Miller Third Grade TAG
December 13, 2005
Today's assignment was a test in logical thinking.
First, the students were asked to line up and keep their eyes open or closed.
Instructions were given for people with their eyes shut to move forward or backward.
The students were then told to keep their eyes shut and put their hand over their closed eyes.
The students were then asked if they could tell the difference, with their eyes shut,
when their hand was in front of their face. All of the students said they could tell the difference.
The point of the exercise was to make students realize that their eyes are light sensors.
Just like the robot who uses a light sensor,
humans have eyes as light sensors that detect different levels of light.
In order for the robot to follow the black line, certain variables had to be taken into account.
The first thing the students had to consider was what the high light reading was and then,
what the low light reading was. By doing this, the students worked on logic of an "if then" statement.
The average number between the low light sensor reading on black and high sensor reading on white
was used for to decide which instruction would be followed.
After determining the low and high reading on the light sensor,
the students then set out to write a program that would tell the robot to follow the black circle.
The program that was written states that
IF the reading was greater than the number 34
THEN the robot would take one set of directions.
IF the robot was less than or equal to the number 34,
THEN the robot would follow another set of directions.
The students were eventually able to write a program that did in fact,
follow the black line for a set number of laps and stop.
Although they were enjoying the challenge of the day,
it may not have dawned on them that they were applying complex math
skills.