VEX EXP offers a wealth of resources and curricular support to enable you to infuse science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts into your learning space easily, creatively, and confidently using technology and engineering. VEX EXP educational offerings afford several levels of facilitation and scaffolding. They can be implemented individually or in combination to best match your teaching style and the needs and interests of your students.
What are STEM Labs?
STEM Labs are lessons that can be incorporated into your existing curriculum, utilizing multiple STEM Labs to create unique, extended learning experiences. STEM Labs promote collaboration and exploratory learning.
Classroom Competitions
Classroom competitions are a great way to promote the exchange of ideas through shared learning, and bolster the connection of a student's experiences to the world around them. VEX EXP STEM Lab Units are centered around classroom competitions, leveraging the motivation and excitement of a competition to support students' STEM learning. These Units are all designed around the Learn - Practice - Compete format.
In the Learn section, students can watch direct instruction videos from VEX Experts about engineering and coding concepts.
In the Practice section, students will apply the knowledge from the Learn videos in a practice activity. These activities are designed to help students incrementally build their skills before they get to the final classroom competition.
After practicing their coding, engineering, or strategy skills, students will move into the Compete section. Here they will participate in a full classroom competition. These competitions offer authentic applications; giving the students a way for them to understand the changing world around them through computational thinking and engineering constructs. For more information about implementing a VEX EXP STEM Lab Unit in your classroom, see this article.
Through competition participation, students are encouraged to iterate and experiment with their code, to try new things, and to actively learn from others. The goal is not simply accomplishing the task, but creating a solution that works better, faster, or more efficiently than other possible solutions.
Students can compete against each other in pairs, groups or the entire class. No matter how you want to implement your classroom competition, there is support for Facilitating an EXP STEM Lab Competition that you can follow. Each EXP Classroom Bundle contains everything you need, including configurable game fields and game objects. These fields assemble quickly in a variety of shapes and sizes, perfect for any classroom layout.
What are Activities?
VEX EXP Activities have been created for use with VEX EXP Kits to support meaningful learning experiences for your robotic curriculum. Activities are simple one page student engagements that can be completed independently as a quick lesson, learning center or as a supplement to the VEX EXP STEM Labs. Each activity focuses on a skill related to either building or coding and is enhanced with extended challenges and pro tips.
Where Do I Start?
If you are just introducing robotics to your students for the first time, it is easy to get your program up and running.
Visit teachexp.vex.com to find a walkthrough of essential VEX EXP Curricular and support resources, including a welcome video, Scope and Sequences, standards alignment, the VEX Library, Engineering Notebooks and more.
Choosing Resources Effectively
VEX EXP Platform is designed to offer a wealth of teacher resources and curricular support to enable you to infuse coding, 21st century skills, and STEM concepts into your learning space easily, confidently, and creatively. STEM Labs and Activities offer a variety of skill levels and real world connections.
In addition to a well designed, easy to implement educational program, VEX also offers educational resources at education.vex.com that bolsters a smooth learning experience for both teachers and students.
Cumulative Pacing Guide
The Cumulative Pacing Guide for the VEX EXP platform shows potential sequences and connections between STEM Lab Units and various subject areas.
Content Standards
The Content Standards and Where and How the Standards are Reached documents demonstrate how various activities align with each STEM Lab Unit. These standards include NGSS, CSTA, and ISTE, as well as state standards such as Common Core and TEKS.
Build Videos
In the EXP Teacher Portal is the Building Your First Robot and Building the EXP Clawbot videos. This video walks through how to build the BaseBot and Clawbot step by step following the build instructions.
VEX Library
The VEX Library is a library of information about all things VEX. The purpose of the VEX Library is to help VEX users quickly find information about VEX products, services, or topics. The VEX Library offers self-service support content around multiple topics and themes.
VEX Camps
STEM Labs and Activities do not need to be limited to a traditional classroom setting. VEX Camps can be offered all year around, from summer enrichment or fall fundraisers to winter break offerings or spring family fun days. This option is great if you want to provide students or community members with an extra way to get involved with engineering and coding in a fun and engaging way.
Suggested Planning Strategies
The VEX EXP platform can be well executed in a variety of ways, thus making it a valuable tool in a variety of learning environments. These highly engaging STEM materials give it a significant role in the success of a school and its students and teachers.
Consider the following as you plan to implement VEX EXP in your educational space:
- What is your time frame and/or setting? STEM Labs can give you ideas for how to guide students through creating a project or experimenting with a build. Activities can give you ideas for more independent student explorations or challenges. Are there any space constraints that you have that might affect your activities?
- Use the VEX EXP Pacing Guide to help you plan your curriculum like in the examples below:
- If you are teaching a one semester beginner VEX EXP class, you may want to start with the Beginner EXP STEM Labs and corresponding VEX EXP Activities.
- If you are teaching a one semester advanced Robotics class, you may want to do a quick refresh of skills by completing a few Activities, and then move into more intermediate/advanced STEM Labs such as Castle Crasher or Platform Placer.
- What balance of direct instruction and open-ended or hands-on exploration do you wish to have? Will you give students an Activity to follow on their own, or will you guide them through the experience as a whole group?
- Use the VEX EXP Pacing Guide to help you plan your curriculum like in the examples below:
- How will students be introduced to the concept or project? Will you use the setup of a STEM Lab to help you engage students, or will they watch a tutorial video to begin class? What prior experience can you draw on to help your students make a personal connection to the lesson content?
- How will you wrap up class? Will there be a closing ceremony for the end of the classroom competition? How will students express their voice and choice to share their learning?