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Padlet 3 Discussion

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We would have to modify this, but I like the concept of this lesson. If we were actually going to do a lesson with robots, ideally we would have more than one and each group would have their own.The groups would then do all the parts of their lesson together: the measuring and the excel data entry and graphing (or a physical drawing of a graph like in the video).

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Math.2.MD.D.10

Common core State Standards

Math: Math

2: Grade 2

MD: Measurement & Data

D: Represent and interpret data

10:
Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems (see Glossary, Table 1) using information presented in a bar graph.

Download Common Core State Standards (PDF 1.2 MB)

Thought starters

1. How does hiding the transparency squares around the room affect the lesson?

2. In what ways does working in groups provide scaffolding for making the tally chart and graph?

3. How do students relate this activity to other subjects?

School Details

Jenks East Elementary School
8925 South Harvard Avenue
Jenks OK 74037

Data Provided By:

Teachers

English Language Arts Math Science Social Studies / 3 / Teacher

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Heather Zemanek reviews her third graders on data and graphing concepts they have previously learned including mean, medium, minimum and maximum. After a review, students go on a journey to find colored squares cut out of transparencies that are hidden around the room. Students graph and analyze their findings.

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Measurement Lesson Plans | Education.com

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Education.com has lesson plans that make math real for students! Use our measurement lesson plans to help students apply mathematical skills to real life situations, whether that be measuring the amount of flour for baking cookies or math problems that ask to measure the volume of a cylinder.

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2nd grade Graphing Lesson Plans | Education.com

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This could also be helpful, particularly the 23 second video that would be shown to student on how to create a simple chart in Excel.

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Excel Lesson Plan- Your First Chart | K-5 Computer Lab

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K-5 Computer Lab - Excel lesson to teach beginning excel users to enter data and create a simple chart

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This website has a few Excel lessons for upper level elementary students, depending on how far we want to go in Excel, this might be helpful.

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In this lesson elementary students create a PowerPoint presentation over the basics of CyberBullying. There are 3 links that students will need to visit to find information (they are included in...

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In the video, they put their data into an excel spreadsheet, but what if we center the lesson on learning about graphing things and analyzing those graphs?

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I don't care much for the majority of the upper level math in the video, but I like the grid they talk about. I think that if we decide to do the measurement thing, then we could use it as a size reference.

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Solar Robot
Here is a YouTube video that shows how some of the robots working! This may be able to give us some ideas on if we want to create more than one robot or help us build a specific one.

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14 in 1 Educational Solar Robot Kit (New)

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This may not apply but I wanted to still put it up in case it sparks any new ideas

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Scroll down and click on NGSS for some ideas based on grade level.

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Use solar powered technology to mix and match parts to make 14 unique solar robots. Engineer moving, rolling, and swimming robots. Robots can be used on both land and water. Make a companion dog-bot, a crawling turtle-bot, a scurrying beetle-bot, a wheel-bot, boat-bot, and more! Extremely detailed instructions with 190 mix-and-match parts.

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News | College of Engineering | The University of Arizona

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A teaching concept that lets students power up Lego robots by retrofitting them with mini solar panels is making its way out of the development stage as an effective hands-on robotics workshop with an alternative energy twist.

"Bringing the Lego robots to life using solar power is lending yet another cool aspect to the Legos, which are already great at generating interest in robotics and computer applications for students with a wide variety of backgrounds and interests," said Jane Hunter, associate director of the engineering management program at the University of Arizona and solar robots program coordinator.

The new student workshops are using solar-powered Lego robots not only for developing early interest in robotics, they're building new interest in solar energy and the engineering challenges surrounding solar as a reliable, consistent energy source, Hunter said.

The solar-powered Lego robots were a hit with students at Los Ninos Elementary School in Tucson's Sunnyside Unified School District. Workshops consisted of 5th graders who were the winners of a classroom writing contest on why they should be selected for a solar robots workshop. UA College of Engineering photo/Steve Delgado.

"We're excited that the kids are responding well. Their faces light up when they see the robots running on the power of the sun," she said. "They gain an appreciation for some of the challenges that engineers and scientists face when working with solar energy. Challenges like storage: Unless you have a method to store the energy, it must be used immediately."

