Category Archives: Robotics

New and Updated Resources Available; Book in the Works

Posted on April 20, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

I updated the Resources Page to include Tech Tips and a separate Teaching Tips documents.  Also, I have updated the Grade 6 curriculum map. See previous post for why but basically I simplified the open-ended challenge and it works much … Continue reading →

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Dragster Design, Part 1

Posted on April 13, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

We had an extended sixth grade class today.  Students were challenged to design and build the fastest robot car they could.  Last week, the measured the velocity of the standard robot car built from the LEGO directions.  Those went about … Continue reading →

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Update

Posted on March 28, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

I have been busy and not had a chance to blog. However, there is a lot going on and I have some great topics in the queue. I was one of a handful of teachers out of 1100 applicants to … Continue reading →

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Robots and Decimals

Posted on February 8, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

Fifth grade students here have to figure out how to make a 90 degree turn with their Lego NXT robots.  The robot cars they built have 2 motors and they typically turn one motor only on to make a 90 … Continue reading →

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Robotics Quote of the Day

Posted on February 7, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

Fifth grade boy: “I really like that the school has a robotics program. It’s my favorite activity at school.”

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Recent Robot Magic

Posted on February 1, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

We had some great experiences with the grade 1 and 2 students this week. When I asked our grade 2 students to recall what they knew about some parts this week for their first robotics class of the year, we … Continue reading →

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Research Protocols

Posted on January 19, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

I have been thinking of the yearly research tasks I want to do. Would appreciate any feedback since I know very little about standard educational research. Elementary Engineering Robotics Case Study Yearly Research Tasks John Heffernan, Hampshire Regional Schools Research … Continue reading →

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Sample Burglar Alarm Pitch

Posted on January 6, 2012 by JohnHeffernan

Here’s one of our top salespeople, MC, pitching her team’s burglar alarm. Students designed, built, tested, refined, and made a poster for a WeDo based burglar alarm. This is an open ended engineering challenge. That means the students design the … Continue reading →

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Yearly Case Study Task

Posted on December 22, 2011 by JohnHeffernan

Would love some feedback on this… Case Study Yearly Task Research Questions 1. What are the developmental milestones in young children’s engineering skills? 2. How will the deliberate teaching of engineering at a young age affect subsequent interest in engineering? … Continue reading →

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Grade 4 Burglar Alarm Poster

Posted on December 22, 2011 by JohnHeffernan

Students need to create poster to sell the burglar alarms they created in their Lego WeDo based open ended challenge. Here’s one example.

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