TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Humans Are Like Robots
Four lessons related to robots and people present students with life sciences concepts related to the human body (including brain, nervous systems and muscles), introduced through engineering devices and subjects (including computers,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Do Sensors Work?
Through six lesson/activity sets, students learn about the functioning of sensors, both human and robotic
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robotics Peripheral Vision
This unit is designed for advanced programming classes. It leads students through a study of human vision and computer programming simulation. Students apply their previous knowledge of arrays and looping structures to implement a new...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Are Gears? What Do They Do?
Students are introduced to an important engineering element- the gear. This prepares them to apply this knowledge in four associated activities in order to create successful solutions to design challenges that use LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is a Program?
Using a few blindfolds and a simple taped floor maze exercise, young scholars come to understand that computers rely completely upon instructions given in programs and thus programs must be comprehensive and thorough. Then students learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Do You Make a Program Wait?
Building on the programming basics learned so far in a corresponding Robotics unit, students learn how to program using sensors rather than by specifying exact durations. Working with the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and software, they...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is Bluetooth?
Students learn about electrical connections, how they work, and their pervasiveness in our world. Two specific skills explored are Morse code and the function of Bluetooth. Using bluetooth, they control LEGO robots remotely from Android...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Brain Is a Computer
Learners learn about the similarities between the human brain and its engineering counterpart, the computer. Since students work with computers routinely, this comparison strengthens their understanding of both how the brain works and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Human and Robot Sensors
Students are provided with a rigorous background in human "sensors" (including information on the main five senses, sensor anatomies, and nervous system process) and their engineering equivalents, setting the stage for three associated...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Reflecting on Human Reflexes
Young scholars learn about human reflexes, how our bodies react to stimuli and how some body reactions and movements are controlled automatically, without thinking consciously about the movement or responses. In the associated activity,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Are We Like Robots?
Students explore the similarities between how humans move and walk and how robots move, so they come to see the human body as a system from an engineering point-of-view. Movement results from decision making (deciding to walk and move)...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is a Robot?
This lesson introduces students to the major characteristics of robots. The associated activity uses the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT system as an example. Before studying robots in more detail, it is important for students to consider the many...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Does a Robot Work?
This instructional activity introduces electricity, batteries and motors using a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot. The associated activity guides students to build a simple LEGO NXT set-up and see the practical implementation of the concepts...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Do Human Sensors Work?
This lesson highlights the similarities between human sensors and their engineering counterparts. Taking this approach enables students to view the human body as a system, that is, from the perspective of an engineer. Humans have...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Does a Light Sensor Work?
A mini-activity, which uses LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT intelligent bricks and light sensors gives students a chance to investigate how light sensors function in preparation for the associated activity involving the light sensors and taskbots.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Foucault Pendulum
Students learn about the Foucault pendulum, an engineering tool used to demonstrate and measure the Earth's rotation. Student groups then create small experimental versions, each comprised of a pendulum and a video camera mounted on a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Save the Stuffed Animal! Push & Pull
Students develop an understanding of the concepts of "push" and "pull" as they "save" stuffed animals from danger using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots. After learning more about the concepts through a robot demonstration, students explore...
NASA
Nasa: Robotics
Contains information about how to program a robot and how space exploration benefits from robotics technology.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Programming a Robot
In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad breaks down an action into a series of steps in order to program a robot to do what they need it to do. [4:50]
Other
Tufts University: Stomp: Nxt Activity Database
A collection of lesson plans that can be used with the Lego Mindstorms NXT robots. Lesson plans include procedure, student handouts, and programming code.
Other
Sprk: Orb Basic Lesson 2 [Pdf]
Students will use Sphero to explore the computer science concepts of variables and conditionals (ifstatements). They will use OrbBasic, which is a text-based programming language for the Sphero. They will write a simple program that...
Other
Sprk: Macro Lab Lesson 2 [Pdf]
Students will use the Sphero robotic ball to draw polygons and learn the relationship between heading angles and the number of sides in a polygon where all sides are equal. They will also learn how to setthe colors of the lights inside...
Other
Sprk: Macro Lab Lesson 3 Mean, Median, & Mode: Teacher Guide [Pdf]
Students will use Sphero to conduct an experiment. They will identify how long they need Sphero to move at 10% speed to reach and knock over a target object (such as a whiteboard marker). Using this information, they will then calculate...
Other
Sprk: Macro Lab Lesson 4 Percentages: Teacher Guide [Pdf]
Students will use Sphero to explore percentages using speed and color. The speed experiments are quantitative and the color experiments are qualitative. They will program the Sphero to move at 100% speed for a particular amount of time,...