards this disciplinary core idea.

Comments about Including the Disciplinary Core Idea
Students are drawing and describing their robot on paper. The lesson suggests that students present their robots to the class, have a “Robotics Fair, invite other classes to attend a gallery walk, or display the posters in the classroom or hallway. Students could also invite family or community members to a showing of their designs and to communicate how they solve a problem of doing a task to help at school or home.

Crosscutting Concepts

This resource appears to be designed to build towards this crosscutting concept, though the resource developer has not explicitly stated so.

Comments about Including the Crosscutting Concept
The concept of structure and function is woven throughout the lesson as students explore how a robot’s job determines what it looks like. Students would need to label and describe how the shape and structure of their robot is related to its function.

Resource Quality

  • Alignment to the Dimensions of the NGSS: This lesson uses all three dimensions to help students develop a model of a robot that helps solve a problem. It could be integrated with the physical science performance expectation 2-PS1-1 when students learn about classifying and describing materials by their observable properties.

  • Instructional Supports: There are numerous opportunities for students to learn: through media (books or videos) or first hand investigations. Students can discuss and justify their ideas and connect their design solution to a problem (task) relevant in their life. Pictures and graphics are provided.

  • Monitoring Student Progress: There is formative assessment taking place when the teacher questions students several times during the lesson. When the Robot Card Sort is being done the teacher could be monitoring student learning, Having students complete the My Robot and Robot Advertisement pages would be another way to asses because students are explaining how their robot is a better solution than the technology (or person) currently solving the problem. .

  • Quality of Technological Interactivity: There is a video that should be viewed as part of the lesson.