SPIKE™ Essential

Boat Trip

Maria and Sofie are taking a boat trip! How will they get their boat into the water?

30-45 min.
Beginner
Years 1-2
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Prepare

  • Review the Boat Trip lesson in the LEGO® Education SPIKE App.
  • If you feel that it would be beneficial, pre-teach these related vocabulary words: challenge, change, program, push and robot.
  • 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 language arts extension. Please refer to the Extension section below for more information.

Engage

(Whole Class, 5 Minutes)

  • Facilitate a quick discussion about following a plan in order to complete an activity.
    • Talk with your pupils about how they'd put clothing on to go outside.
    • Ask questions like these: What would you do first? What would you do next?
  • Introduce your pupils to the story’s main characters and their first challenge: pushing the boat into the water.
  • Distribute a brick set and a device to each group.

Explore

(Small Groups, 30 Minutes)

  • Have your pupils use the LEGO® Education SPIKE App to guide them through their first challenge:
    • Make and try the program that pushes the boat into the water.
  • Have your pupils iterate and test their models to complete the next challenge in the app:
    • Change the program to make the robot better.
  • You can find help with coding in the Tips section below.

Explain

(Whole Class, 5 Minutes)

  • Gather your pupils together to reflect on their completed challenges.
  • Ask questions like these: What was the first thing you did to get the boat into the water? How did you change the program to make the robot better?

Elaborate

(Whole Class, 5 Minutes)

  • Prompt your pupils to discuss and reflect on the process of following instructions.
  • Ask questions like these: Why is it important to follow instructions? What happens if the steps are out of order?
  • Have your pupils tidy up their workstations.

Evaluate

(Ongoing Throughout the Lesson)

  • 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 following instructions to create a program.
  • 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 follow instructions to create a program.
 - Blue: I can follow instructions to create a program.
 - Green' I can follow instructions to create a program and I can also
   help a friend to do it.

Peer Feedback

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

Tips

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.
Gecko U1L1_ICB_1 - en
Gecko U1L1_ICB_1 - en
Gecko U1L1_ICB_2 - en
Gecko U1L1_ICB_3 - en

Differentiation

Simplify this lesson by:

  • Reading the Boat Trip story and instructions from the LEGO® Education SPIKE App aloud to your pupils
  • Shortening the lesson to include only the first challenge

Increase the difficulty by:

  • Creating a different way for the boat to get into the water
  • Clicking Show Full Palette in the app to utilise more Coding Blocks

Extension

  • Have your pupils write a story about Maria and Sofie’s boat adventure. Ask them to include two different events that happen while they're in the boat.

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

Language Arts: National Curriculum English En1/1e Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes.

Teacher Support

The pupils will:

  • Follow instructions to create a program
  • Identify the main characters in a story
  • Practise helping a story character
  • Participate in collaborative conversations

(one for every two pupils)

  • LEGO® Education SPIKETM Essential Set
  • Device with the LEGO® Education SPIKE App installed

National Curriculum

Computing
Co1/1.1

  • understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions

Co1/1.2

  • create and debug simple programs

English
En1/1e

  • give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes

En1/1i

  • participate in discussions, presentations, performances, roleplay/improvisations and debates

En1/2.2c

  • participate in discussion about what is read to them, taking turns and listening to what others say

En1/2.2d

  • explain clearly their understanding of what is read to them

Pupil Material

Student Worksheet

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