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1.21 – Marty Football

45 Minutes

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, Marty will become our star football player as we create a small remote-control program to help us guide Marty towards the ball to kick it towards the net. Students will need to use the different functionalities that the Micro:Bit has to help with deciding which movement Marty should do. Afterwards, students should be able to play small football games or shoot outs!

Key vocabulary:
    Micro:Bit , Movement , Remote control , Accelerometer , Events , Design , If Statements,

Content Sections

  • Learning Objectives
  • Extensions & Challenges
    • Additional Reading
    • 1.21 – Marty Football

      45 Minutes

      Lesson Overview

      In this lesson, Marty will become our star football player as we create a small remote-control program to help us guide Marty towards the ball to kick it towards the net. Students will need to use the different functionalities that the Micro:Bit has to help with deciding which movement Marty should do. Afterwards, students should be able to play small football games or shoot outs!

      Key vocabulary:
        Micro:Bit , Movement , Remote control , Accelerometer , Events , Design , If Statements,
      • Lessons 1.1-1.14 & 1.19 – 1.20
      • Laptop or PC
        • Marty the Robot
        • Marty Workbook (Lesson 3)
        • Laptops/Computers with Scratch Link installed
        • Access to the Scratch 3 editor
        • BBC Micro:Bit
        • Ping pong ball
        • Ruler
        • Paper
        • Blu Tack
        • Colouring pencils/pens
        • Goals (this can be bits of cardboard taped together or just a box that the ball has to hit)

      Learning Objectives

      • Build a small remote-control program to get Marty to walk around and kick a ball (hopefully towards the net to score a goal!)
      • Describe what movements are needed to play sports like football
      • Design a football strip for Marty and think about where this will need to be placed on Marty so not to restrict movements

      1. By measuring Marty and taking into account the moving body parts, ask students to draw out and design their own football top that they can cut out and attach to their Marty (they may work in teams to produce their teams strip or individually then pick one for their group)

      2. Ask students to think about what movements they use when they are playing a sport like football

      3. Students should then focus on creating a remote control for Marty to create these movements using the Micro:Bit to measure their different gestures. For example, if you tilt the Micro:Bit to the left then Marty should take a sidestep to the left

      4. Get groups to test it out – either by having a small football game or by having a shoot off to see which team can score the most goals (using the ping pong ball as the football)

      5. Ask students what else they could include – for example, a goal celebration? Is there anything that they could change to make playing or winning easier?

      Extensions & Support

      • Add a goal celebration movement to the remote
      • Keep track of the number of goals the teams Marty has scored using a variable so that you can check the score at any time
      • Are there any hidden features that students could add on to help them win?

      Additional Reading

      • Educator’s Guide
      • Introduction to Programming with Marty using Scratch
      • BBC Micro:Bit Quick Start Guide for Teachers (https://microbit.org/guide/quick/)