Airplane Rescue: Social Studies LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Lesson Overview The students will discuss ways that people use land and their physical environment. They will create a map that shows how the people in an imaginary region use the space and physical environment (e.g., agriculture, residential areas, transportation networks). The students will use the Airplane Rescue model (with a Tilt sensor) to fly over the map and the WeDo software to highlight facts about land use, display images, and make appropriate sound effects. These effects will depend on the tilt direction and the land use on a given region of the map. Cross-Curricular Connections Visual Arts Mathematics Literacy Science Music Physical Education Suggested Programming Blocks Used Display Text input Display Background Number input Start Wait For Tilt Sensor input Repeat Play Sound Assessment Suggestions Completed What Do You See Down There? worksheet Completed map of land use Land-use presentation program Reflective journal entry Lesson At-A-Glance Learning Outcomes Identify different features in the physical environment (e.g., mountain, lake, valley, forest, coast). Identify several different ways in which humans use and modify their physical environment. Draw a map that shows how people use land. Suggested Other Materials Poster paper Markers, crayons, colored pencils, and so on Rulers or yardsticks Aerial map of a local region (optional) Estimated Completion Time (2.5 hours + Extension) Part 1: 30 minutes Part 2: 45 minutes Part 3: 45 minutes Part 4: 30 minutes LEGO Education WeDo Materials Completed Airplane Rescue model What Do You See Down There? worksheet Airplane Rescue Social Studies Rubric Airplane Rescue Elements Inventory tracking sheet My Program tracking sheet LEGO Education WeDo Software Suggested LEGO Elements LEGO Education WeDo Construction Set 979580 LEGO Sceneries Set 779385 (optional) Assorted LEGO bricks (optional) Student Organization Part 1: Individual, Class Part 2: Class, Partners Part 3: Partners, Class, Part 4: Partners, Individual Vocabulary land natural resource use residential agricultural transportation industrial recreation commercial conservation LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 41
Connect (Part 1 30 minutes) Hand out one piece of blank paper to each student. Tell the class that they will be completing a visualization exercise, using their imaginations to warm up their brains. Have students complete the following instructions. Instructions: Sit at your desk and close your eyes. Pretend you are a bird flying high above the place where you live. Begin your flight from your home. Think about what you might see below. Pretend you are flying from your home to school. Think about what you see, hear, smell, and feel during your flight. Now, open your eyes and try to draw everything you saw during your flight from your home to the school. This image might include fields, parks, shopping centers, construction sites, highways, and more. Hints: Have students make their drawings as basic or as elaborate as time and resources will allow. Discuss the types of places and structures that students saw during their flights to school and write their ideas on the board. Highlight the different ways that the land in the community is used and things that appear at different locations. For example, at the park there is grass and trees and people having fun, exercising, or relaxing. Ask students to think specifically about the community in which they live. Guiding Questions: Are there many houses or mostly apartment buildings? Are there small shops or large shopping centers? What is the most popular way to get around? Are there farms in your community? What do the farms grow or produce? Display the Airplane Rescue model. Inform students that they will be creating their own community, using the Airplane Rescue model to fly over it, and discussing how people there use the land. 42 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Construct (Part 2 45 minutes) Using the What Do You See Down There? worksheet as a reference, write the land-use categories on the board. Hand out the worksheet and discuss each category, using examples from the local community whenever possible. Sort the list of places and the things students saw in their visualization exercise into the categories on the worksheet (e.g., the park where they play should be added to the Recreation section). Illustrate examples of land use that students have identified in their own neighborhoods and fit them into each category of land use. Allow students time to draw small pictures or write key words to help them remember what these terms mean. To practice and become familiar with the vocabulary for this lesson, have students stand in a circle and give each student an index card with a category from the worksheet written clearly in large letters (e.g., Residential, Commercial). Have students hold their cards in front of them, so that others can read it. Flying Review Instructions: Give the Airplane Rescue model to one student. Instruct the student with the model to move across the circle and fly the model to another student. Hints: Before beginning the lesson, write each category of land use (see the worksheet for this activity) on an index card. Make one for each student. When asking students to remember definitions of terms, it may be useful to refer to examples from their own community. Define key vocabulary words in writing and post them in the classroom for future reference. As they move toward their classmate, they should give an example of the type of land use their classmate is holding (visible on the index card). For example, they might say something like, I am flying over industrial land and I see factories. Once the flying student meets his or her classmate, the model will be handed over to the other student. The second student will take the first student s place and set the first student s index card on the floor. The new flying student repeats these steps and the review continues until every student has had a turn. When the categories have been reviewed and students have gained some confidence with the terminology, divide students into partners and have them build the Airplane Rescue model. Resources: What Do You See Down There? worksheet Airplane Rescue Elements Inventory tracking sheet LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 43
