GoPiGo Olympics

Students will research a current Olympic sport. Students will create a modified olympic sport to play with the GoPiGo robot(s).

Setup

Background Information / Resources

Introduction

      1. Show students the list of Olympic events on the Olympic website (https://www.olympic.org/sports).  Pick an event that the class is familiar with.  Ask the students, “How would you modify this sport so that someone who has a mobility impairment could play?” Or “How would you modify this sport so that someone with a hearing impairment could play?” Or “How would you modify this sport so that a toddler could play?
      2. Give students about 5 minutes to discuss with a partner or small group how the event could be modified without losing the integrity of the activity.  Considerations: What are the essential components of the event?  What portions can be changed without losing the essence of the sport?
      3. Students will then share with the class how they modified the event.
      4. Tell students that all sorts of things including sports are modified for a variety of reasons.  The Paralympics are an example of a modified version of the Olympics for people who have a physical disability.  For example, one Paralympic event is wheelchair basketball.  Almost all of the same rules apply as able-bodied basketball, however the athletes compete in specialized wheelchairs made for playing basketball. Even traveling is called in wheelchair basketball, except instead of two steps, you have two pushes of the wheels before you must dribble the ball. Several videos are linked below showing different Paralympic sports.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Procedure

      1. Tell the students that they are going to create modified Olympic sports so that they can be played with GoPiGo robots.
      2. Students will first choose a real Olympic event and research how the event works (see Student Handout - Research Graphic Organizer: Olympic Sport). Research will include the following topics: What is it? How is it played? What equipment is used? Is it an individual or team sport? How long does the event last? How is it scored? How do you win? What is the “main idea” of the sport?
      3. Students will determine the essential components of the event and which portions can be modified to work with robots.  Check with students after this step to ensure that the “main idea” of the sport makes sense.
      4. Students will then draft their ideas for a sport modified to be played with GoPiGo robots (Student Handout). Depending on the nature of the modified event, students may need access to a GoPiGo and/or Bloxter to ensure that their game will work. Students can program their robot on Bloxter.com without connecting to the GoPiGo. If students program on Bloxter.com, the program must be saved to a USB drive. After saving the program, plug the USB drive into any of the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi so that it can be accessed once connected to the robot.
      5. Once students complete their plan, students will share their plan with a peer and/or teacher to get feedback, make edits, and revise their work.
      6. Students will complete their final draft for the modified event, write any necessary code in Bloxter needed to play/ write sample code. If there are not enough GoPiGo robots for students to use to program, students can write the code in Bloxter.com on a computer and transfer the file to the GoPiGo using a USB jump drive.
      7. Once completed, students will share and play their modified Olympic events.


Conclusion

      1. Students will reflect on the process through a class discussion. Questions could include: What did you learn? What questions do you still have? What are you most proud of? What would you change if you did this assignment again?

Last modified: Monday, 30 November 2020, 10:54 AM