During the month of December, students in Room 12 have been working on a combined Social Studies and Science project with the support and guidance of Mr. Newman. Over the course of the last few weeks, students have been working collaboratively together to code their ‘Dash’ robots to navigate around their self-made maps of their ideal communities.

Students began by first creating a large map of their ideal community. They used their knowledge of quality of life and needs versus wants to create a legend for their maps. Students categorized services into eight different coloured squares. Students then had to work together to select the different services they felt their ideal community required. Students also worked hard to ensure their map was based on the grid system. Learning to compromise with their groups was also an important skill students were able to practice.

Categories:

• Outdoor Natural Places = Green
• Commercial = Light blue
• Shelter = Yellow
• Attractions = Red
• Emergency Services = Pink
• Entertainment = Purple
• Education = Turquoise
• Government = Orange

Must Haves:

• At least 3 shelters
• One commercial building
• One school
• One outdoor natural space

After students completed their maps, they worked alongside Mr. Newman to code their ‘Dash’ robots to navigate around their communities using different routes, avoiding natural disasters and adding in new variables and functions to test out.

Through determination, perseverance, trial and error and skill, students were able to successfully complete all of their challenges. Tomorrow students will be provided with one more opportunity to work with their robots and to test out some different functions!

Social Studies Specific Outcomes:
3.1.2 Students will examine the social, cultural and linguistic characteristics that affect quality of life in communities in other parts of the world by exploring and reflecting upon the following questions for inquiry:

• What determines quality of life?
• How does daily life reflect quality of life in communities (e.g., employment, transportation, roles of family members)?
• How does access to public services affect communities (e.g., schools, hospitals, libraries, transportation systems)?

Science Learning Outcomes:

• I can identify computational thinking used to solve problems or achieve desired outcomes.
• I can create something new by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas.
• I can break a task into smaller chunks
• I can create a set of instructions that could be followed by a human or a machine to complete a task.
• I can collaborate to write two different sets of instructions that achieve the same outcome.