Cylon

__** Reflection 1: NXT Programming **__

Driving the SuRRy was much more fun than the other activities we did in the large group earlier. I like the 5-step command boxes for simple tasks because it forced us to be efficient with our commands. The sensors were the most challenging aspect to get to work correctly, but also gave the greatest amount of control over the robot's motions. I especially like the ultrasonic sensor. It's much simpler than the touch sensor and has few issues, other than requiring the cables to be tucked away. The sound sensor was also easy to use, but picked up a lot of sounds for other groups. The light sensor was great when it worked, but it wasn't easy to get the robot to go straight to get it started. I'm not really a fan of the touch sensor because it requires direct contact with a surface and doesn't work well with curved and angled obstacles.

I will definitely use the 5-step NXT programming in my classroom. It fits into the kinematics units of my physics course very well. Because no computer is required for the 5-step programming, it sees like something I can do frequently with small groups. I would love to design activities to program simple motions of the robot and determine the velocity vector for the 5-step sequence. I could also require students to design a program that will get the robot to a specific coordinate location in the classroom.

__** Reflection 2: Senses and Sensors **__

We completed 3 Try-It activities with SuRRy in order to determine the relationship between each sensor's reading and SuRRy's output. We used the sound sensor, which caused the wheels to spin, the ultrasonic sensor, which put out high and low pitches, and the light sensor, which also emitted a varying pitch. We completed the activity collaboratively in groups of two.

In my class, I could use SuRRy in a similar fashion to introduce the technology, and move on to more advanced concepts in AP Physics. For instance, they may have to use some sound-emitting device of variable known loudness to make SuRRy move at specific speeds after first testing the Try-It Sound Sensor.

TPACK was a helpful reflection method for this activity. It reminded me of the important connection between pedagogy and content, but also enforced the need to evaluate technological tools in conjunction with both content and pedagogy. It also enforced the theory of TPACK by ensuring teachers piece everything together to find that juncture between the three components for an excellent lesson.

__** Reflection 3: Wheel Diameter Affecting Robot Speed **__

In our experiment, we adjusted wheel size while keeping number of wheel rotations constant to determine the affect on the robot's velocity. We took data in a Google Spreadsheet and graphed our data. After analyzing the data, we could see a clear positive correlation between wheel diameter and the robot's speed. Our Lab Report

I believe this is an excellent use of technology in order to learn and/or reinforce basic Mindstorms programming, scientific methods, experimental design, variable relationships, and velocity calculations. If the main learning goals were only for the concepts of measurement and velocity calculations, there are more efficient methods that aren't as time consuming for the students. However, the concept of experimental planning and design is difficult to teach and this activity motivates students to learn the technology as well as to develop methods to use it. This technology is a very good fit for small groups because it requires both group members to plan the experiment, run it, and collect data. Students can work together to problem-solve when parts of the experiment don't work as expected.

__** Reflection 4: Robotic Surgery **__

In the robotic surgery activities, we used the robotic arm to create "incisions," remove "body parts," and put items into the posterboard body. I liked how simple it was to control the robotic arm directly from the NXT brick after downloading the robotic arm program. There were three main motions, a clockwise and counterclockwise rotation controlled by a motor, lifting and lowering controlled by another motor, and the opening and closing of the robotic claw controlled by a touch sensor. Our Robotic Arm Prezi discusses various types and uses of robotic arms in current and past industry and entertainment.

The robotics technology is a simple and efficient way to teach about basic robotics and robotic arm motions so that students can apply robotic arm concepts to more advanced technologies used today, such as the DiVinci Surgery Robot. I was surprised how much relevant information went into the prezi that our class collaboratively created. The presentation was very well organized considering we only spent a small amount of time putting it together and didn't talk with others in our group. In this case, the technology definitely enhanced both content and learning methods.

__** Reflection 5: View It Values **__ In the View It Values activity, we looked at values for the touch sensor, sound sensor, light sensor, and ultrasonic sensors. The touch sensor has a reading of 0 or 1, the sound sensor has a percentage of a decibel range, the light sensor detects a percentage of reflected red light, and the ultrasonic sensor detects a distance range between a few cm to 2m. We encountered some issues when detecting extremely loud sounds outside the range, detecting light differences between various colors, and detecting distances less than 5 cm or greater than 2m. We also compared the motor rotation values to the distances traveled by the robot. It seems that the wheel circumference is just less than 3cm, but because the robot does not measure fractions of a rotation, it could be difficult to convert small distance measurements from wheel rotations to standard units of measurement.

In my classes, I could easily use the view-it values for motor rotations to determine larger distances traveled by the robot in my physics classroom. I would first ask them to drive the robot in a straight line and record both the robot's rotation value and the measured distance. By comparing these over various trials, students could get a good estimate for a conversion factor. Later when teaching angular motion, we could compare the motor rotations to distances traveled and compare angular velocity of the motor/wheel to tangential velocity of the wheel and robot.