Classroom Activities for the Busy Teacher: VEX IQ with ROBOTC Graphical

An excellent and very timely book on LEGO Education's new MINDSTORMS EV3 product series. I'm finding the building and programming instructions very clear and easy to follow, and a great help in enabling me to learn how to use the graphical programming blocks - which are very different to those in NXT-G. This book is a real bargain at less than £10 per copy (I paid £25 for mine!)

Progress in robotics is expected to have revolutionary impact on human society in the century (self-driving cars, drones etc) so it is clearly important to teach robotics in schools. I chose this text as the basis for a robotics course that I taught to students aged 13-16 with great success. I like the strong emphasis on the students doing the programming themselves rather than being spoon-fed. The themes are well chosen and motivational (planetary exploration, assisting the infirm, mini-golf…) and the use of a standard robot base simplifies the teacher’s work. The book presents a 50 hour course but many teachers will need to make a selection of exercises to fit tighter time restraints, as I did. The students get lots of experience writing programs and working with different sensors but the book does not present some of the more advanced programming concepts such as data wires, variables and arrays. I hope there will one day be a sequel aimed at older kids. Note that the book is also available in PDF form in French from the author’s website.

I thought there was a bit more!

Bought this for my nephew in Holland as a Christmas Present, so not sure how popular it's proved! He had this EV3 kit, but his father wanted help teaching him how to use it & thought that this might be just the job! Slightly disappointed that it only came as a paper-back book & didn't have more content. Seemed expensive for what it was, but didn't seem to be anything else like it on the market. No problems with delivery, packaging, etc.

In 22 substantive chapters, Dr. Kee introduces programming exercises, providing early and easy successes for the students, before going deeper into programming concepts such as flowcharting and planning. Along the way appropriate math is introduced, and enterprising teachers can further expand the concepts to include more physics concepts. The book's focus is primarily on LEGO EV3 robotic programming, as you might expect, but Dr. Kee also introduces the EV3 Content Editor, an embedded presentation development environment that will enable teachers to develop student challenges and the students to document and explain their work. Sensor thresholds are well explored and students should complete the course with a good understanding of the concepts. Further, mechanical concepts such as gears and levers are explored in several exercises, giving the students hands-on experience. The book's final two chapters provide ready-made worksheets for the Busy Teacher as well as building instructions for the core models and tools used in the lessons. Classroom Activities for the Busy Teacher: EV3 by Dr. Damien Kee lives up to the title and continues his strong tradition of NXT and WeDo LEGO activity books. As someone who's been working with kids and LEGO robots for the last 4 years, this is a valued addition to my robotics library.

On pense que la société humaine va être bouleversée par les progrès en robotique pendant ce siècle donc il est important que la robotique soit enseignée dans les écoles. J’ai choisi ce texte comme base pour un cours de robotique que j'ai enseigné à des élèves âgés de 13 à 16 ans avec beaucoup de succès. J'aime le fait que les élèves doivent concevoir les programmes eux-mêmes. Les thèmes sont bien choisis et motivants (l'exploration planétaire, l’aide aux infirmes, le mini - golf...) et l'utilisation d'un modèle de robot standard simplifie le travail de l'enseignant. Le livre présente un cours de 50 heures, mais beaucoup de professeurs devront réaliser une sélection d'exercices pour s'adapter à des contraintes de temps plus stricts, comme je l'ai fait. Les élèves apprennent à bien maîtriser la rédaction programmatique et à utiliser les différents capteurs, mais le livre ne présente pas certains des concepts de programmation plus avancés tels que les fils de données, les variables et les tableaux. J’espère qui y aura plus tard une version plus avancée pour les élèves plus âgées. L'auteur a gentiment autorisé le téléchargement gratuit des fiches de travail à partir de son site. Le livre est également disponible sous forme PDF en anglais et en français sur le même site.

Es un regalo para un profesor de robótica en secundaria, el ya conocía el libro y le merece muy buena opinión, herramienta de trabajo, e interesante para sus alumnos. El servicio y envio correctísimos.

I am presently using it and loving it ! It is well explained and to start using the EV3 as a beginner, it is the perfect resource. Thanks!

I'm using this resource in a homeschool co-op environment with 5 boys ages 9-11. Each lesson in the book is designed to utilize about 5 hours of time. We don't have that much each week, so I split the lessons between weeks, and have the boys work on the student pages and programming at home in between sessions. It is taking us about 2 weeks per "week" of lessons. The boys are learning a lot, and the format of the lessons is easy for me as a parent teacher to utilize, even with limited EV3 background. There is a nice mix of theory and practice in the book to discuss, giving a great foundation. The math is manageable for the kids at the level I'm teaching with a little help here and there for those who hadn't encountered circumference or pi yet.