Lesson plans specifically developed for the solar robots workshop by UA Engineering call for participants to spend time examining reasons to care about solar energy, including discussions about some of the long-term disadvantages of nonrenewable sources of energy, and some of the possible reasons behind the fact that less than one percent of the energy consumed by the nation comes from solar.

"It's important for students to start thinking about renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels," Hunter said. "We want them to think critically about these issues, and not just the technical side, but the issues in the larger context."

The solar robots workshops use Lego Mindstorm NXTs, the same robots featured each spring by the UA Roboclub at the Tucson Festival of Books science pavilion. The robots are retrofitted with dSolar 4W System solar panels, technology developed in 2010 by Stafford, Va.-based Dexter Industries, a maker of advanced sensors for Lego Mindstorm robots.

"A lot of folks are talking about electric cars and alternative sources of energy, and I thought it would be really cool to start powering robots with solar power," said Dexter Industries founder John Cole, on getting the idea of solar-powered Lego robots. "There are a lot of challenges to using solar, and I thought it would be useful for students and educators to get some real-world hands-on experience in actually powering something with solar," he said.

This spring, the UA College of Engineering conducted two student workshops at Los Ninos Elementary School in Tucson's Sunnyside Unified School District. Workshops consisted of two groups of 5th graders who won their seats in the workshop via a classroom essay-writing contest on why they should be selected for a solar robots workshop. The students who wrote the best essays were selected.

The solar-powered robots were also a highlight at the American Society for Engineering Education 2012 Annual Conference K-12 workshop. Educators from universities and K-12 schools around the country were introduced to the solar robots workshop concept at the ASEE workshop, with many planning to adopt the materials, including the lesson plans that are now ready for use.

The workshop provides National Science Standards-based curriculum in a hands-on format, and falls within recent engineering-focused standards established by the National Science Teachers Association, or NSTA, said J. Jill Rogers, Engineering 102 for High School coordinator and co-coordinator of the solar robots workshop program.

"Kids, robots and sunshine together make for a winning combination, where robust learning is embedded in the excitement of the lessons," Rogers said.

The UA solar robots workshops are part of the iSTEM Project, a program designed to engage youth in science, technology, engineering and math-based activities. iSTEM is supported by a $1.2 million NSF iTEST grant awarded to the University of Arizona Southwest Institute for Research on Women, or SIROW, which is collaborating with both the UA engineering and education colleges.

In the fall of 2012, the UA College of Engineering will present the solar robots workshop for students and mentors participating in the iSTEM project. And the solar robots are also scheduled to be part of the activities offered in the college's Summer Engineering Robotics Camp in 2013.

Rogers said that in addition to the mentors' workshop, the College of Engineering can also provide interested middle and high school teachers with the solar robotics lesson plans developed under the iTEST grant.

Hunter likes the momentum of the solar robots program and its strong base of science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula. "This is an effective program where we can portray engineering as a helping profession that improves people's lives," Hunter said.

More information on the UA SIROW iSTEM program can be found here: http://uanews.org/node/45937.

More information about the solar robotics lesson materials is available via email at jjillrogers@email.arizona.edu.

More information on the dSolar 4W System solar panels by Dexter Industries is here: http://www.dexterindustries.com/Products-dSolar.html.

And more information on the UA Summer Engineering Robotics Camp can be found here: http://engr.arizona.edu/future/index.php?ID=75

Educators from schools around the country were introduced to the solar robots workshop concept at the ASEE 2012 Annual Conference K-12 workshop. UA College of Engineering photo.

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Solar Powered Lego Robot Workshops Are a Hit with Students and Teachers

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A teaching concept that lets students power up Lego robots by retrofitting them with mini solar panels is making its way out of the development stage as an effective hands-on robotics workshop with an alternative energy twist.

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how.

Difficulty

Time Required

Very Short (≤ 1 day)

Material Availability

The Frightened Grasshopper toy needs to be ordered from online. See the Materials and Equipment list for details.

Safety

Adult supervision is required. The lightbulbs will be hot, so use caution to avoid getting burned by the bulbs. The Frightened Grasshopper toy should be assembled with the help of an adult since it is fragile and has some small parts.

