Kitronik Lesson in a Box – Simple Robotics for the BBC micro:bit

Kitronik Lesson in a Box – Simple Robotics for the BBC micro:bit

Designed by Teacher’s and tested by Pupil’s to save you time when teaching Simple Robotics (Computing, Physics, D&T) to Pupils ranging from 8+, 11+, 14+.

Description:

The Lesson in a Box (Simple Robotics) is a complete set of electronics and teaching resources to enable successful cross-curricular lessons with minimal teacher effort. The kit and teaching resources have been tried and tested by real pupils and developed by real teachers to save you time.

In developing this box we wanted it to be affordable, useful and robust enough for teachers to use again and again. The resources cover the curriculum specifications and also personal development by encouraging pupils to view traditional STEM/STEAM activities as having value across their curriculum.

All of the teaching resources are set out in a teacher, ‘user-friendly’ way, including technicians’ notes, lesson plans, and workbooks or worksheets. These are supplied in Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint formats as well as PDFs, which can be copied, modified, and printed to suit your own teaching style. There is also a quick start guide to the Lesson in a Box kit that gives an overview of the whole box including a summary of your new lessons, how to set up your kit, how to use the microbit, code examples and more!

The robots utilse the BBC microbit and our Klip Motor Driver board designed specifically for this type of activity! It requires no soldering and is all connected by crocodile clips. The advantages of the microbit are that, while being easy to use, it can be coded with languages that suit every ability level. 

This cross-curricular kit has been designed for DT, Computing, and Physics, heavily leaning towards D&T. The provided material is segregated into targeted pupil age groups: 8+, 11+, and 14+. Also included are documents detailing alignment with US and UK curriculums. 

• DT– Your robots are all about the design process.
• Computing– Your robots are all about the robot’s code. 
• Physics – Your robot is all about speed and velocity. 
• Enrichments & Open Days – It’s all about experimentation and fun.

Improvements:

We have made many improvements to the kit, to make it easier to build and more robust post-build. For every step of the process, we have carried out testing in schools to ensure that we’ve addressed the needs of the teachers and pupils. These improvements are listed below;

• The motors:
  • The motors now come with clip wire pre-attached (permanently).
  • Are mounted on the chassis in a more robust way that also improves the aesthetics.
• The Cardboard Chassis:
  • Redesigned to make it much easier to assemble.
  • Locating points added for the elastic band.
  • Motors are now securely mounted on the chassis, it looks and performs better.
  • Holes were added for clip wires, allowing for easier connection.
  • The chassis now provides a more robust way of holding the ping pong ball.

Features:

• The Lesson in a Box Simple Robotics Pack is a complete set of electronics and teaching resources to enable successful cross-curricular lessons with minimal teacher effort.
• No soldering is required for technicians or students.
• The kit and teaching resources have been tried and tested by real pupils and developed by real teachers.
• The kit includes technicians’ notes, lesson plans, resources and workbooks or worksheets.
• The kit has been designed to be used over and over again, all component parts were chosen/designed with this in mind.
• Packaged in a sturdy reusable Grantnells tray that will keep the kits together and safe in between uses.
• It’s fun to teach and fun to learn!

Contents:

There are 10 student and 1 teacher sets of Electronics (11 sets in total) supplied in a large reusable Gratnells tray. Each set includes:

• 1 x Kitronik Klip Motor Driver Board for BBC micro:bit.
• 2 x Geared Hobby motors. (With wires permanently pre-soldered in place)
• 2 x 5 Spoke Injection Moulded Wheels for TT Motors.
• Clip leads. (With 4 leads already attached to the motors.)
• 1 x ping pong ball for robot castor.
• A simple chassis template.
• A USB Drive containing all resources and the robot chassis template.

The USB drive contains:

• Quick start guide for teachers and technicians.
• 8+ Resources and Lessons.
  • 6 Lesson Folders – With full documentation.
• 11+ Resources and Lessons.
  • Computing.
  • D&T.
  • Physics
• 14+ Resources and Lessons.
  • Computing.
  • D&T.
  • Physics.
• Enrichment and Open days.
  • Robot Dance Challenge.
  • Obstacle Avoidance Robot Challenge.
• Robot Assembly Poster.
• Suggested Specifications UK Simple Robotics
• Suggested Specifications US Simple Robotics

Requires:

• 1 x microbit per robot.
• 3 x AA batteries per robot.
• Cardboard for making the chassis templates. These can be either laser cut (DXF file in technicians Notes) or hand cut from old reprographic boxes, or equivalent (card about 2-3mm is ideal). A paper template for cutting by hand is also included in the Technicians Notes.
• Rubber Bands.
• Tape/Glue.

Resources:

• What is Lesson in a box and who is it for.
• Video: Overview of Lesson in a box.

• Tech Talk Livestream playback – Lesson in a box – The concept – Join Caroline Keep, Alasdair Trench & Kevin Spurr.