Challenge groups to combine routines or include wait blocks in their code to accommodate Marty's dance moves from another group. This effort will require a lot of focus on time and duration. 

Alternatively, challenge learners to think about how they could instruct Marty to carry out two movements at the same time. This was not discussed or explored during the learning but is straightforward: you need to have two event blocks running in parallel. This is what parallel programming is all about and is explored in the main progression of learning, for Robotical.

As learners are building their routines, emphasise to them the benefits of acting out the dance to see how the moves flow from one to the next. Have learners explore with ordering the moves differently, first acting out each of the moves and then swapping them around for different group members.

Teacher Guide

Presentation for It's a Dance-Off, Bro

Presentation for Marty Dance Party

Presentation text

I can create a movement routine for Marty

I can write ideas that will tell others what I think.

In this lesson, we bring together different concepts to create a routine that will align to a tempo. We will continue to explore the different functionalities and features of Marty by programming Marty to dance, with repeating movements like any dance learners will know.

Share with learners the success criteria for the lesson. Read the text from the presentation up until the slides where there are a series of moves Marty performs: stop after the robot dance video (slide 6). Stop the video around the 2-minute mark.

Learners may want to copy some of the movements to see how their bodies move to produce the dance step. 

Continue to slide 15, showing a selection of Marty's moves. Encourage learners to copy the moves from the presentation and think about what other moves they think Marty could perform. These should be recorded in their workbooks. Highlight that each of the movements from the presentation is in the movement section but then remind learners of the control section (in MartyBlocks), where they will find the repeat blocks and the wait block.

Criteria for success are included for all the learning experiences with Marty. For this lesson, learners must think about what they want to compare their work against. Have learners suggest different criteria they could evaluate and have them choose the way to rank the work, it could be a tick for success for each or an x, or blank space, for not achieving in a category; alternatively, there could be a numerical scale that could be applied; you will know your learners best, and what would be the best system for them. The workbook has a table with several cells for categories to judge the dances. Inform learners they only need to fill in the cells they feel would be useful for their job: blank cells are OK. Have learners work in their groups to create categories for scoring the dance routines and then discuss as a class which of these to use for everyone's performance.

Have learners model the movements as they are performed so that they can get a feel for how they go together and how long the action takes for them to complete so that can consider times for Marty. 

Tell learners to start to plan their routine, in their workbook. They could use words or sketch movements for Marty. It would be good to either share the page, in the resources section, that shows the movement blocks that Marty can perform to stimulate their plan, or let each group have a device with access to MartyBlocks so they can see the blocks that are available. Be sure to remind learners that before any movement with a single leg is performed, Marty first must lean to the other side for them to balance properly.

Learners should allow themselves sufficient collaboration time to work on the routine and bring the movements together. If they choose to separately plan parts of the dance, suggest that they also aim to create some sort of transition move as group members of the group may have employed significantly different movements as part of the complete dance.

Ideally, allow groups to connect to Marty one at a time to display the dance. Celebrate each complete routine and allow learners to share their evaluations using the rubrics. 

Bring learners back together to discuss the challenges they faced and overcame. Have groups identify the commands that they were proud of or the commands that caused them difficulties. Encourage questions or comments: how did you decide to... for successful code; did you think to try... for challenges.

How did you decide to sequence the movements?

How did you keep the movements in time with the music?

Are there any features you wanted to include in your dance but weren't able to? Why not?

Log off devices and clear everything away.

MartyBlocks editor linked to Marty the Robot

Workbook for Let's Dance

Marty's Movements

Have a dance party with Marty!

TEKS - Elementary Technology Applications: Kindergarten to Grade 2

Georgia Standards of Excellence - Computer Science:

Curriculum for Excellence - Technologies: Craft, Design, Engineering and Graphics

Georgia Standards of Excellence - English Language Arts: Writing

TEKS - Middle School Technology Applications: Grade 6 to Grade 8

Australian Curriculum - Mathematics: Number and Algebra - Number and place value

Curriculum for Excellence - Technologies: Computing Science

National Curriculum - Computing, Design and Technology: Design and Technology

Common Core - English Language Arts: Writing

Australian Curriculum - Mathematics: Measurement and Geometry – Geometric reasoning

