The magnitude of the earthquake was increased, for example, up to level 8. Have your students predict what would happen to building A, B, and C if Have your students explore more elements that affect the buildings’ resistance to vibrations. Keep in mind that these tasks extend upon those in the “Investigate” section and are designed for older or more advanced students. Use the “Investigate more” section of the student project as an optional extension. Investigate more (optional, 45-60 minutes) Have your students collect their answers with text or pictures in the Documentation tool. Sometimes flexible structures or materials are more resistant than stiff and strong ones. Does “resistant” mean the same thing as “strong”?.How are modern buildings designed to withstand earthquakes?Īrchitects and engineers use structures, principles, and simulations to test.Structural designs and various materials are other important factors to consider when testing building resistance. What other factors would be important to investigate?.They were changed only one parameter at a time. How did you ensure that the tests were kept fair each time?.Structures that are tall or skinny are generally less stable and are more likely to fall when submitted to lateral forces. What did you notice about the relationship among the size of a building’s footprint, height, and ability to withstand the impact of an earthquake?.This means that at this point, your students’ answer may be incorrect. This answer should serve as the students’ hypothesis. What elements can influence the resistance of buildings during earthquakes?.1–10, the stronger the vibrations of the earth are. Scientist rate earthquakes on a scale they call the Richter scale. How do scientists rate the strength of an earthquake?.What causes earthquakes and what are the hazards they create?Įarthquakes are vibrations of the earth’s crust caused by the movement of the tectonic plate.Have students document their comprehension, and refer back to these questions again during and after the Create phase. As a teacher, there is no greater satisfaction than a child fist-pumping the air when they finally see the efforts of their labour re-created in front of their eyes.Īnd thanks to MIT, LEGO WeDo sensors also work with “Scratch” (at least up to v1.During the Explore phase, these questions are intended to elicit students’ initial ideas and/or summarize prior learning to evaluate the performance expectation for this project. What I love about LEGO WeDo, aside from it being tactile and engaging, is that it encourages students to persevere when solving problems. Students quickly learn the simple click-and-drag icons to activate a motor, which might also be dependent on a sensor, in a logical and sequential schema.įor the more capable, and even older students of Grades 3 & 4, LEGO’s WeDo programming platform also allows for mathematical operations and display effects, as a stepping-stone to game design and entertainment. The fun and learning is enhanced when the programming of the models is introduced. Students then follow the build process step by step using the same LEGO instructions we have grown accustomed to, as they work collaboratively in learning described by Dr Seymour Papert as Constructionism. One example is by choosing an activity from the 12 themed options. There are multiple ways to guide the students along the learning path. As with other LEGO Education products it follows the 4 C’s process – Connect to a story, Construct a model, Contemplate its function, and Continue improving its design. LEGO WeDo is a robotics hardware and software platform specifically designed for Kindergarten to Grade 2 students.

Lego we do instructions