Navigating a Maze
Students develop accurate programs that get robots through a challenge maze.Copyright Maine State Library http://www.maine.gov/msl/libs/ce/mentor/
Using new knowledge acquired in the associated lesson, students program LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 robots to go through a maze using movement blocks. The maze is created on the classroom floor with cardboard boxes as its walls. Student pairs follow the steps of the engineering design process to brainstorm, design and test programs to success. Through this activity, students understand how to create and test a basic program. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and worksheet are provided.
In this activity, students learn fundamental programming skills: how to break a problem up into parts, approach each part logically, combine the result into an elegant solution, and iterate if some part does not work. All these are important elements of design in general. This sort of thinking is essential to programming, and solving engineering design problems.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain the meaning of a "program."
- Write basic movement programs for a LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 robot, such that it can complete a maze.