Glowing Snails

WeDo 2.0 lab


    Today, we did a super fun activity that many people wouldn't even think of, combining two subjects that don't seem like they would go together but once they do, it makes something absolutely amazing. We did the WeDo 2.0 lab where we took legos and combined them with coding, creating something new and exciting that performed a function. My partner and I had the activity of building the glow snail, the little creature shown above. What we had to do was create our glowing snail by slowly building him up with his legos and making sure he was connected to the app once completed. Once connected, we had to code in a simple code that changed the little light on his shell to different colors such as orange or green. He was a quite simple little critter to create and definitely a great introduction to coding. He is said to be best for first and second graders and I 100 percent agree! it's gonna be so fun seeing the kids' faces when they explore this little bug-eyed friend!

Want to see the instructions for this little guy? The lesson is linked below!

Link not working? Instructions are down below!

first, you have to make sure you have the WeDo app downloaded, that is how you will connect your snail friend to the app to create his code. Next, you build his body and head ( we took some creative process and turned him all blue when originally mixed colors were used). Add on the battery/ wifi connector pack as his shell and put him into pairing mode. Connect him to the app and find the color-changing code. You can select as many or as few as you want and modify his colors to whatever you please. once your code is complete, press start and watch his shell change color!  Watch the video below to see this in action.

An Activity for this little guy is to have the children create a rainbow color pattern in chronological order of what a rainbow looks like or even have them create a repeating pattern within their color pattern. This activity is made for kinder and first graders so keeping it simple but also challenging is the key to success here.

Important TEKS-

5.1.c Leverage CT and CS experts, resources and professional learning networks to continuously improve practice integrating CT across content areas.

5.1.d Develop resilience and perseverance when approaching CS and CT learning experiences, build comfort with ambiguity and open-ended problems, and see failure as an opportunity to learn and innovate.





Comments

  1. mia-lozanoSeptember 5, 2023 at 8:48 PM

    I like the ISTE TEKS you use, it fits well by- building comfort with ambiguity and to see failure as an opportunity to grow and further the students learning. Using a snail is also a cute, fun way to grab children attention.

    ReplyDelete

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