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At this session, we explored directing virtual robots with an interactive remote control that our participant participants could use on their iPad. Additional cues, such as audio labels and animated icons were added to the control to facilitate participantparticipants' s selections. A link to the interactive remote control is provided here:
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At this session, we started introducing the concept of directions, moving up/down and right/left.
Direction Dance: To begin, a video was played to help student(s) to understand directions of up, down, right and left. Students were encouraged to follow along with physical movement (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ERcDnOnKg).
Main Activity (Underwater Mission): Our main activity reinforced the use of one-action instructions to direct a robot (submarine) within a virtual environment (under the sea) to a specific location (sunken treasure). One facilitator played the role of a robot on screen. Each student used the iPad with the loaded prototype as a control panel with a menu of interactive device actions (arrows) on it. They Students were tasked to give their robot an instruction by choosing an action on the prototype. The facilitator would move the robot accordingly. A backdrop was set up to create an undersea setting that included the starting point (water’s surface), and destination (treasure). A barrier (shark) was introduced upon return to encourage use of horizontal actions (left, right) in the created sequence.
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