Lesson Plan

Design a Robot

Problem-Solving with Robots!

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Robots are not science fiction! They're everywhere! In this cross-curricular lesson, students will build their literacy skills while diving into the field of robotics. They'll learn what a robot is and see examples of familiar robots used in daily life. They'll close-read short passages about robots, discuss tasks that robots are well suited for and finish the lesson by designing their own robot to solve a specific problem.

If you've used this lesson plan with your students as part of Hour of Code, click here: I’m finished with my Hour of Code!

Objectives

  • Describe what a robot is and give examples
  • Close-read short nonfiction passages about robots and robotics
  • Design a robot that is well suited to solve a problem or perform a task and explain why

Common Core State Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.10
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.5
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.8

Additional Standards

  • Next Generation Science Standards
  • ISTE

Products Created

Time

  • 1-2 class periods

Sequence

  1. Ask students how they would define the word "robot." Ask if they ever see robots in their daily lives and where.
  2. Play Flocabulary's Robots video. Discuss anything students would change or add now to their answers.
  3. Turn on Discussion mode. Play the video a second time, pausing to discuss the prompts that come up.
  4. Hand out copies of Robots Read & Respond. Have students work independently, in groups or in partners to read the short nonfiction passages and answer each multiple choice question.
  5. Students can share out their answers, citing the textual evidence that supports the answers, and correct their work.
  6. Discuss anything surprising or confusing that they learned through the readings. Spend some time listing the types of tasks robots do today, tasks they might do in the future and any tasks they feel robots are not well suited to perform.
  7. Close the lesson by having students design their own robots. Again, they may work independently, in groups or in partners to fill out the Design a Robot worksheet.
  8. Invite students or groups to present their robot to the class.

Wrap Up/Extensions

  • Have students research the problem their robot is designed to solve. They can see how similar problems have been solved and if any technology has been developed to solve this problem before. Based on their research, they can change or add onto their design.
  • Hand out the Robots vocabulary cards, and have students create their own drawings and sentences for robot vocabulary words. They can quiz each other, or work in partners to write a rhyme using all the vocab words.

Primary Videos

Materials