Activity 1

Students will begin by exploring how animals' unique traits and abilities are used to design some very unusual robots! They will also meet the partner class they will be working with.
During this Experience students will:

exchange information about local environments with your ePals.
discover how animal traits are used to design robots.
plan and design a robot that incorporates animal features.

We will also show the following YouTube video in order to engage the students in the project.

Activity 2

Meet Your Partner Class:
Students will introduce themselves to their partner class. They will create a text or video introduction telling them:

where they live—be specific!
two or three things about their community
a few details about their school and class

Post the introduction, and then read or view the one created by their ePals. In what ways are the two classes the same? How are they different? Students should share the observations by replying to their partners' posts.

Activity 3, 4, & 5

First Thoughts:

Have students watch this short video about animal inspired robot design. What ideas did it give you about robots?
http://www.epals.com/#/experienceDrawer/timeLine/PaK9sZHwK3H7xbLwH//

Read the featured articles about robots. Have students discuss with their classmates all the ways scientists included animal features in their robots. What were the reasons behind their design choices?

Then have students choose the animal robots from the articles that they liked the most, or thought were the most innovative or unusual. Students will combine their impressions with those of their classmates, and post their choices for their partner class. They should be sure to include their reasons for selecting the robots that they did.
When they receive their ePals' posts, they should compare their partner's ideas with their own. Did you choose any of the same robots? Were your reasons for choosing them the same?

Activity 6 & 7

Describe Your Environment:

Students will be designing a robot for an environment described by their partner class, and the partner class will be doing the same thing based on the local environment your studeents describe. Your students should look around and really think about where they live.
To give their partners the information they need, create a class video, slide presentation, or text entry that includes the following:

A description of one of the environments where they live (ocean, river, grasslands, desert, urban, etc.)
Some of the challenges for traveling and navigating through this environment
Photos or links to images or videos that show this environment

Students should post their description, then review the one created by their partner class.
What questions do you have about their environment? Have students share their thoughts by replying to their partner's post.

Activity 8 & 9

Discuss and Brainstorm:

As a class, review the main features of your students' partners' environment as they described it. Discuss the challenges it presents for a moving robot.

Think about why a robot might be needed in this environment. What could it do that people can't? Students should choose a purpose for their robot.

Then they should discuss what animal features could be built into their robot to help it navigate in the partner team's local environment and complete the purpose they chose. Think about specific animal characteristics desirable for a robot to get around, sense obstacles, and complete important functions.

Your students should post their ideas from the discussion and brainstorm to share with their ePals. They should be able to explain the reasons for their choices. Then students should read their partner's post, share their thoughts by replying to their partner's post, and provide additional ideas to their partner about robot features needed to maneuver in their environment.

Activity 10 & 11

Design it:

Students will follow the following steps in order to design their robot:

Sketch a diagram of what your robot might look like using the ideas in Activity 8 & 9.
Combine ideas and create a final diagram for the robot using the ideas and strengths from each member of the group.
Label the animal features you included on your diagram.
Write an explanation about how these features will help your robot navigate and travel in the chosen environment, as well as accomplish its task.

Here are some examples:

Students will then take a photo or scan their robot diagram, and post it for their ePals. They should also review their partner class’s diagrams, share their comments and suggestions for improving their ideas by replying to their partner's post, and make revisions to their own plans based on the feedback they receive from their partner.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1

exchange information about local environments with your ePals.
discover how animal traits are used to design robots.
plan and design a robot that incorporates animal features.

We will also show the following YouTube video in order to engage the students in the project.

Activity 2

Meet Your Partner Class:

Students will introduce themselves to their partner class. They will create a text or video introduction telling them:

where they live—be specific!
two or three things about their community
a few details about their school and class

Activity 3, 4, & 5

First Thoughts:

Have students watch this short video about animal inspired robot design. What ideas did it give you about robots?

Students will read and determine the main idea of the following readings from the Wonders texts (referred to in the BCPS curriculum) that discuss biomimicry:

"Ideas from Nature"

"Big Ideas from Nature"

"Inspired by Nature"

*In order to access the video, you must have an ePals account.

Activity 6 & 7

Describe Your Environment:

Students will be designing a robot for an environment described by their partner class, and the partner class will be doing the same thing based on the local environment your students describe. Your students should look around and really think about where they live.
To give their partners the information they need, create a class video, slide presentation, or text entry that includes the following:

A description of one of the environments where they live (ocean, river, grasslands, desert, urban, etc.)
Some of the challenges for traveling and navigating through this environment
Photos or links to images or videos that show this environment

Activity 8 & 9

Discuss and Brainstorm:

As a class, review the main features of your students' partners' environment as they described it. Discuss the challenges it presents for a moving robot.

Think about why a robot might be needed in this environment. What could it do that people can't? Students should choose a purpose for their robot.

Activity 10 & 11

Design it:

Students will follow the following steps in order to design their robot:

Sketch a diagram of what your robot might look like using the ideas in Activity 8 & 9.
Combine ideas and create a final diagram for the robot using the ideas and strengths from each member of the group.
Label the animal features you included on your diagram.
Write an explanation about how these features will help your robot navigate and travel in the chosen environment, as well as accomplish its task.

Here are some examples:

Activity 12 & 13

Start Building:

Students will use the robot diagram they created in the previous steps to construct a model of their robot with available materials (cardboard, wire, recycled parts, springs, bottle caps, etc.).

**The model does not need to actually work, but it should show others what the pieces and parts look like.

After students create their model, they will post a summary of their model-building experience with the partner class. They should include details about:

materials they used
fastening the parts together
design and construction challenges
solutions to these challenges
changes they made to the original plans

Then they will compare their partner's post with their own. What challenges were similar? What solutions did their partners come up with?

Activity 14

Put it on Display:

Students will work with their group to figure out how they can best display their robot.

Questions to think about:

Will you place it in front of a picture of the environment it’s meant for?
Will you make a stop-motion video showing it in action?
How you will explain how your robot works? Will your display have labels, or perhaps a recording playing in the background?

Students need to remember to include a description that provides the name of the robot and its important features. Descriptions might include:

How they used biomimicry in the design
How these features help the robot navigate in the selected environment
What features help the robot accomplish a mission

Hold a robot fair in your classroom to share with classmates and make final adjustments in preparation for sharing with your partner class.

Activity 16

Final Thoughts:

Have a class discussion about what students want to keep learning about this topic and have them post their ideas.

Activity 15

Wild Robots Revealed:

Have students share their robot with the world! Post a video, slide show, or set of images to share their creation with their partner class.

Spend time carefully studying your partner class’s robots. Think about the following questions:

What did you like about each design?
What did you learn from your partners’ creations?

Students should then share their thoughts by replying to their partner's post.

For the closure, the students will write thank-you notes to their partners. They will discuss what they enjoyed about the project and what they learned from the experience. After the students write the letters, the teacher will mail them out.

Closure Activity

* Activities were found and/or modified from the ePals website, which is where we got our lesson plan from for our participation project.

* The orange text refers to what we added to the original ePals lesson. Ideas were obtained from the BCPS Grade 3 ELA curriculum.

Teacher Plans