Georgia Standards of Excellence - Mathematics:

Curriculum for Excellence - Health and Wellbeing: Relationships

Curriculum for Excellence - Technologies: Technological Developments in Society and Business

Next Generation Science Standards - Earth and Space Sciences:

National Curriculum - Science KS2: Physics – Light

National Curriculum - Mathematics KS2: Geometry – position and direction

Common Core - English Language Arts: Speaking & Listening

Georgia Standards of Excellence - Science:

Common Core - English Language Arts: Language

Curriculum for Excellence - Science: Planet Earth 

CSTA Education Standards

National Curriculum - Mathematics KS2: Number - fractions

TEKS - Elementary Technology Applications: Grade 3 to Grade 5

National Curriculum - Mathematics KS2: Geometry – properties of shapes

Curriculum for Excellence - Technologies: Digital Literacy

Curriculum for Excellence - Science: Materials

Common Core - Mathematics:

Curriculum for Excellence - Numeracy: Information Handling

National Curriculum - Mathematics KS1: Number - addition and subtraction

Australian Curriculum - Mathematics: Measurement and Geometry – Location and transformation

National Curriculum - Science KS4: Chemistry – Earth and atmospheric science

Australian Curriculum – Digital Technologies, Design & technologies: Design & Technologies

Curriculum for Excellence - Literacy & English: Listening and Talking

Curriculum for Excellence - Science: Forces, electricity and waves

Australian Curriculum - Science: Science as a Human Endeavour

Georgia Standards of Excellence - English Language Arts: Speaking and Listening

Curriculum for Excellence - Health and Wellbeing: Physical Activity and Sport

Curriculum for Excellence - Health and Wellbeing: Mental, Emotional, Social and Physical Wellbeing

Curriculum for Excellence - Numeracy: Number, Money and Measure

Curriculum for Excellence - Health and Wellbeing: Planning for Choices and Changes

TEKS - Elementary Science: Knowledge and Skills

Curriculum for Excellence - Numeracy: Shape, Position and Movement

Australian Curriculum - Mathematics: Number and Algebra - Fractions and decimals

National Curriculum - Science KS3: Physics – Motion and Forces

Australian Curriculum – Digital Technologies, Design & technologies: Digital Technologies

National Curriculum - Computing, Design and Technology: Computing

Curriculum for Excellence - Literacy & English: Reading

Next Generation Science Standards - Science and Engineering Practices:

Australian Curriculum - Science: Science Understanding - Physical Sciences

Next Generation Science Standards - Physical Sciences:

Curriculum for Excellence - Literacy & English: Writing

TEKS - Elementary Math: Knowledge and Skills

Georgia Standards of Excellence - English Language Arts: Reading

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Georgia Standards of Excellence - English Language Arts: Knowledge of Language

National Curriculum - Mathematics KS1: Number - number and place value

Trial Lesson Middle Elementary 60 minutes - Let's Dance

Challenge learners to think about what might happen if Marty detects a color they don't know. The two examples are 'air' and 'unclear'. Air is when there is nothing detected and unclear is when the color is not red, blue, green, purple or yellow.

Variables may still be a very new concept for learners. The connection to real world example is crucial. This lesson uses recipes, with the number of cakes being a variable.

Reinforce that the purpose of the learning is not to build a complex program with variable but rather just to describe what they are and change the declared value. Share with learners more examples of variable in their daily life to remove the stigma that 'variables are hard': learners will use and interact with variables on a daily basis without realising or thinking about it.

money in a savings account varies as you deposit or withdraw funds, and with interest

how much sleep you get each night can vary based upon how full your day is, how exciting your next day will be or other factors

amount of homework can vary based on the day of the week, the subject, the teacher, the time of year, and other factors

Presentation for Colors and Variables

Learners will explore events, measurements and objects that change in terms of size, value, or number over the course of time. We say that things that can change, vary. A variable is used to represent an amount, either when we are not sure what the amount is or when it can change.

This lesson will involve Marty walking and might be best to have Marty on the ground for all code tests.

Share with the learners a recipe for making a cake, the video shows how to make a cake in a mug using a microwave. Some measurements use the customary, or imperial, measurement and some use metric. There is no need to focus on the measurement types, the important part is the numerical value of each measurement; however, this could lead to a discussion on conversion if it is appropriate. Each measurement shows onscreen as the video plays. 

