VEX 123 Activity Series are designed to offer a sequence of VEX 123 Activities, with supporting Teacher Notes, to create a teacher facilitated lesson with your VEX 123 materials. Teacher Notes set the stage and give context for how the Activities in the Series are connected, and offer ideas for how to communicate that thread to your students. Activity Series fall between a singular Activity and a STEM Lab in the level of facilitation needed, and the amount of scaffolding provided. They are designed to be a flexible curricular resource that can be used in any learning environment.
Teacher Notes in 123 Activity Series
Each Activity Series opens with Teacher Notes, which contextualize the Activities in the Series in terms of conceptual connections, organization, preparation, and narrative. Activity Series feature a narrative or contextual thread that links the Activities together, into a larger engagement. This context is meant to be facilitated by the teacher, to draw students in, and paint a picture of what they will be exploring, experimenting, creating, and learning about with VEX 123.
All of the Teacher Notes are offered as an example, and can be amended or adapted to best meet the needs of your students and topics of study.
The Teacher Notes consist of five main components:
Setting the Stage lays the foundation for the narrative or context setting that can be shared with students to bring the Activities to life.
The colored text box contains a narrative to share with students, that is intended to immerse them in the context. Each Activity will relate back to this narrative thread, and as students complete the Activities, they will be able to connect the 123 Robot to a part of the story or context.
Setting up the Activities highlights the connection between the Activities in the Series and the context, and gives a brief description of each Activity.
Making the Activities Your Own gives suggestions for curricular connections or extensions that you can use to adapt the Activity Series to your students and topics of study.
Setting up the Field shows how the 123 Field would be set up for the Activities, and lists Materials Needed to complete all Activities in the Series.
Curricular connections to materials or setup, like story elements, may be highlighted here as well.
Teacher Tips offers suggestions for adapting the Activity Series, like simplifying the setup or extending the engagement, as well as other useful information to aid in teacher preparation and implementation.
Activities within the Activity Series
All of the Activities in the Series are included following the Teacher Notes section. The Activities are designed to be used in sequence, but can be used individually as well. Each Activity follows the format of the 123 Activities. To learn more about Using 123 Activities in Your Classroom, see this VEX Library Article.
Using 123 Activity Series in Your Setting
123 Activity Series are flexible lessons that can easily be adapted in terms of time, scope, and curricular connections to best suit a variety of educational environments. Each Activity Series offers opportunities for integrated Computer Science concepts into other curricular areas, like literacy, and can be easily used in conjunction with existing curriculum in your daily schedule, to bring learning to life with your 123 Robot. For instance, students can retell the plot of a story with their 123 Robot to show their reading comprehension, or enact a story that they have written with their 123 Robot.
Activity Series are not time restricted, so lend themselves well to a variety of implementations. You may wish to use the Activity Series as a whole class engagement, and set the context and work through the Activities together with students in their groups. Or, you may set the context in a class Meeting Time, and use the Activities in a 123 Learning Center.
123 Activity Series are also ideal for informal education settings, like clubs, camps, or after school programs. These environments can offer time and space to extend the Activities and involve students in the setup of the Field, creative applications of the Art Ring, and much more.
123 Activities in the Teacher Portal
All of the 123 Activity Series can be found in the Teacher Portal hub. Each Activity Series is a multiple page editable Google doc, that can be downloaded and printed, or accessed on any classroom device. Activity Series are continually updated and added, so check back for new 123 Activity Series throughout the year.
To learn more about teaching with 123 Activity Series, see the Incorporating VEX 123 Into Your Curriculum VEX Library article.