Use Marty to show some of the things a robot can do and ask learners to decide if the world is better with or without them.
Encourage learners to research beyond the examples provided. If you have access to the Internet, have learners search for other examples of people and robots completing work related tasks
There is a document with a word bank in the resources section to support learners with their writing. The alternative is to have learners record an audio text or have an adult scribe to support their text creation.
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| English Language Arts: Speaking & Listening | |
| English Language Arts: Writing |
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| Health and Wellbeing: Mental, Emotional, Social and Physical Wellbeing | |
| Literacy & English: Listening and Talking | |
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| Computer Science: | |
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Watch Marty and other robots displaying regular tasks that robots have performed for some time and some other jobs that robots have recently begun doing. Are robots better suited or should people still be doing these jobs?
English Language Arts - stating an opinion
There are several instances in this lesson showing robots completing tasks that people can also complete. In the teacher guide, there is code to have Marty carry out the function of a traffic officer. Feel free to use only the video in the presentation or use Marty as a live example for the police officer.
The wordbank file for this lesson is blank because there are no set words to use. These could be filled in as a group or a whole class.
Share with learners the objectives and success criteria for the day's lesson, from slide 2 of the presentation in the resource section; perhaps display this before the lesson starts and keep it displayed until another slide is needed.
Divide learners into two groups and give each group an envelope with a statement on it. The statement will be in reference to the children's story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In one envelope will be the statement, "It is a good thing that Goldilocks ate the porridge, sat in the chairs and slept in the beds." In the other envelope will be the statement, "It is a bad thing that Goldilocks ate the porridge, sat in the chairs and slept in the beds." If learners are not familiar with the story, feel free to click the link to tell it prior to dividing the class and handing out the envelopes.
Learners in their groups need to think about why the statement they have is true and say the reasons why they feel this. There is no need for everyone to speak but more than one person should give input for each group. As learners are listening to their group and the opposing group, encourage them to listen to the ideas being shared to make what they say better. This linking of ideas will improve an argument.
Congratulate both groups for their ideas. There is no right answer here, it is all about thinking why different and conflicting views might be good ideas.
From slide 3 in the presentation, there are 5 examples of people and robots completing a task at a workplace. Encourage learners to think about who should do this kind of job: a person or a robot? Feel free to watch as many or as few of the videos as you want to stimulate the writing. It is a good idea to have learners freely talk here so that they can have ideas rolling around in their heads that they can later write about.
The last video, on slide 7 is about assembly work. Following that, on slide 8, is an example of a written comparison, each has about 3 or 4 sentences. One states why a robot is better suited for this job and the other, a person. Neither should be considered as the correct answer, the purpose is only to state an opinion and say why.
For this part of the lesson, you could either have learners in groups for collaborative writing or learners could work individually. The workbook offers a skeleton for structuring ideas for why a person or robot is good for the job and the converse why a robot or person is not good for the job. Learners can use the supports they need when engaged in the writing activities.
Bring learners back together to discuss how feel they feel they did with writing an opinion. Ask if there are any learners wanting to share their thoughts, it might be an idea to have two opposing views be heard.
Suggested questions you might ask:
If you use a formative assessment strategy, like thumbs up or thumbs down, use that here to get a feel for learner confidence with the topic.
Carry out any end of lesson routines.
