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1. Prepare

• Read through the pupil material in the LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ App.
• If you feel that it's necessary, plan a lesson using the getting started material in the app. This will help to familiarise your pupils with LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ Prime.

2. Engage (5 Min.)

• Use the ideas in the ‘Ignite a Discussion’ section below to engage your pupils in a discussion relating to this lesson.
• Use the video to explain the lesson.

3. Explore (20 Min.)

• Have your pupils work in pairs to build the ‘quality check’ robot.
• Ask them to play the program in order to make sure that their robot is working correctly.

4. Explain (5 Min.)

• Tell your pupils to play the video as many times as necessary in order to identify all of the robot's actions.
• Have them use the pseudocode that has been provided to create a new programming stack.

5. Elaborate (15 Min.)

• Ask your pupils to watch the second video and to identify the robot's new actions.
• Have them write pseudocode and new programming stacks.
• Ask them to think about the relationship between the precision of their pseudocode and the effectiveness of their program.
• Don't forget to leave some time for tidying up.

6. Evaluate

• Give feedback on each pupil's performance.
• In order to simplify the process, you can use the assessment rubrics that have been provided.

Start a discussion about decomposing problems by asking relevant questions. Here are a few suggestions:

• Can you think of some examples of when you use decomposition to solve problems in your everyday life?
• Can you describe decomposition using a recipe or solving a maths problem as an example?

Have your pupils watch this video to see what they're about to do.

Partner Build
Split each team's building tasks in order to ensure that everyone is actively involved.

• Pupil A: Idea detector
• Pupil B: Robot head

Align Motors Correctly
In order for this lesson to work as it was designed to, ensure that your pupils have positioned the motors correctly.

Colour Sensor Sensitivity
The Colour Sensor will detect fingers as ‘magenta coloured’. When placing the brick in front of the sensor, make sure that your pupils keep their fingers behind the brick.

Pseudocode?
Pseudocode is a simplified plaintext version of a program. It uses short phrases to describe the actions that need to be coded afterward. 

For example: 

1. Turn motor A 30 degrees​
2. Turn motor A -60 degrees​
3. Turn motor A 60 degrees​
4. Turn motor A -30 degrees​
5. Play a sound

Pseudocode can also be done using a flowchart graph:

Main Program

Possible Solution

Other Programs

Simplify this lesson by:

• Spending more time explaining pseudocode, then practise with some real-life examples (e.g. making a recipe, giving someone directions)
• Preparing a list of pseudocode ideas to inspire your pupils

Take this lesson to the next level by:

• Creating your own video of the ‘quality check’ robot's movements that your pupils can use to practise decomposition

  ▷ Alternatively, have your pupils create videos for each other

Teacher Observation Checklist
Establish a scale that suits your needs, for example:

1. Partially accomplished
2. Fully accomplished
3. Overachieved

Use the following success criteria to evaluate your pupils' progress:

• The pupils can use pseudocode to create programming stacks.
• The pupils can decompose problems (actions) into pseudocode.
• The pupils can program actions using their own pseudocode.

Self-Assessment

Have each pupil choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.

• Blue: I've managed to replicate one action that I saw in the video.
• Yellow: I've managed to replicate multiple actions that I saw in the video.
• Violet: I've managed to replicate multiple actions that I saw in the video and produced my own pseudocode for all of the programming stacks.

Peer-Assessment
Encourage your pupils to provide feedback to one another by:

• Having one pupil use the coloured brick scale above to score another pupil’s performance
• Asking them to present constructive feedback to one another so that they can improve their group’s performance during the next lesson

To incorporate the development of language arts skills:

• Have your pupils create a 2-minute video tutorial or a user guide booklet describing how to set up and program the ‘quality check’ robot.

Note: This will require additional time.

The pupils who enjoyed this lesson might be interested in exploring these career pathways:

• Information Technology (Computer Programming)
• Manufacturing and Engineering (Machine Technology)
• Manufacturing and Engineering (Pre-Engineering)