Throughout a VEX CTE Workcell STEM Lab Unit, students will be working together to complete activities related to industrial robotics and the 6-Axis Robotic Arm. To set students up for success in their groups during these activities, there are a number of strategies you can use to support student collaboration.
You know your students best, so can tailor your role responsibilities and timing to best meet their needs. You may want students to stay in a role for an entire class period, or switch roles multiple times throughout the class. The goal is not the frequency of the rotation, but setting students up to be successful collaborators. If the roles are clearly defined so that each member of the group can see their part to play, then they will be better able to engage collaboratively.
Note: The recommended group size for these STEM Lab Units is two to four students per Kit, so this article will use four students as a base for all strategies and supports. If your groups are smaller than four students, you may want to identify combinations of roles that would be appropriate for your classroom.
Notes about Documentation
In each of these suggested roles, there is one specific to documentation. Be sure that the same student is not always the documenter and has time to interact with the CTE Workcell and 6-Axis Arm. This indicates the person who has the primary responsibility for recording information in their engineering notebook, however all students can and should document in their notebooks throughout each class.
Throughout the course, each student is responsible for their own engineering notebook. They will need to record learning targets, answers to check your understanding questions, prepare for the debrief conversations and more in their individual notebooks. Activity or building related pages recorded by the documenter can then be duplicated between group members with credit for who made the page. Students must be able to communicate their learning and process for the activities in the debrief conversation and the engineering notebook is the artifact to support their claims regarding their self-assessments. To learn more about engineering notebooks as a learning tool, see this article (coming soon).
Student Roles for Building
Assigning students specific responsibilities in a group building situation can help groups to function more efficiently, and be more engaged and invested in the building process. CTE Workcell builds are simple, so students can work in tandem to finish these instructions.
Suggested roles for building:
- Planner: gathers pieces for subsequent steps and communicates steps to the builders.
- Documenter: documents the build in their engineering notebook and identifies the pages or parts needed to use in the notebook for that Unit based on the build being constructed.
- Builder 1: holds pieces in place while the other builder uses the provided tools to secure screws.
- Builder 2: uses the provided tools to secure pieces (screws, low profile nuts, etc.) while the other builder holds pieces in place.
Remind students of these tasks, and highlight groups that are working well together so that the whole class can see that the more engaged they are with their group, the better the results are for the group as a whole.
Student Roles for Activities
During each Lesson, students will work through activities that involve iteration, documentation, and coding. Having a clear understanding of the flow of the iterative process is only part of the goal – students also need to be able to see how they fit, both individually, and as a group, into that process. Clearly defining roles within the group can be a useful way for students to maintain their focus during these activities, while also ensuring that all voices are heard within the group.
In early Units of the Introduction to the 6-Axis Arm course, students use the Teach Pendant as they complete Lessons. Roles for activities involving the Teach Pendant could include:
- Documenters: ensures that the engineering notebook is kept up to date with the goal of the challenge, notes, project plans, coordinate values, etc.
- Jogger: manually moves the 6-Axis Arm to various locations based on the requirements of the challenge.
- Teach Pendant Operators: uses the Teach Pendant in VEXcode EXP to control the movements of the 6-Axis Arm through jogging, reading out coordinates in the Teach Pendant Dashboard. Two students can take turns with this role.
In later Units, students complete projects involving calculating waypoints, testing coding strategies, and more involving VEXcode EXP. Roles for these activities could include:
- Documenters: ensures that the engineering notebook is kept up to date with the goal of the challenge, notes, project plans, coordinate values, etc.
- Prototypers: demonstrate the strategy the group is talking about manually with the 6-Axis Arm and Cubes/Disks to facilitate discussion of pros and cons while the group is defining the problem and making their plan.
- Code Readers & Optimizers: checks that the project being built matches the plan that the group documented and agreed upon. This student would then recommend iterations or edits to the project to the group, and the Planner would document those, to begin the process again.
- Coders: builds the project in VEXcode to match the project plan the group documented and agreed upon
Facilitating Collaboration
While roles can help students to organize as they complete the various activities, it is important that students remember they are all responsible for participating in conversations, note taking, project planning, and activity completion in a respectful and proactive manner.
Creating classroom norms for collaboration can come from various habits you help to implement in the classroom. Explain and model these norms in your classroom. Norms could include things like:
- Each group member can share an idea before a decision is made.
- Each group member has a clear role to participate in the group’s progress for the day.
- Asking questions is encouraged, and should be responded to respectfully.
- Feedback is constructive and given in a kind and calm way.
- Students can seek support outside their group for help coming to consensus or to get a new perspective or idea to try.
- Effort and progress are celebrated rather than just the end results. This approach shifts the focus from fearing failure to valuing the learning journey.
As the teacher, you may want to begin by assigning roles to students, and over time help guide students to choosing roles themselves. The goal is to keep all students engaged in the process, and build their capacity for effective communication and problem solving. Having a responsibility can help students find a place to focus their attention and energy within the activity, so that they are better prepared to communicate ideas effectively within their group.