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A.B.9 | More Cause and Effect

Created by: Modular Robotics

Lesson Overview:
In this lesson, students will continue to explore cause and effect and practice using If/Then statements. This time, they will build robots using more than one Sense and more than one Action cube in order to gain more insight into cause and effect. This lesson also introduces the concept of emergent behavior in the context of complex causes and effects.

The Basics:
Ages: 7 – 9 years (grades 1-3)
Time: 30-45 minutes
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Lesson Goal (for the educator): To have the students continue to develop an understanding of cause and effect and how it relates to the building and testing of Cubelet robots. Also, to help students write If/Then statements based on cause and effect.
Lesson Objectives (for the students): I will explore cause and effect and be able to construct If/Then statements using robots with more than one Sense and Action.
Essential Questions: When my robot has more than one Sense and/or Action, what is causing my robot to behave the way it does? And, how can I test it to determine what is the cause and what is the effect?
21st Century Skills: Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Communication and Collaboration
Concepts: Cause and effect, If/Then statements, emergent behavior
Vocabulary: Relationship, outcome, emergent behavior
Required Cubelets: Distance, 2 Drive, Battery, Brightness, Flashlight, Rotate, Passive, Inverse, Blocker, Knob – enough for each group of 2-5 students.
Additional Materials: Student Robotics Journals

The Standards:
ISTE: International Society for Technology Education CCSS: Common Core Standards NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards

Prior Knowledge Necessary for the Student:
A.B.8 | Cause and Effect, or equivalent understanding of cause and effect as it relates to Cubelet robots.

Prior Knowledge for the Educator:
Build the robot in this lesson (see photo below) and be sure you know how to explain how its behavior is an example of emergent behavior.

Educator Tips:
You don’t need to be sure every student can articulate what emergent behavior is, you just need to expose them to the concept – some will understand, others might not.

Preparation:
  • Divide the class into groups of 2-5 students.
  • For each group, place the Cubelets they will need into a container.

Lesson:

Introduction:
    Time: 2 Minutes
  1. “In our last lesson, we saw how reconstructing our robots can change our causes and effects. We also saw how we can describe our robots’ behavior by using If/Then statements.”
  2. “Today we are going to explore this a little further using more than one Sense and more than one Action to see how this affects cause and effect.”
  3. Remind your students that they can use If/Then statements as they are building their robots and making predictions about what their robots will do. Predicting is like making a cause and effect statement ahead of time.
  4. Important: Be sure the students are understanding cause and effect and how they change according to the relationship between the cubes. In other words, building robots using different Cubelets will obviously produce different behaviors. But changing the order, arrangement, or orientation of the same Cubelets can also produce varying behavior.

Time to Explore:
    Time: 5 Minutes
  1. “Now, let’s build a robot with two Senses.” Build the robot in the photo below using the Brightness, Battery, Rotate, Passive, and Distance Cubelets.
  2. Ask the students how they think this robot will behave. Try to get them to use If/Then statements.
  3. Turn on the Battery and test it out. Then, change the amount of input to the Brightness Cubelet, and the amount of input to the Distance Cubelet, and point out how the speed of the Rotate changes.
  4. Discuss with students what they’ve learned. Be sure they see the importance of taking into account what causes are impacting the behavior of their robot and that they must carefully look at the relationship of the Cubelets to determine the cause and effect – especially when dealing with more than one input and output.

    5. Time: 10 Minutes
  5. “Now, I would like your team to build robots with more than one Sense and more than one Action. As you do so, try to figure out the different causes and effects happening with the robots.” Allow students to do this. You may also want them to collect this data and make conclusions so they will better understand how to configure the Cubelets to get the behaviors they desire.

Closure/Evaluation:
    Time: 3-5 Minutes
  1. Lead a discussion with students about what they learned, how they could be sure about what they were testing, and how their robot’s behavior depended on the relationships of the functions of the Cubelets involved – and that this is emergent behavior.
  2. Point out that it certainly gets more complicated when using multiple Senses and Actions, and that they will have to be more accurate in their testing, data collection, and drawing conclusions as the robots get more complex.

    3. Time: 5 Minutes
  3. Give students time to record their thoughts about their new knowledge in their Robotics Journal. Encourage them to use words and other methods of recording such as charts, sketches, flow charts, etc.

    4. Time: 2 Minutes
  4. Allow time for students to put materials away and plug in the Battery Cubelets for recharging.

End Results:
Students will develop a better understanding of cause and effect and writing If/Then statements with multiple Sensing and Acting robots. They will also see emergent behavior in action.

Optional Quick Write For Prompt and/or Evaluation:
Sketch a robot you built, or might build, with multiple Senses and Actions. Label it, showing how the robot will behave. Feel free to use If/Then statements.

What To Go To Next:
For More Review:
  • Repeat this lesson.
    • If Objectives Are Met:
  • A.B.10 | Engineering
    • To Enhance and Extend:
  • Have students build robots with two senses and two actions, describe how they work, and how they might be used to solve a problem in the real world.

    • This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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