A.K.6 | Fraidy Bots
An Introduction to Robots and Cubelets
Created by: Brandy Ray
Lesson Overview:
In this lesson students will use Cubelets to demonstrate creature behaviors such as running away from predators. This lesson can be taught as a stand alone lesson as long as students have background knowledge about creating robots using Sense, Think, and Act Cubes. If students need additional practice with this concept, see lessons one and two of this unit. Lesson 4 of this unit also builds background knowledge about the five senses and Cubelets sensors.
The Basics:
Ages: 4-7Time: Part 1: 10 – 15 minutes; Part 2: 15 – 25 min.
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Lesson Objectives (for the students): Students will create a Fraidy Bot, a robot that exhibits a creature behavior by running away from predators.
21st Century Skills: Creative Thinking, Collaboration, Initiative
Concepts: Literacy, Science Technology, Math
Required Cubelets: Educator pack, colored Think Cubes may be removed; Student groups of 2-3 will each need a kit that includes a battery as well as several clear, Action Cubes including the Drive Cube, and several black, Sense Cubes including the Distance Cube.
The Standards:
ISTE: International Society for Technology Education- Creativity and Innovation C: Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7: English Language Arts – Integration of Knowledge and Ideas – With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.2: Speaking and Listening – Comprehension and Collaboration – Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.
- CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4: Counting and Cardinality – Count to Tell the Number of Objects: Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
- Pre-K TS GOLD Standard 18 – Comprehends and Responds to Books and Other Texts: Interacts during read alouds and book conversations
- Pre-K TS GOLD Standard 20 – Mathematics: Uses number concepts and operations: C. Connects numerals with their quantities
- LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms – All animals need food in order to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals. Plants need water and light to live and grow. (K-LS1-1)
Lesson Plan:
Part 1 – Anticipatory Set – Ten Scared Fish
Time: 10-15 Minutes
Section Overview: In this section, students will review senses and learn about creature behaviors and how they are applied to predator/prey relationships.
Connect to Math:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.B.4 – Counting and Cardinality – Count to Tell the Number of Objects: Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality. Ten Scared Fish is a counting book that provides many opportunities for students to practice connecting quantities with numerals.
Ten Scared Fish and Creature Behaviors: Read Ten Scared Fish by Ros Moriarty. As you read practice counting quantities and connecting with numerals.
Connect to Vocabulary:
Introduce the following words prior to reading and discussing Ten Scared Fish to build scientific vocabulary.
- Predator: an animal that hunts another animal
- Prey: an animal that is hunted by another animal
Discuss why this relationship exists.
At the end of the story, ask students why the fish swam away at the end. (A shark comes to hunt them.) Ask students how the fish know there is a shark in the water. (The fish see the shark, or maybe hear it.) Tell students that the fish knew the shark was there, because their senses told their brains that there was danger near. Ask students why the fish swam away when the shark was near them.
Discuss this creature behavior: In nature, there are animals that are predators and animals that are prey. Predators are animals that hunt other animals. Sharks are predators. Prey is an animal that is hunted. In this story the fish are the prey, because the shark is hunting them. Many creatures run, fly, or swim away when they are being hunted by predators.
Review the five senses: Remember, our five senses are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. These senses tell us about our environment. That means they tell our brains what is happening around us. If there is danger near us, our senses help us know that. When we are near danger, often one of the best things we can do is run! Just like the fish in the story did!
Part 2 – Fraidy Bots Design Challenge
Time: 15-25 Minutes
Mini Makers or original Modular Robotics Educator pack, colored Think Cubes may be removed; Student groups of 2-3 will each need a kit that includes a battery as well as several clear, Action Cubes including the Drive Cube, and several black, Sense Cubes including the Distance Cube.
Introduce Design Challenge:
Today we are going to build a creature robot that uses its senses to know when there is danger near it. What do you think the robot should do when it senses danger? (Drive away!)
When many creatures sense danger, they run away just like the fish in our story.
Design Objective:
With your group today, you will design a robot that drives away when it senses something coming near it that could be dangerous, like us!
Brainstorm what kind of cubes might be needed to design such a robot with students guiding them toward the Distance and Drive Cube.
*Note: The level of brainstorming you do with students will depend on their comfort working with Cubelets. If students have few experiences, using more whole group brainstorming questions can help increase student success with this challenge. If students have many experiences with Cubelets and feel more comfortable building with the materials, however, you may decide to leave the challenge more open ended by giving them the objective and then letting them work in groups to meet the objective.
