Classic Carousel

• Review the Classic Carousel lesson in the LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ App.
• If necessary, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: design, improve, prototype, refine, and test.
• Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your students. Differentiate the lesson to make it accessible to everyone. See the Differentiation section below for suggestions.
• If time allows, plan and facilitate the language arts extension. See the Extension section below for more information.

• Facilitate a quick discussion about making improvements.
  • Talk with your students about going to an amusement park and wanting to make a fun ride even better.
  • Ask questions, like: What would you do if you had the chance to change a ride? How could you change it?
• Introduce your students to the story’s main characters and the first challenge: making the carousel spin.
• Distribute a brick set and a device to each group.

• Have your students use the LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ App to guide them through their first challenge:
  • Create and test the program that makes the carousel spin.
• Have your students iterate and test their models to complete the next two challenges in the app:
  • Change the program to improve the carousel.
  • Upgrade the carousel for Sofie.
• You can find coding and building support in the Tips section below.

• Gather your students together to reflect on their completed challenges.
• Ask questions, like: How did you make the carousel spin? How did you upgrade the carousel?

• Prompt your students to discuss and reflect on the process of making improvements and refinements.
• Ask questions, like: What were you thinking about when you decided to improve the carousel? How did you know when you'd made enough improvements?
• Have your students clean up their workstations.

• Ask guiding questions to encourage your students to “think aloud” and explain their thought processes and reasoning in the decisions they've made while building and programming.

Observation Checklist

• Measure your students’ proficiency in improving a prototype.
• Create a scale that matches your needs. For example:
  1. Needs additional support
  2. Can work independently
  3. Can teach others

Self-Assessment

• Have each student choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.
  • Yellow: I think I can improve a prototype.
  • Blue: I can improve a prototype.
  • Green: I can improve a prototype, and I can help a friend do it too.

Peer-Feedback

• In their small groups, have your students discuss their experiences working together.
• Encourage them to use statements like these:
  • I liked it when you…
  • I'd like to hear more about when you…

Coding Tip

• After your students complete their first challenge, they'll be provided with three Inspiration Coding Blocks to help them modify their programs.
• The Inspiration Coding Blocks are intended to spark their imaginations as they experiment to find their own solutions.

Model Tip

• After your students complete their second challenge, they’ll be provided with three Inspiration Images and an open-ended prompt for improving their models.
• The Inspiration Images are to help spark their imaginations as they experiment and change their models.

There aren't any building instructions for this challenge.

Simplify this lesson by:

• Shortening the lesson to only include the first challenge
• Selecting one Inspiration Image to help your students change their models

Increase the difficulty by:

• Exploring new and different Coding Blocks in the program
• Adding the Color Sensor or Light to the model

• Have your students write a story about Sofie’s experience at the amusement park. Ask them to include temporal words to indicate the order of events.

If facilitated, this will extend beyond the 45-minute lesson.

Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.3