Students in fifth grade are gaining an understanding of forces and motion. In the Maker Space, some students are programming their Ozobots by color, which will program the bot to follow a color coded track. They learned that certain color combos will give their bots some extra turbo thrust, slow them down, or make them spin! Other students are using visual programming to move their bots in a specialized way, but without a prescribed track.
Students are also exploring the Lego STEM and robotics kits. Each student team starts with the same materials. They must read the instructions in order to put their battery powered vehicles together, but then have the ability to customize. Students test their vehicles, determine whether they need to change the design for more speed or better direction, and test them again to see if their design solutions work.
Students can also make predictions based on the patterns they see in their object’s motion. Their time in the Maker Space gives them visual math and engineering practice, and makes math more relevant, creative, and fun.
