Program Sphero to knock over plastic cups arranged in a triangle. “Multi-Directional Bowling” (adapted from Sphero’s SPRK community).(This challenges students to compensate for Sphero’s inertia and momentum) Program Sphero to move away from the starting position for at least 3 seconds and return to the exact same point. Students create programs for Sphero to match pre-made Distance vs Time and Speed vs Time graphs.Īfter students completed their data collection, they were provided extra challenges: Lesson resources linked below:Īctivity #3 – Graphing Motion with Sphero Students program Sphero move through time trials and translate Sphero’s internal speed settings into meters/second. Sphero was then paired with their tablet and they practiced controlling their robots with basic block coding by programming a square with ‘crisp’ corners. To get students started using Sphero, they were tasked with setting up Sphero Edu accounts (formerly Lightning Lab). The classroom was filled with enthusiasm and anticipation as they worked in small groups to complete each activity. By changing to an ‘animate’ object like Sphero, students were fully engaged and excited about their learning. They record data of distance and time in order to calculate the speed of the objects. Students roll them across the floor or down ramps. In the past, I have taught motion with inanimate objects tennis balls, steel and plastic marbles, and demo-carts. Teaching 8th grade science students about motion using Sphero SPRK+ robots added excitement, not to mention a serious infusion of coding to an otherwise ordinary physics lesson. Re-Imagining Physics Labs with Sphero Robots I have spoken with students who use Spheros, and they absolute love them! I believe Spheros are an excellent way to help students visualize math and experiment with problem solving.Guest Blogger: Special thanks to Adam Stahl for the following guest post in which he shares his experience incorporating Sphero robots into his middle school physics unit. Sphero Edu also includes excellent inquiry lesson for learning about perimeter and shapes. For example, this lesson below include preprogrammed code and asks students to classify the direction Sphero travels by triangle and angle properties. Sphero Edu could also be used for helping students understand trigonometry. This would allow teachers to individually assess students’ understanding. This inquiry aligns with BC Workplace Mathematics 10, which includes “metric and imperial unit conversions.” Students could also be asked to graph Sphero’s distance travel over time or displacement over time– to cover the content requirement “create, interpret, and critique graphs.”Īs a partner group inquiry, one student could be responsible for programming the Sphero one way through the maze and the other student for programming the Sphero back through the maze. Here is an example of my program to move Sphero through the first turn in a maze: With this information, they can calculate Sphero’s speed in cm/s and began deciding how long Sphero will need to travel in each direction. With their maze, students need pick a speed (given in percentages) and measure how far Sphero travels in a second. However, for more free inquiry, I would suggest that students create their own maze first (using masking tape). In this inquiry, students are asked to program their Sphero to complete a maze. In Jenn Fergurson’s lesson “Time, Speed, and Distance,” she outlines an excellent inquiry based math lesson on unit conversion and measurements. Through the Sphereo Edu app, educators can share their Sphero lesson plans. In this blog, I will focus on how Sphero robotics can support mathematics inquiry. I was able to borrow a Sphero and to test. Sphero robotics are geared towards education– particularly, coding, physics, and mathematics. Sphero is a tiny robotic ball designed for programming with the app Sphero Edu (although other apps also support Sphero).
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