Brainstorming Questions:
- What kind of Cubelet might be able to help a Creature Bot get away from danger? (A Drive Cubelet)
- What kind of Cubelet would help a Creature Bot sense when danger is near it? (The Distance Cubelet)
- Which Think Cubelet tells all the other cubes to turn on and gives them power? (The Battery Cubelet)
After you have talked through the challenge with students, give groups of 2-3 students a set of Cubelets to use for the task. Depending on their level of experience you may want to give them only the three Cubelets necessary to create a simple, Fraidy Bot, or a basket of 6-8 Cubelets that may have additional Cubelets that are not needed. Including Cubelets such as the Passive Cube from the Mini Maker Kit can encourage students to think more deeply about which cubes they need to use. It will also increase the possible variations of a Fraidy Bot. If you have the Maximum Cube or Minimum Cube, these may also be added to present a fun challenge to more advanced students since they could also be used with the other cubes to build a Fraidy Bot. Other Sense and Act cubes can be added to the baskets as well.
Give students a few minutes to work with their group to build a Fraidy Bot. When students are finished, share different designs.
Possible Fraidy Bot Configurations:
There are many possible solutions to the challenge here are a few examples:
Troubleshooting – If groups are having difficulty meeting the design objective, try some of the following coaching steps:
- Limit the types of cubes students are working with.
- Go through the brainstorming questions again with the small group to help students think about which cubes are necessary for this objective.
- Encourage students to make sure the wheels of the Drive Cube are turned in the right direction.
Make it Playful:
A really fun idea for completing this challenge is to engage student imagination by creating animal puppets to be used as the predator when creating Fraidy Bots. Students can create paper bag or sock puppets of different animals such as a wolf, lion, or other animal. These puppets can then be used to scare Fraidy Bots away.
Another idea is to have students use Cubelet Brick Adapters and Legos to create Fraidy Bot Creatures. Pictured below: Fraidy Bot with Cubelet Brick Adapter for Lego building.
Cubelets Brick Adapters: https://archive.modrobotics.com/cubelets/accessories/brick-adapters/
Some easy to make puppet templates can be found in the link below:
From Easy Child Crafts.com – It’s So Easy to Make Puppets: http://www.easy-child-crafts.com/easy-to-make-puppets.htm
Assessment Ideas:
Use observation to determine whether or not students are able to successfully create a Fraidy Bot or a robot that drives away when it sees external stimuli. Have students share their finished products with the group. If students are not successful in their challenge, ask them to describe some things they would do if they came back to the challenge later.
Students can also be assessed informally on their ability to work together during the challenge and on their participation during the book discussion and counting connections.
Classroom Management Tips:
- Put on the Brakes: If your students are very young, make sure you introduce only one sense cube at a time and then let students explore using only that sense cube before introducing another sense. This will cut back on teaching time and will allow students opportunities to make connections before they dive into new material. You can also limit the number of action cubes if you want, so everyone can work with a partner to build the same robot at first. Remember: If students struggle using the materials well, you can always revisit early lessons in this unit!
- Cubelets are a Team: Remind students of the following expectations for working with Cubelets:
- Work Together – Sharing and taking turns helps us work as a team.
- Respect Materials – Teammates and scientists take care of their equipment. Use Cubelets with safe, gentle hands and always return them back to the place you found them.
- Talk it Out – Team members take turns sharing ideas about what will happen and what to do next!
- Split the Kit: Using multiple kits or splitting up a larger kit can help students access more materials which can decrease sharing issues. Remember that if you split up a larger kit, every group will need a Battery Cubelet. If using more than one kit, it can be helpful to number the kit and the cubes or print out a list of cubes that go with each kit, so kits remain separated.
- Charge It: Remember to charge the batteries for your cubes before and after each experience. If you have extra batteries it’s helpful to have these charging, so there are backups.
Reading your Cubelets: Every Cubelet has a small LED light in one corner which flashes (except for the Battery which stays solid). When the Cubelet is part of a robot and the robot’s Battery block is turned on, the LED light is on too. This LED light shows that the Cubelet is getting power and talking to its neighbors. Each Cubelet robot must have one Battery block, which powers all the other blocks in the robot.
The Battery block has a small switch. When you slide it to the O, the Battery block is off. Slide to the line and it is on. Turn it off to save battery life when you aren’t playing with your Cubelets.
The Battery block has an internal, rechargeable, battery. To recharge the Battery block, plug it into a micro-USB power source.
If you’d like a more indepth look into how Cubelets work, visit the Cubelets Getting Started Guide.
- Station Management: Using a station management system can increase independence as students rotate through centers. Check out this resource for some great ideas on center time management: http://www.pre-kpages.com/centertime/
- Call for Backup: If group management becomes challenging in your setting, consider asking a parent volunteer or older student to come in and assist with activities. Young students are initially very excited and eager to build, so there will likely be lots of enthusiasm. If student enthusiasm makes it difficult for them to share or use the materials appropriately, consider going back to lesson one, Cubelets are a Team, so students can have additional opportunities to practice using and sharing the Cubelets.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
