9^th Grade Physics—Robotics

Using Boe-Bot™ robot kits, students apply concepts of circuits, Ohm’s Law, Newtonian mechanics, work and mechanical advantage, friction, and optics to real-life problems and challenges. After working with electric circuit boards, students apply their knowledge of circuits by wiring the breadboard on their Boe-Bot™ robots in order to light an LED. To do this, they will use freeware that compiles PBASIC commands. Then, students undertake a challenge to program green, yellow, and red LED/resistor circuits in a traffic-signal pattern.

Next, students apply Ohm’s law, using specifications for various sensors and switches in the Boe-Bot™ kit and determine appropriate resistors for each component given a six-volt power source. Students then construct simple circuits to test each sensor.

Students investigate Newtonian mechanics, beginning by learning basic functions of their robots. Then, they adapt programs provided in the Boe-Bot™ instruction manual to direct their robots to move at constant speed, accelerate, and decelerate as shown by a ticker tape. Students then use Vernier LabPro® photo gates and motion detectors to compare and contrast results from the ticker tape. Using ticker tape as well as photo gates and motion detectors enable students to see direct results on the ticker tapes while using digital measurement to confirm or deny those results. (The reason students adapt programs provided in the Boe-Bot™ manual is to emphasize physics concepts, not programming.)

Once students have grasped the ideas behind basic mechanics, they determine the highest angle of incline that the Boe-Bot™ robots can traverse, using different wheel contact materials, e.g. plastic wheels vs. wheels covered with rubber bands. Using data they collect with their robots, students calculate static and kinetic coefficients of friction.

The next step is for students to investigate work and mechanical advantage of simple machines that include levers, inclined planes, wheels and axles, and pulleys. Students are challenged to pull loads with their robot, using pulley-systems that they design. They discover differences in mechanical advantage of various pulley systems and calculate work done by the robot.

Students apply Newtonian mechanics to predict ideal maximum velocity, acceleration, and momentum potential, given applied forces from different gears driven by the robot motor. In doing so, they discover how gears can be used to achieve more distance or more force. The robots are particularly useful here because Boe-Bot™ robots are the perfect application of the use of gears.

Finally, students undertake a capstone project that uses the robots. For example, a challenge might be to have the robot pull a given load up an inclined plane, turn a corner, and then drop the load, all in a given amount of time. The capstone project incorporates design innovation while emphasizing measurement, calculation, and demonstration of knowledge of basic physics concepts. In addition, each team is given different navigational sensors and switches to navigate their robot, such as whiskers, infrared sensors, touch sensors, or photo-resistors. This is designed to be fun because these navigational tools enable students to make their robot function autonomously. Students are motivated to use the manual and other resources to utilize these navigational tools without direct instruction.

Beyond the basic physics curriculum, there are enrichment opportunities for the high-achieving students to learn about sound using their robot. On every robot breadboard, a speaker can be added to indicate the start and end of each program. High-end students are able to adapt given programs to generate more complex tunes to start and end a program. While frequency and sound are not part of our 9th grade curriculum, high-achieving students are served by independently learning about these concepts.

Rationale

We strive to motivate students to study physics and actively seek challenges that the subject presents. We believe that when students are involved in projects where they have opportunities to undertake challenges that empower them to make decisions, they become more motivated to achieve. Robots by their very nature impose design constraints that students must address. The robots also provide immediate feedback, which will motivate students to modify and improve their work. This kind of instruction is a proven motivator for students at the 9^th-grade level. Compared to experiments that have no end purposes, such as lighting a bulb on a circuit board or pulling various weights up an inclined plane using a spring gauge, a robot autonomously towing an object measured by the spring gauge is a lot cooler and makes the study of physics more real, more motivating, and more challenging. We believe that studying beginning physics concepts using robots will improve students’ perceptions of physics and their interest and capacity for success in future courses.

We want to engage students in research-based science that models work done by professionals. By integrating robotics into our curriculum, we strive to enable students to undertake challenges that engineers and technicians might face in the real world, such as robots used on Mars, robots used in manufacturing, and robots used in environmental cleanup and other hazardous conditions.

We want to ensure that the girls and boys, who are from a wide diversity of backgrounds, are equally successful and enthusiastic about course content. Robots provide immediate positive feedback, which serves to encourage girls in an area that has not always been accessible to them. We believe that girls as well as boys will be served by the interaction and success that they will feel every time a light blinks on their robot or their robot pulls a load up an inclined plane. Since students have not yet worked with breadboards, whiskers, LEDs, gears, microcontrollers, etc., no student will come with an advantage or the benefit of socialization when using this equipment. Studying physics concepts using robots promotes achieving goals, applying concepts, and working cooperatively—all of which play to girls’ strengths. Our experience in the 9^th grade class shows that when students are given motor kits with complex directions, girls and boys are equally likely to achieve successful results and show equal enthusiasm.

We believe that it is vitally important for students to apply mathematics to scientific studies. Using robotics to introduce mathematical concepts dealing with power sources, gears, motors, simple machines, and electrical circuits seems a natural application that students will accept and seek due to the nature of the problems they will be challenged to investigate.

The interactive nature of the robots and the cooperative group work will truly enhance what we already do in beginning physics. Using robotics will shift the beginning physics class from a teacher-centered lecture/experiment experience to a student-centered inquiry environment. Using the robots, students will be able to construct their own knowledge about physics concepts while they solve problems that arise from the challenges presented. Teachers will become coaches instead of dispensers of knowledge.