Explore Lesson 3
Coach your team through the FIRST LEGO League Explore guided lessons and prepare them for the challenges to come!
Prepare
- Review the Explore Lesson 3 lesson in the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App.
- If necessary, pre-teach these related vocabulary words:
information, improve.
Engage
(5 minutes)
- Facilitate a quick discussion about asking questions to identify and understand a problem, such as the Explore challenge.
- Encourage students to use key questions to find out information before they try to solve a problem.
- Introduce students to who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.
Explore
(20 minutes)
Allow students to be guided by the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App to complete their first challenge.
Build the basic model, on which the students can explore new ideas.
Students will then iterate and test their model to complete the next two challenges in the app.
The next challenges include:
Program the snowmobile to move.
Consider how the a driving robot might be used in a solution to the Explore challenge.
Explain
(5 minutes)
- Talk to the students using GECKO to reflect on their challenges by asking questions such as:
- What was the problem that needed solving?
- How did you work together as a team to solve the problem?
Elaborate
(5 minutes)
- Prompt students to discuss and reflect on how what they’ve learnt in the last three sessions will help them create moving models for their Explore challenge solution.
Evaluate
(as needed)
- 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.
Teacher Observation Checklist
- Measure your students’ proficiency in brainstorming solutions for a defined problem.
- Create a scale that matches your needs. For example:
- Needs additional support
- Can work independently
- Can teach others
Self-Assessment
- Have each student choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.
- Yellow: I think I can ask questions to identify a problem.
- Blue: I can ask questions to identify a problem.
- Green: I can ask questions to identify a problem, and help a friend do it too.
Peer Assessment
- 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 how you…
Tips
Model Tip
- After your students complete their second challenge, they’ll be provided with an open-ended prompt for improving their models.
- Encourage them to consider the Explore challenge, and. how they might create something relevant to that context.
There aren't any building instructions for this challenge.
Differentiation
Simplify this lesson by:
- Shortening the lesson to only include the first challenge.
Increase the difficulty by:
- Modifying the front of the snowmobile to use wheels.
- Consider how the driving robot could be integrated into the Explore set model.
Teacher Support
Students will:
- Use the gathered information about the problem to create an improved solution.
- Learn to use SPIKE™ Essential to help solve the Explore challenge.
(one for every two students)
- LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential Set
- Device with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App installed
- FIRST LEGO League Explore Set
*FIRST* LEGO League Explore Engineering Notebook