Each season, the VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC) game presents students with rich and challenging problem-solving opportunities. Because the games have multiple scoring opportunities and a wealth of possible strategies, the complexity of a VIQRC game can seem overwhelming, especially for students new to robotics competitions.
While the game manual is an excellent place to start when seeking to understand a VIQRC game, a scaffolded approach can help students to develop game skills and strategy in a progressive manner. One way to do this is to break the game down into individual scoring elements and introducing them one at a time. This can help students to develop game skills and strategy in a progressive manner that builds their confidence without overwhelming them.
This article provides suggestions for scaffolding VIQRC Mix & Match by introducing each of the main scoring components. It also suggests ways to integrate this scaffolding into the Competition 101: VIQRC Mix & Match STEM Lab as needed.
Scaffolding VIQRC Mix & Match
Mix and Match can be broken down into three main ways to score. Scaffold students' learning of the game by introducing each main scoring method, and providing students with opportunities to practice it before putting multiple scoring methods together into a game strategy.
Stacking Pins
Stacking Pins is the basis for all scoring in Mix & Match, so practicing this fundamental skill is essential to playing the game successfully. The Stacking Test Activity (introduced in Session 3 of the Competition 101: VIQRC Mix & Match STEM Lab) provides students an opportunity to practice this skill in isolation. Students practice stacking a preloaded Pin on top of another Pin of any color placed 24 inches in front of the robot.
Mixing Colors in a Stack
Once students have gained experience with stacking Pins, they may want to practice mixing colors in a Stack, as stacks made up of 2 and 3 Pin colors receive a higher score than single color Stacks. Students could practice this skill by driving their robot to pick up a Pin and placing it on top of a Pin of another color. By adding this incrementally slightly more difficult challenge, students can build on their previous practice to advance their skills.
Placing Stacks in Matching Goals
When students are comfortable driving the robot to pick up and stack Pins of multiple colors, they can practice the third main scoring activity - placing Stacks in Goals that match the color of the bottom Pin in the stack. There are four types of Goals: the Floor Goal, the Standoff Goal, Square Goals, and Triangle Goals. Encourage students to think about how they can plan to practice placing matching Stacks in each type.
Competition 101 STEM Lab Integration
The Competition 101: VIQRC Mix & Match STEM Lab provides support for introducing Mix and Match to students. As you implement the STEM Lab, you may want to scaffold students learning as outlined in this article. The following suggestions may be useful:
- Consider the best places in the STEM Lab to add scaffolding:
- Once students have completed the Driving Test Activity in Session 3, additional tasks can be added for extra practice.
- Or, as students develop their strategy in Session 4, they may find they need extra practice with different scoring tasks to implement their chosen strategy successfully.
- Let students take the lead in determining the level of scaffolding they need. Some groups will benefit from breaking the game down very slowly and incrementally, while others will feel this unnecessary. Students can also suggest and design their own scaffolded practice tasks based on their individual abilities and experience.
- Because the Task Cards in the STEM Lab are editable, you can modify them to create your own. Revising Task Cards can help you focus student's attention on scaffolded elements of the game, in the ways that work best for your team. View these articles to learn more about customizing resources, like Task Cards, with Google Drive or Microsoft Office.
- Encourage students to include data collection when practicing. Have students time themselves completing activities, and record their results in their engineering notebooks. They can also draw any planned paths in their notebooks. This data will be helpful as they begin to create their first game strategy.