Coding and Computational Thinking with Virtual SPIKE Prime features a programming interface and virtual robot embedded directly within the curriculum. Teachers and students can follow along with the included videos, animations, challenges, and step-by-step lessons. The projects are designed to get students thinking about the patterns and structure of not just robotics, but also programming and problem-solving more generally. The scope and sequence of this virtual curriculum are very closely aligned to our Coding and Computational Thinking with SPIKE Prime curriculum for physical robots, allowing teachers to leverage both physical and virtual robots to best suit their needs.
About the Curriculum
Coding and Computational Thinking with LEGO SPIKE Prime is broken down into 8 units:
- Getting Started
- Programming the Brain
- Robot Movement
- Wait Until & Sensors
- Loops
- Discrete Decisions
- Capstone: Subterranean Challenge
- Continuous Decisions.
The virtual robot itself contains simulated versions of the programmable motors, sensors, and other components. A built-in sensor dashboard allows students and teachers to quickly inspect the values the robot sees, speeding up the process of developing and troubleshooting their code.
Coding and Computational Thinking with Virtual SPIKE Prime takes a just-in-time and embedded approach. As students make progress through the course (which the Learning Management System keeps track of), CS2N ensures sure that students are presented with the corresponding instructions, virtual environment, and programming interface. CS2N automatically saves student code progress with each activity so that they never lose it and teachers never have to track it down. Virtual activities can be run as many times as the student needs to foster their understanding, and their completion is automatically awarded so that students know when to move on.
Teacher Training and Certification
Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy offers both Onsite Teacher Training for LEGO SPIKE Prime and Online Teacher Training for LEGO SPIKE Prime for formal and informal educators and competition coaches to help them reach valuable and transferable learning outcomes with their students. Educators who have been trained and certified are able to offer Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy certifications in their own classrooms.
This training course offers a range of benefits for teachers and coaches who want to teach robotics and STEM concepts using the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot and Scratch-based programming software. The course is particularly well-suited for teachers and coaches who are new to programming and wish to learn the fundamentals of robot programming as well as the pedagogy associated with CS-STEM concepts. However, experienced teachers with programming and robotics backgrounds will also benefit from the course, especially with its focus on the LEGO Education SPIKE Prime, hands-on practice in troubleshooting student errors, and integration of STEM concepts. Teachers and coaches who support students in robotics competitions, such as FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and World Robot Olympiad (WRO), will find the course invaluable for gaining knowledge, techniques, and community.