As learners watch, have them record the values for the recipe in their workbooks. Once complete, have learners calculate how much of each ingredient would be needed for two or more cake cups, support learners with the calculations as needed, the goal is more about thinking how the recipe amounts will vary - when I have two cakes I will double the ingredients, when I have three cakes I will treble them - rather than the actual amount at the end - 2 x 3 = 6 or 1/2 x 3 = 1 1/2.

After the learners have completed the table, ask them what the variable was (

). Reinforce that the variable is the number of cakes by explaining that as it changes, the total ingredients change but the types of ingredients for each cake do not change. The focus is not to define independent and dependent variables in this lesson, just to compute the new values for the total quantity of each ingredient.

The following video features Marty acting based on a variable. The variable counts the number of times a user taps a sprite in 10 seconds. Then, the program instructs Marty to take that many steps. The video below shows that the variable name is 

, this makes sense for this variable because the output will be Marty's steps. Encourage learners, when it comes to them declaring, or naming, their variables, to use a name that makes sense. 

Below is a sample of Marty using a variable and the code that instructs them.

Have learners share their observations at the end. The video has this program run twice so that learners can see that the number of steps and sprite taps have both changed. The transitions are only to give Marty more screen space when walking.

After viewing this video, have learners record the values for the variables in their workbook. Below is the process of setting the code to have Marty walk based on the taps.

As a whole class, it would be good to model a variable and its changing nature affecting Marty. This could be done with the tapping, as demonstrated, or it could be showcased with a loop that increases Marty's step count or arm movement. There are example code blocks in the teacher guide that you could use to display this functionality.

The workbook describes the task for the learners to complete for this lesson but there is information in the presentation that is useful for first steps with variables; additionally, the information is available in the section that expands, below.

Variables have their own section in the MartyBlocks environment. The image in the presentation (below) shows where to find the variable section and the purpose of two of the blocks.

The following image shows what happens after tapping 'Make a variable'.

After tapping OK, learners will see a new block called Value, which is set to 0 for just now.

This video shows learners how to find the variable section, and declare one for using with Marty, assign an initial value and change its value. This is a manual change rather than an automatic one, the earlier video of Marty walking had an automatic change. The video has no output through the physical Marty, the output is on the sprite Marty in MartyBlocks. The video stops before the green flag is pressed, have learners suggest what the Marty sprite will 'say' Discuss with learners what the output for a physical Marty could be: number of waves, kicks, steps, degrees for a movement, time taken for a movement, basically anything that is an argument in MartyBlocks for one of Marty's movements or looks.

creating and setting a name for a variable 

planning for how the variable will affect Marty

attaching the value for the variable to a different block. 

The workbook offers a series of guiding questions in order to have learners design a program to make use of variables with color detection, rather than focusing on numerical values. The teacher guide shows finished examples of the code learners could create, with explanations for what is happening.

Bring learners back together to discuss the challenges they faced and overcame. Have groups describe their creations and explain what is happening. If you can do so, model them on the trial Marty using each group's device. Encourage other groups to ask questions to deepen their understanding of the processes.

What values can you think of, in your daily life, which are variables? 

temperature, time, speed, distance, mass or weight, emotion, energy levels, etc.

What difference do you think there would be if there were no variables for recipes - think of different cakes that require different quantities of ingredients - butter, sugar, salt? 

There would only be one recipe for cake: it would be a bit boring.

Which type of program do you think will be more interactive, one with or without variables? 

A program without variables will run the same way each time, there is, by default, no interactivity: you will not change the output of the program.

Introduction to Programming with Marty using MartyBlocks

Workbook for Colors and Variables

How can a variable affect a sensor?

Trial Lesson Upper Elementary 60 minutes - Variables and Sensors

The lessons in this pack are intended for schools who are trialing Marty: you have one robot for a class of learners.

There is one lesson each for middle and upper elementary grades.

The main concepts covered are extending repeat blocks and working with sensors combined with variables.

Learning Portal

Learner Resources —

Trial Pack - 60 Minute Lessons

Lesson Pack Overview