June 10th, 2020

Activity Summary

This session reinforces the use of one-action instructions to direct a robot within a virtual environment and introducing the concept of turning right/left instead of moving right/left. Students could an interactive remote control to move their virtual robots. The remote interface had three buttons (Move, Turn Right, Turn Left). 

Direction Dance: To begin, a video was played (at a slower playback speed) to help the student(s) understand directions of up, down, right, and left. Students were encouraged to follow along with the physical movement. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ERcDnOnKg).

Main Activity (Farm Visit): One facilitator played the role of a robot on screen. Each student used the iPad with the loaded prototype as a control panel of an interactive truck on the screen. Students were tasked to select two animals to visit and give their robot (truck) instructions by choosing an action on the prototype. The facilitator would move the robot accordingly. A ‘green’ virtual backdrop was set up to create a virtual farm setting that included the starting point (farmhouse), and destinations (animal). A specific path was mapped to limit route options. Once an animal was reached, an animal sound effect and real life image were played.

Goals

• Reinforce the concept of robots using a new example
• Review and familiarize understanding of directions (Moving forward and turning right and left)
• Gauge the value of using grids on the backgrounds
• Gauge student’s ability to create sequences

Notes from the session

• Mirroring video on Zoom creates difficulty differentiating left and right
• Parents provided some hand-over-hand support for directing button pressing
• Student(s) understood the ‘move’ action using a simplified control panel
• Moving a grid helped planning a path towards a selected destination
• Turning the truck right and left were challenging
• The student had difficulty recognizing right and left directions and still used Turn right/left to move right/left

Notes for C2LC design

• Themes of vehicles (e.g. cars/trains/airplanes), jungle, animals were suggested to engage students 
• Leaving a trace on a grid can be helpful as a robot is moving on a background
• Indicating the front and back of a character with visual cues (headlights at front of a truck) can help students with planning their path
• Option to enlarge the grid
• Option to hide some of the characters to simplify the scene