Contemplate (Part 3 45 minutes) Have students remain with their partner from the end of Part 2 Construct. Give each pair a large piece of poster paper and drawing utensils. Students should have their What Do You See Down There? worksheets available to use as a checklist. Tell the class that they will be working with their partners to sketch a map of a new original town, city, or country. Inform students that their maps should include examples of each type of land use, different types of structures, and features that would appear in these types of land use. Before students begin to draw, demonstrate effective planning strategies by using the What Do You See Down There? worksheet as a checklist and writing (in pencil) land use labels and boundaries on the map in the areas where they will exist. This will ensure that all categories are covered and will save revision time as students add detail to their maps. When students have added simple details (key buildings and environmental features) to their maps, walk them step-by-step through the creation of parallel programs that display the different information, images, or sounds determined by which way the Airplane Rescue model is tilted. Guiding Questions: Look at your map. Which kind of land covers the most space on your map? Which kind of map would be the most important to the people living there? Which environmental features (e.g., trees, water, mountains, valleys) did you add in these areas? Have students use their programs to highlight the four most important/prominent types of land use in their region. Use My Program tracking sheets to plan each parallel program. Hints: Students will need poster paper and your choice of art supplies. Each map should begin with a pencil sketch, for planning purposes, but it may be made into a more extensive art project, depending on the amount of time and resources available. Land-use category labels can also be reproduced, cut, and pasted onto the map for planning purposes. Students may then draw their details and environmental features (trees, buildings, and so on) around the labels. Resources: 44 My Program tracking sheet What Do You See Down There? worksheet LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Continue (Part 4 30 minutes) Give groups time to practice their presentations. Each pair will present their maps, including an explanation of the types of land-use in their new town, city, or country. One student will hold the map up for the class to see as the other student flies over the map, tilting the Airplane Rescue model to trigger the appropriate program on the WeDo canvas behind them. Provide the audience with time to ask questions after each presentation. Have students write a reflective journal entry about land-use. Guiding Questions: If you could change the way land is used in your own community, what would you suggest? What kind of land-use would you add or increase in your community? What kind of land-use would you take away or decrease in your community? Why is it so important to pay attention to how land is used? Extension Activities: Use the LEGO Sceneries Set to add elements to a map to show land-use. For example, use green bricks to show greenery in parks or black plates to indicate railroad tracks. (15 minutes) Add sound effects to the program to simulate the types of sounds you might hear in an area. For example, you may include sounds of nature in a conservation area or cheering at a soccer game in a recreational area. (15 minutes) Write a story about the day in the life of someone who lives in the town, city, or country that the student has created. Describe how that person spends time in their area and how they travel around. (30 minutes) Create a class map of the place where students live and research types of land-use in the community or region. (60 minutes) Hints: Inform students ahead of time that they should prepare to answer questions about their maps. To prepare for this, students can review the Guiding Questions from Part 1 Connect. It might be helpful to write these questions on the board. Discuss the link between land-use and conservation of natural resources. Talk about how people can help to make changes in their own community (e.g., volunteer, be active in local politics, vote, write letters or e-mails, and talk about what is important to them). Portfolio Suggestion: Add detail to and display student maps and completed programs for other students in the school or for others in the community. Resources: My Program tracking sheet LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 45
Social Studies Suggested Programming Resources: The My Program tracking sheet is a helpful tool for students to organize their program before actually going to the computer. My Program tracking sheet Demonstrating What Type of Climate or Resources Exists in the Region Created We can create a program using the WeDo software to demonstrate what type of climate or resource exists in the region we have created. We can use the Display block to show our text on the Display tab. The Display block is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 We hover over the Text input until our cursor turns into a T and type whatever we want to show on the Display tab. We can use the Display block to represent the region we have created. This is done using the Display Background block shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 There are 20 different backgrounds built into the WeDo software. They can be selected by changing the Number input. When we hover over the Number input, our cursor turns into a T. Now, we can type any number on our keyboard to select the corresponding background. We can also change the value of the Number input by left-clicking to increase the value by one and right-clicking to decrease the value by one. To create our program, we start by placing a Start block on the canvas. We attach a Display Background block to the Start block, and we set its Number input to the background that is appropriate for our region. For example, we would select a Number input of 5 for a forested region. Next, we place a Display block beside the Display Background block and write our fact into its Text input. An example is shown in Figure 3. 