Twirling Teacups

• Review the Twirling Teacups lesson in the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App.
• Consider the abilities and backgrounds of all your students. Differentiate the lesson to make it accessible to everyone. See the Differentiation section below for suggestions.
• If time allows, plan and facilitate the language arts extension. See the Extension section below for more information.

• Facilitate a quick discussion about how to consider a specific goal or outcome when refining and improving an existing object.
  • Talk with your students about how a spinning amusement park ride works.
  • Ask questions, like: If you were adding new seats to a spinning ride, what would those new seats have to be able to do? What would you have to think about as you added the new seats?
• Introduce your students to the story’s main characters and the first challenge: starting the teacup ride.
• Distribute a brick set and a device to each group.

• Have your students use the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App to guide them through their first challenge:
  • Create and test the program that starts the teacup ride.
• Have your students iterate and test their models to complete the next two challenges in the app:
  • Change the program to improve the teacup ride.
  • Upgrade the teacup ride to fit more friends. Make sure that all of the seats can move or spin!
• You can find coding and building support in the Tips section below.

• Gather your students together to reflect on their completed challenges.
• Ask questions, like: How did you upgrade the teacup ride? How did you make sure that the new seats moved when the ride was spinning?

• Prompt your students to discuss and reflect on why it's important to keep the desired outcome or goal in mind when modifying a prototype.
• Ask questions, like: Why is it important to know why you're modifying your prototype, and what your goal is? How do you keep that goal in mind when you're improving or upgrading a prototype?
• Have your students clean up their workstations.

• Ask guiding questions to encourage your students to “think aloud” and explain their thought processes and reasoning in the decisions they've made while building and programming.

Observation Checklist

• Measure your students’ proficiency in refining and improving potential prototypes with a specific goal or outcome in mind.
• Create a scale that matches your needs. For example:
  1. Needs additional support
  2. Can work independently
  3. Can teach others

Self-Assessment

• Have each student choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.
  • Yellow: I think I can refine and improve prototypes with a specific goal or outcome in mind.
  • Blue: I can refine and improve prototypes with a specific goal or outcome in mind.
  • Green: I can refine and improve prototypes with a specific goal or outcome in mind, and I can help a friend do it too.

Peer-Feedback

• In their small groups, have your students 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…

Coding Tip
Your students will use a Message Block when completing their first challenge.

• The Message Blocks allow your students to run multiple blocks in parallel.

• Whenever a Send Message Block (closed envelope icon) is used, the Received Message Block (same-colored open envelope icon) is activated.

• After your students complete their first challenge, they'll be provided with three Inspiration Coding Blocks to help them 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 students complete their second challenge, they’ll be provided with three Inspiration Images and an open-ended prompt for improving their models.
• The Inspiration Images are to help spark their imaginations as they experiment and change their models.

There aren't any building instructions for this challenge.

Simplify this lesson by:

• Shortening the lesson to only include the first challenge
• Selecting one Inspiration Image to help your students change their models

Increase the difficulty by:

• Exploring new and different Coding Blocks in the program
• Investigating how to make the seats spin in different directions

• Have your students research different rides in an amusement park, select their favorite, and write a persuasive paragraph about why it's the best ride.

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

Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7