One hour LEGO NXT workshop - Spinart
Remember to take good pictures. Examples can be found here: http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/2242.
Ages: 4th grade through high school
Equipment: laptop and robot kit for half the number of students (we usually have them work in groups of 2-3 people). Build the spinart http://nxtprograms.com/spin_art/index.html and attach the motor to port A. Be sure to include the cord that connects the brick to the computer for programming and the the top gear to hold the paper down.
Materials: Paper circles (enough so that each student can make several) and markers
Wireless issues- call 404-478-7310 for any problems with Wandering Wi-Fi
We don't do pre and post surveys with 1 hour workshops. But, be sure to take good pictures and movies. See How to take good pictures at our ICE events for more details.
5 minutes: Introduce the workers and have each person say what she or he likes about computing. Show http://artbotics.cs.uml.edu/index.php?n=Programs.LegoMindstorms which shows other cool art you can do with LEGO NXT kits. Explain that robots can make music, perform in plays, and much more. Robotics is a growing and interesting field.
30 minutes: Let the girls program the spin art or try to modify the spin art program. Increase or decrease the motor power. What happens? Have each girl make several spin art creations.
15 minutes: Show some of the other robots that you can build and program with LEGO NXT kits: like the puppy http://nxtprograms.com/puppy/index.html, flipping gymnast http://nxtprograms.com/gymnast/index.html, etc. Show the girls the http://nxtprograms.com/ site. Ask the girls what types of robots they would like to build and why? Or you could do a CS Unplugged activity during this time like the card flip magic http://csunplugged.org/error-detection, binary counting http://csunplugged.org/binary-numbers, treasure hunt http://csunplugged.org/finite-state-automata or flowchart hopscotch http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu/ice-gt/1356
10 minutes: Show some cool videos of robots - Georgia Tech female drummer and robot http://tomtommag.com/2010/09/a-female-drummer-in-a-georgia-tech-psa/ and robot that paints http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/e-david-robot-paints-pictures-artist_n_3598812.html
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