Avoid the Edge

• Review the Avoid the Edge lesson in the LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ App.
• If you feel that it would be beneficial, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: impact, kinetic energy and target.
• Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your pupils. Differentiate the lesson to make it accessible to everyone. Please refer to the Differentiation section below for suggestions on how to do this.
• If time permits, plan and facilitate the maths extension. Please refer to the Extension section below for further information.

• Facilitate a quick discussion about energy changing from potential (stored) to kinetic (motion) energy.
  • Talk with your pupils about what happens to a ball’s energy right before it's set in motion.
  • Ask questions like these: Which type of energy did the ball have before it was set in motion? Which type of energy did it have after?
• Introduce your pupils to the story’s main characters and the first challenge: making the ball stop at the target to win the game.
• Distribute a brick set and a device to each group.

• Have your pupils use the LEGO^® Education SPIKE^™ App to guide them through their first challenge:
  • Create and test the program that makes the ball stop at the target.
• Have your pupils iterate and test their models to complete the next two challenges in the app:
  • Modify the program to improve the game.
  • Upgrade the bat and see how it affects the game.
• You can find coding and building help in the Tips section below.

• Gather your pupils together to reflect on their completed challenges.
• Ask questions like these: How did you program the game to ensure that the ball stopped at the target? How did changing the bat affect the game and the ball's energy?

• Prompt your pupils to discuss and reflect on ways of impacting the ball's energy.
• Ask questions like these: *How does changing an object's size affect its conversion from one type of energy into another? How does changing an object's texture affect its conversion from one type of energy into another? *
• Have your pupils tidy up their workstations.

• Ask guiding questions to encourage your pupils to ‘think aloud’ and explain their thought processes and reasoning in the decisions they’ve made while building and programming their models.

Observation Checklist

• Measure your pupils’ proficiency in explaining how energy is converted from one form into another.
• Establish a scale that suits your needs. For example:
  1. Requires additional support
  2. Can work independently
  3. Can teach others

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

• Yellow: I think that I can explain how energy is converted from one
  form into another.
• Blue: I can explain how energy is converted from one form into
  another.
• Green: I can explain how energy is converted from one form to
  another, and I can also help a friend to do it.

Peer Feedback

• In their small groups, have your pupils discuss their experiences of working together.
• Encourage them to use statements like these:
  • I liked it when you…
  • I'd like to hear more about how you…

Coding Tips

• After your pupils have completed their first challenge, they'll be provided with three Inspiration Coding Blocks, which will help them to modify their programs.
• The Inspiration Coding Blocks are intended to spark their imaginations as they experiment to find their own solutions.

Model Tip

• After your pupils have completed their second challenge, they’ll be provided with three Inspiration Images and an open-ended prompt, which will help them to improve their models.
• The Inspiration Images are meant to help spark their imaginations as they experiment and change their models.

There are no specific building instructions for this challenge.

Simplify this lesson by:

• Selecting one Inspiration Image to help your pupils to change their models
• Experimenting with either the coding or the building

Increase the difficulty by:

• Changing the pathway of the ball
• Changing the placement of the goal

• As your pupils play the Avoid the Edge game, have them measure and record the length of each trial with the chosen bat(s). Ask them to record their measurements in a two-column table.

If facilitated, this will extend beyond the 45-minute lesson.

Maths: National Curriculum Maths Ma4/3.1 Measurement