SCIENTIX LESSON PLAN
Title
Mbots at school against CO-VID
Author(s)
M. Isabel Blanco Pumar
Abstract
How can robots be used to prevent CO-VID outbreaks at schools? ‘Mbots at school against CO-
VID’ is a lesson plan that develops students creativity. They have to design a device using
different sensors and add-ons with the purpose of securing school safety during CO-VID times.
Keywords
• Primary Education
• lesson plan
• Problems and Project Based Learning
• Emphasis on STEM topics and competences
• technology
Licenses
Attribution CC BY. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your
work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the
most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and
use of licensed materials.
Summary tab
Subject Robotics, Science, Mathematics and Art.
Topic(s) within the CO-VID
subject
Key real-life topic Robots and CO-VID protocols
Age of students 11 - 12 years old
Preparation time 2 hours
Teaching time 6 lessons (50 minutes each lesson)
The work presented in this document has received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and
innovation programme – project Scientix 4 (Grant agreement N. 101000063), coordinated by European
Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the Learning Scenario is the sole responsibility of the authors and it does
not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC) or EUN, and neither the EC or EUN are
responsible for any use that might be made of information contained.
Online teaching Padlet to make a brainstorming
material Mblock to code the different solutions
Google slides to create a presentation
Google forms to give some feedback
Offline teaching Assortment of cardboard and coloured papers.
material Recycled materials (bottles, cereal boxes, cork, paper rolls…)
Glue
Needle and thread
Integration into the curriculum
The lesson plan will take a cross-curricular approach. It will involve Robotics, Science,
Mathematics and Art.
Robotics is a free configuration subject that schools in the Northwest of Spain (Galicia) can
voluntarily teach at their schools. Once the school has applied to teach this subject, it is mandatory
for all the students. It has its own curriculum. Students will use the tool Mblock to code the
solutions they have developed using the Mbot robot and its add-ons.
In Science students will learn about temperature.
In Mathematics they will work with measurement to control social distancing and they will work
with the ultrasound sensor.
In Art they will design a draft model and they will build it using different materials
Aim of the lesson
Design, build and test a solution that simulates real-world engineering.
Solve an open-ended design challenge.
Develop an interest in careers in STEM.
Outcome of the lesson
Each team of students will develop their own project using the Mcore board, sensors, add-ons
and other materials to warrant the school safety in times of CO-VID.
Trends
2
Project Based Learning: pupils will have to provide solutions to a real-life problem using contents
and knowledge from different subjects.
Collaborative Learning: Students will work in pairs and teams to develop their inventions.
Peer Learning: Students will have to listen to their classmates’ presentations and assess their
creations.
21st century skills
Creativity: Students will need to show their creativity when designing their devices.
Communication: Students will have to present their devices to the rest of the groups and convince
them through an elevator pitch that their solution is the best.
Collaboration: Students will have to work in pair and teams to develop their ideas and find the
best solution.
ICT Literacy: students will use different tools to find information, to record their ideas and to report
their findings. They will also use the Mblock tool to code the robots.
Activities
Describe here in detail all the activities during the lesson and the time they require. Remember, that your lesson plan
needs to correspond to real-world problems in STEM education.
Name of Procedure Time
activity
Brainstorming Students will think in pairs about all the measures that schools need to be 30
aware of and implement due to the Coronavirus outbreak (social distancing, minutes
temperature checks, number of people in the public spaces). They will
discuss and add them to the collaborative Padlet the teacher created.
Propototyping At this stage students will come out with ideas about using the robot Mbot 50
and its add-ons (ultrasound sensor, temperature sensor, infrared sensor, minutes
sound sensor, line-follower, ...) to help execute the school safety CO-VID
protocol.
In teams of four, they will have to make a draft of a device of their own
invention that solves one or more problems the virus has caused at schools.
Coding Students will use the tool Mblock to code the program run by the devices 50
they will develop in the following lessons. minutes
Building Each team will build their device according to the draft and the coding 50
implemented. They can use any materials they consider suitable depending minutes
on the aim and purpose.
Testing The teams will put together the code and the device and they will add their 30
final improvements. minutes
Once everything is ready, they will try it and check that the device is working
smoothly and accordingly to the initial idea.
3
Storytelling Each team will prepare a presentation of their device explaining their 1 hour
functions and how it works. and ½
Afterwards, the teams will present their device together with their half (it
presentation in an elevator pitch to convince their mates that their solution can be
is worthy of inversion and development.
more, it
All the students will assess their peer solutions and vote for the ones that
consider the best, taking into account prices, functions, goal, strong points, will
etc. depend
on the
number
of
teams)
Assessment
There will be a peer-review of each of the solutions presented by the different groups through a Google
Form.
We will also use a rubric to assess the final production. Some of the criteria that will be taken into account
are: creativity, effort and participation, usefulness, coding, prototype, etc.
Student feedback
Students will report their feedback about the lesson plan with a Google Form where they will have
to assess the lesson plan, sharing their opinion about different points (collaboration, peer review,
use of technology, etc.) and their involvement in the goals’ achievement. They will also report
what they liked the most and what the least.
About Scientix
Scientix, the community for Science education in Europe, promotes and supports a Europe-wide
collaboration among STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers, education
researchers, policymakers and other STEM education professionals. If you need more information, check
the Scientix portal, or contact either the Scientix National Contact Point or Scientix Ambassadors in your
country.
