<aside> 💡 This brief introduction to mBlock assumes you (and the students) have installed mBlock on the computer or have access to mBlock online. Please see our guide on this topic here. We also assume you (and the students) understand how to connect to the robot. Our guide on connecting to the robot can be found here. We also assume that you (and the students) have successfully run a first test program to ensure the robot is connected to the computer. If not, the guide can be found here.
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This lesson is intended to introduce students to programming the mBot robot. The mBot can be programmed using the mBlock programming language. This is a visual programming language. In contrast to most programming languages, users write a program by manipulating elements graphically instead of typing text. While visual programming languages are often considered simpler, many examples of specialized visual programming languages are used in engineering and science. Therefore, depending on the context, visual programming languages can be compelling alternatives to text-based programming.
In this guide, we present four quite simple programming challenges you can present to the students to familiarize themselves with programming the robot. Before listing the challenges, we provide an introduction to mBlock. We cover the interface, where to find blocks to create programs, and how to work with variables. We also explain the basic structure of most programs. In our experience, this can be covered quite quickly with students as they usually find out these things quickly.
<aside> 💡 This unit was created collaboratively with faculty from the University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, and School of Education. Combining biology with engineering activities gives students a unique opportunity to understand the parallels between animal and robot behavior and sensory/sensor function. It addresses broad Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) and International Society for Technology in Education Standards (International Society for Technology in Education, 2022).
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Algebra I
• How can instructions be written so that a computer understands them? • How can a robot be controlled through programming?
The educational standards applicable to this lesson plan are listed on the following page.
As mentioned in a previous guide, mBlock is the software we will use to program the robot. Below, we cover some basic aspects of mBlock to help you get started writing programs for the robot.
Below, we show the mBlock interface. The interface looks very similar regardless of whether you use the installed program or the online version. We explain the use for each region in the interface below.