46 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Figure 3 Tilting the Plane in Different Directions to Show Different Background Images We can create a program that shows a different background image, depending on which way the plane is tilted. We begin the program by placing a Start block on the canvas. We attach a Wait For block to the Start block and replace its Number input with a Tilt Sensor input. This will make the program wait for an appropriate tilt before activating the rest of the function blocks. To show our desired image, we can put a Display Background block next to the Wait For block and set its Number input to 1. We place a Repeat block around these blocks to have the program continue to wait for this signal and run the program each time a particular tilt direction is detected, as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 We must create similar codes for each tilt direction of the Tilt sensor, each with different backgrounds, as shown in Figure 5. LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 47
Figure 5 If we run these programs all at once, the background in the Display tab will change, depending on which way the Tilt sensor is tilted. We can create a similar program that alternates between four backgrounds, depending on which way the tilt sensor is tilted. We can do this with one program, rather than with five parallel programs. Note: This program will only use background images one to four. We cannot select a specific background with this program. We begin the program by placing a Start block on the canvas. We attach a Display Background block to the Start block and replace its Number input with a Tilt Sensor input. Next, we place a Repeat block around the Display Background block, as shown in Figure 6. To clear the Display tab, we simply shake the Tilt sensor gently. Figure 6 Simulating the Sounds of a Particular Type of Land Use We can create a program to simulate the sounds that would be present in an area where land is used in a particular way. For example, we can use nature sounds in a conservation area or cheering sounds for a soccer game in a park. Figure 7 shows the program, which consists of a Start block and a Display Background block. The Play Sound block is placed after these and given a Number input of 11 to simulate cheering fans. Figure 7 48 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Social Studies Suggested Building Modifying the Airplane Rescue Model to Represent a Tour Vehicle We can build and customize the Airplane Rescue model to represent a tour vehicle. For example, Figure 8 shows a helicopter design that uses elements from the WeDo Construction Set. Figure 8 Adding a Tilt Sensor to the Airplane Rescue Model A Tilt sensor can also be attached to the model, as shown in Figure 9. Figure 9 Creating 3D Features on a Map The WeDo Construction Set or LEGO Sceneries Set can also be used to add objects to the map to indicate land use. For example, Figure 10 shows greenery surrounding a city skyline with lots of buildings. The map can also feature a railway track to indicate transportation in the region, using black LEGO elements, as shown in Figure 11, or a body of water, using blue LEGO elements as shown in Figure 12. These features have been created using the LEGO Sceneries Set. Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 49
Airplane Rescue Social Studies Vocabulary land natural resource use residential agricultural transportation industrial recreation commercial conservation 50 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.
Airplane Rescue Social Studies Student Worksheet What Do You See Down There? Name: Date: Use words or pictures to show how land is used in your community. Include buildings, objects, places, and vehicles. Residential Agricultural Transportation Industrial Recreation Commercial Conservation Natural Resources LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group. 51
Airplane Rescue Social Studies Rubric Name: Date: Airplane Rescue Social Studies Rubric Expectation: Needs Improvement Fair Good Excellent Demonstrates an understanding of vocabulary related to land use. /25 Uses critical and creative thinking to create a map illustrating land use in a region. Expresses and organizes ideas about land use in the local community. /25 /25 Applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. Comments: /25 5 ------------------- 10 11 ------------------ 15 16 ----------------- 20 21 ----------------- 25 Demonstrates a limited understanding of vocabulary related to land use. Uses critical and creative thinking to create a map illustrating land use in a region with limited Expresses and organizes ideas about land use in the local community with limited Applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with limited Demonstrates some understanding of vocabulary related to land use. Uses critical and creative thinking to create a map illustrating land use in a region with some Expresses and organizes ideas about land use in the local community with some Applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with some Demonstrates a considerable understanding of vocabulary related to land use. Uses critical and creative thinking to create a map illustrating land use in a region with considerable Expresses and organizes ideas about land use in the local community with considerable Applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with considerable Demonstrates a thorough understanding of vocabulary related to land use. Uses critical and creative thinking to create a map illustrating land use in a region with a high degree of Expresses and organizes ideas about land use in the local community with a high degree of Applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with a high degree of /100 52 LEGO, the LEGO logo, and WEDO are trademarks of the LEGO Group. 2010 The LEGO Group.