Teacher Facilitation Guide

Overview of the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity

This Facilitation Guide offers a step-by-step guide for how to facilitate as your students complete the Coral Reef Cleanup Coding Activity with VEXcode VR. You know your students best, so tailor your teaching and implementation to best suit your students. The activity is designed to be flexible so that you can meet students where they are, giving them the time, space, and instruction necessary to make the most of their learning.

In the Coral Reef Cleanup activity, students will code the VR Ocean Cleaning Robot in an immersive underwater Playground to collect and remove as much trash as possible from the floor of the Mangrove Reef. The VR Ocean Cleaning Robot's batteries will only last for a few minutes, so students will be challenged to collect as much trash as they can before the batteries on the VR Robot are drained. During the robot's operation, it will keep track of the weight of the trash it collects and display the total on the screen so students can see their progress in real time. As the VR Robot collects trash, more trash will randomly fall into the Coral Reef. The Coral Reef Cleanup activity will end after the VR Robot's battery is empty or the robot is manually stopped, whichever comes first. After the VR Robot's battery is empty or the robot is stopped, the total weight of trash collected will be displayed. Encourage students to try again to improve their project and collect more trash!

The PDF includes a visual element showing a screenshot of the VEXcode VR interface. This interface displays a virtual robot within an underwater 'Mangrove Reef' environment, tasked with collecting trash. Key information presented includes 'Trash Collected: 0 kg' and a battery status indicator showing '✔️ 100%'. The screenshot also features UI controls such as 'EXPAND', 'HIDE', 'ACTIVITIES', and 'CLOSE', along with a reference to a 'CSTA Standard'.

CSTA Standard

• 1B-AP-12 Modify, remix, or incorporate portions of an existing program into one's own work, to develop something new or add more advanced features

Prepare for the Activity

Prior to beginning the activity, have your materials and classroom organization ready.

Materials Needed:

• A device and web browser that supports VEXcode VR for each group. Access VEXcode VR at vr.vex.com.
• Coral Reef Cleanup Activity Sheet.
• Printer access to print student certificates at the end of the activity.

Determine Student Groups:

You may want to use a Pair Programming framework to help students organize turn-taking while they code. Learn more about pair programming [link to pair programming info].

Teaching the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity

1. Introduce the activity to your students as a whole group. Watch the Coral Reef Cleanup Mission Briefing Video to get students excited about coding their VR Ocean Cleaning Robots to clean the Mangrove Reef!
2. Launch VEXcode VR and open the Coral Reef Cleanup Level 1 Tutorial Video. Watch the video together as a class. After the video, check for understanding with these prompts:
   • What is the goal of the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity?
   • How will we make our VR Ocean Cleaning Robot move?
   • How will we start our project?
3. Have students get into their groups and launch VEXcode VR at vr.vex.com.
4. Together as a whole group guided demonstration, have students open and start the Coral Reef Cleanup Level 1 Example Project. Learn more about using Example Projects in VEXcode VR [link to example projects info].
   • From the File Menu in the Toolbar, select 'Open Examples'.
   • Select 'Coral Reef Cleanup Level 1'.
   • Ask students what they think the VR Robot will do when the project is started.
   • Select the Start button in the Toolbar to start the project.
   • Watch the VR Robot run the project, and talk about how the blocks connect to the behaviors of the robot. Select the Stop button to stop the project, then select Try Again.
5. Ask students what block they think they will need to add next to collect the second piece of trash.
   • Have students drag a 'Drive for' block into the Workspace and attach it to the end of the project.
   • Show students how to change the parameter to 800mm.
   • Select 'Start' to test the project.
6. Now challenge students to code their robot to collect as much trash as possible from the Mangrove Reef, adding blocks to their project to continue driving the VR robot around the reef!
   • Project or give students the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity Sheet to reference as they are coding.
   • Remind students to plan their path prior to building their project to make sure that groups are in agreement about the strategy they are using to complete the challenge.
   • Remind students to test their project frequently, to be sure that the VR Robot is moving as they intend it to. Testing a project often helps make troubleshooting much easier.
   • Students should take turns coding the robot. You may want to use a timer to ensure that students are taking turns building the project and using VEXcode VR. If you are using a Pair Programming format, be sure that students are clear on the roles and their expectations.

Keeping Students Engaged During the Activity

• Have whole group check-ins several times during the hour to help students stay focused, and be sure that students are clear on the goal of the activity and taking turns in their groups.
  • Ring a bell or use a classroom signal to indicate that everyone should pause what they are doing, and do a quick check-in to answer questions, share a group's project, or celebrate an accomplishment (like collecting a certain amount of trash).
• Facilitate conversations as you move around the room while students are coding. Prompt them to share their thinking with questions like:
  • How did you plan your path to collect trash from the reef?
  • Did the robot collect trash the way you thought it would? Why or why not?
  • What blocks did you add to your project to collect more trash? Why?
  • What do you notice about the trash in the Playground as time passes? How can you use that information in your project?
  • How are you making sure that your robot doesn't damage the coral? What do you notice about the Playground that could help you keep the robot away from the coral?
• For an added challenge, have students incorporate sensor data into their projects. The VR Ocean Cleaning Robot is equipped with Distance, Eye, and Bumper Sensors to be able to detect trash objects, the blue line around the Playground floor, and more.
  • Students can use the Level 2 Example project to see one way that the Distance Sensor can be used in a project to detect trash.
  • Students can use the Level 3 Example project to see an example of an algorithm that uses the Down Eye sensor to avoid the blue line on the Playground.
• Encourage students to pay attention to how trash falls to the ocean floor. Trash continues to fall as time passes, with trash accumulating more quickly over time. Students may want to add a 'Wait' block to their projects to allow more trash to accumulate before beginning to drive.
• The robot's battery depletes more quickly at higher velocity. Encourage students to consider this, and how the trash falls, as they are developing their strategy for the challenge.
• Challenge students to see how much trash they can collect as a whole class! See how much trash students can collect in the hour as a whole class, or as a classroom competition. Check out the VEXcode VR Leaderboard to enhance your classroom competition. You may want to project the leaderboard to motivate students as they play the game.

After the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity

After your students have completed the Coral Reef Cleanup Activity, wrap up the experience with a brief discussion. For a coding-focused discussion, ask your students to share their projects and how much trash they collected.

• Encourage students to compare and contrast the different projects to see how they approached the same challenge in different ways. Ask questions like:
  • How is this project similar or different to yours?
  • What is something that surprised you about this project?
  • If you were to continue this project, what would you do next? Why?

Celebrate Coral Reef Cleanup Success!

After the activity has ended, celebrate with your students! Pick one or two of these ideas and share your success with others.

• Print certificates for your students. Have students add the quantity of trash collected.
• Have students add up the total amount of trash collected by the entire class. Extend this further to see how much actual trash (like soda cans, or plastic bottles) that quantity corresponds to.
• Take a picture of your students with their certificates, or take videos of students talking about their projects as they are running.
• Share all of these photos and videos of your Coral Reef Cleanup classroom event with your classroom and school community.
• Or share them on social media. Tag @VEXRobotics so we can celebrate with you!

Looking for more?

Keep the cleanup going! Have students continue to iterate on their projects to learn how to collect even more trash!

• Talk together about how each of the sensors on the VR Ocean Cleaning Robot work, and how they can be used in a project.
• Have students experiment further with Control blocks to build more complex projects.
• Extend the activity with one of the VEXcode VR Activities or Activity Labs at cs.vex.com.
• Extend the activity with a physical robot in the VEX GO Ocean Emergency STEM Lab Unit.