Beginning with Screen-Free Coding
User Guide for the Marty Controller
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In this lesson, learners will create a sequence of steps to allow Marty to travel a route to a goal, making use of Robotical's controller app. Each of the directional symbols has an attached movement; in this lesson, learners will be encouraged to experiment with the directional arrows but the focus will be on the forward arrow.
Ordering instructions, directional language, symbol awareness
For this entire lesson, Marty should be on the ground, not on a table.
| Timing | Activity | Possible adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| — | Warm upShare the learning objectives and success criteria from the lesson. Say to learners, "We are going to be like Marty, today, and respond to the colors we see. Because we are inside, we'll make each card instruct us to take three steps, so we don't bump into things." Proceed to show learners a sequence of colors, of your choosing, that learners will need to act out as though they were Marty. At the end of each sequence, the last card, ask what the color represents: green is forward, yellow is back, purple is right, blue is left and red is stop and dance. This is just to check recall. | — |
| Timing | Activity | Possible adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| — | Get LearningRead the story from the presentation to introduce the focus of the lesson. The main goal of the lesson is to become more familiar with the idea of symbols. Tell the learner, “In the story, the village children found out what the arrow symbols mean for Marty’s Controller, but can anyone remember what symbols we used when we were getting warmed up?” If learners suggest the colors on the cards, congratulate them. If they forget, point to a random object in the classroom (make sure it is one of the colors from Marty’s cards) and ask what they see. They should be able to tell you what it is, if they don’t say the color, ask them what color it is and what the color is a symbol for, when we were Marty. Learners may suggest the other symbols from earlier in the lessGet Learning Read the story from the presentation to introduce the focus of the lesson. The main goal of the lesson is to become more familiar with the idea of symbols. Tell the learner, “In the story, the village children found out what the arrow symbols mean for Marty’s Controller, but can anyone remember what symbols we used when we were getting warmed up?” If learners suggest the colors on the cards, congratulate them. If they forget, point to a random object in the classroom (make sure it is one of the colors from Marty’s cards) and ask what they see. They should be able to tell you what it is, if they don’t say the color, ask them what color it is and what the color is a symbol for, when we were Marty. Learners may suggest the other symbols from earlier in the lesson but if they don’t, find something else that corresponds to a different color. This video, which is in the presentation, shows Marty getting connected to the Controller and the actions that Marty performs.on but if they don’t, find something else that corresponds to a different color. |
| Timing | Activity | Possible adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| — | Cool DownRemind learners of the amazing work that they accomplished, "You learned to use the Marty Controller quicker than the adults in the village, that’s really impressive!" Remind learners of the goals for the lesson, "To move Marty with symbols," and, "to move Marty to a goal." Ask learners if they think they did well with the lesson using a familiar formative assessment strategy: thumbs up for good, thumbs to the side for OK, thumbs down for not so good; a green, yellow or red card, indicating their thoughts; a one to one chat about the learning; whole class feedback using a PMI (plus, minus, interesting) approach; or some other strategy with which the learners are familiar. Read the closing part of the story, to close off this lesson and tie it into the next part. Carry out any end of lesson routines. Log off devices and clear everything away. | — |
This video, which is in the presentation, shows Marty getting connected to the Controller and the actions that Marty performs.
Give learners an opportunity to experiment with moving in the four directions. It is OK to let learners experiment with the other commands, above the arrows, but the main objective is to focus on Marty’s movement symbols.
Ask learners, “How far does Marty walk each time you press an arrow?” one step “Who can show me about how big one step is, for Marty?” learners may hold their fingers apart a small distance or draw a short line with a ruler. Have an object about a meter away and ask learners, “About how far away is that (name of object)” children may hold their arms wide apart or use words like very far, really far, or other adjectives to decrease the distance. Ask learners to think back to Marty’s steps with the color cards and then use the Marty controller to discover how many steps it takes Marty to take to get to the object.
There is a page in the workbook that has a place for recording how many steps it takes to go to various objects. If learners want to record for more objects, perhaps provide them with extra paper.
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| — | Time for PracticeHave a selection of objects in the classroom and ask learners to take 2 or 3 steps away from the object to be Marty’s starting point. Learners need to tap the forward arrows one time for each step and record how many steps away Marty is. After they reach the objects, have learners record how many times they had to tap the forward arrow to reach each object in the workbook. Perhaps, after each time they reach an object, ask them if they think they could have come up with that number before tapping however many times. Inform learners that we will be practicing exactly this, very soon. | SupportUse a long ruler to guide the placement of Marty, for the initial direction. Encourage learners to get low to the ground to get a 'Marty-eye' view. |
Make the finish area farther away. This will require learners to use a bit more trial and error as Martys movement is affected by bumps in the carpet or slidy surfaces.
