Greetings parents, teachers and students of Earth. These online STEM activities are programs in development and are offered in the hope we can all work and research together. Please drop us a line if you have any thoughts, ideas and or suggestions. Thank you. Please note these activities are built for WebGL (HTML5). Mobile apps are being developed separately.
The Software Programming Instructor aka. S.P.IN. contains dangerous fuel cells and a robotic arm to place them in the proper energy receptacle. While most of the time, robots can be left to their own devices, there is a slight problem with the Academy's Most Important Robotic Arm 'A.M.I.R.A'. There are four color-coded fuel cells arranged in the back of the laboratory to help store reserve energy. You have to learn how to operate Amira to place the fuel cells in the proper power receptacles then create a script to automate the process.
Lab 2 offers students a basic overview of the purpose and functionality of robots in today's world. The arm performs a task that is otherwise not meant for human beings. For example, the canisters could be incredibly heavy or radioactive, which would be unsafe for a human being to handle. The Scripting console offers a small yet accurate look into the complex world of robotic programming. Robots act based upon programming input by humans, which the student takes part in by inputting angular measurements for each operation. While not as complex, the basic idea that mathematics is used to dictate the movements of the arm remains the same.
3-5-ETS1 Engineering Design (Elementary)
Students who demonstrate understanding can:
Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved
Literacy:
RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text
RI.5.1 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently
RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably
W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic
W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources
W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
Mathematics:
MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively
MP.4 Model with mathematics
MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically
3-5.OA Opearations and Algebraic Thinking