Abstract

"How do you frighten a grasshopper? And what does that have to do with light?" These are a couple of questions you're probably asking yourself after reading the title. Well, The Frightened Grasshopper Solar-Powered Bug is actually a toy grasshopper that vibrates when it is placed in sunlight or near a lightbulb. It stores up the energy from light, and converts it into motion. You will use this fun toy to explore how the brightness of the light affects the motion of the solar-powered insect.

Objective

The objective of this electronics science fair project is to determine how varying the amount of light falling on the Frightened Grasshopper Solar-Powered Bug affects its level of movement.

Credits

David B. Whyte, PhD, Science Buddies

Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "The Frightened Grasshopper: A Solar-Powered Robot Bug." Science Buddies, 24 Mar. 2018, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Elec_p061/robotics/solar-powered-robot-grasshopper. Accessed 15 Sep. 2018.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2018, March 24). The Frightened Grasshopper: A Solar-Powered Robot Bug. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Elec_p061/robotics/solar-powered-robot-grasshopper

Last edit date: 2018-03-24

Introduction

In this electronics science fair project, you will build and test your own life-size robot grasshopper! The "Frightened Grasshopper" toy is an educational kit for the first-time electronics experimenter. It demonstrates how energy can be turned into different forms. First, radiant energy, which comes from the Sun or from a lightbulb, is turned into electrical energy by a small solar panel. A solar panel ( solar means of or relating to the Sun) is a panel that produces either electricity or heat when light shines on it. Check out Kid's Info: Answers to Questions Frequently Asked by Kids! in the Bibliography, below, to learn more about turning solar energy into electrical energy. The electrical energy from the solar panel is then used to make a small motor spin. In other words, the electrical energy is converted into kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is defined as the energy of motion. The motor has a small weight on it, which is unbalanced, so when the motor is turned on, the unbalanced weight moves, making the grasshopper wiggle and move in circles. Lots of things around your house have motors in them, including your refrigerator, DVD player, hairdryer, and computer printer, to name a few.

In this electronics science fair project, you will vary the amount of light that hits the solar panel on the grasshopper and observe how this affects its activity. To do this, you will hold the grasshopper in your hand and bring it close to a lightbulb. You will measure how close the grasshopper has to be before the motor starts to spin. The goal is to measure how the bulb's wattage (which is the amount of power; higher wattage means more light and more radiant energy) affects the distance at which the grasshopper is activated. If you want to learn more about electricity in general, you can check out the Science Buddies Electricity, Magnetism, & Electromagnetism Tutorial.

Terms and Concepts

Energy

Radiant energy

Electrical energy

Solar panel

Kinetic energy

Wattage

Average, as in math

Questions

What are the different parts of the "Frightened Grasshopper" toy?

What is the area, in square centimeters, of the solar panel on the grasshopper?

What is the definition of kinetic energy?

What part of the toy converts electrical energy into kinetic energy?

Bibliography

Energy Information Administration. (n.d.). Renewable Solar: Solar Basics. Retrieved May 6, 2015, from http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=solar_home-basics

Pacific Gas and Electric Company. (n.d.). Educational Resources-Students. Retrieved May 6, 2015, fromhttp://www.pge.com/en/safety/educationalresources/students/index.page

Harris, T. (2009). How Robots Work. How Stuff Works. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/robot1.htm

Rathjen, D. (2001). Watt's a Joule? Retrieved May 22, 2009, from http://www.exploratorium.edu/theworld/energy/joules.html

For help creating graphs, try this website:

Materials and Equipment

The Frightened Grasshopper Solar Kit, available from Jameco Electronics.

Incandescent lightbulbs; 25, 60, 100, and 150 watts (W) (1 of each). This project will not work with compact fluorescent (CFL) or light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs.

Lamp with a maximum wattage of at least 150 W (for incandescent bulbs) or 40 W (for CFL bulbs)

Lab notebook

Ruler, metric

Cloth tape measure, metric

Helper

Graph paper

in locating specialty items for individual projects. The information is provided solely as a convenience to our users. We do our best to make sure that part numbers and descriptions are accurate when first listed. However, since part numbers do change as items are obsoleted or improved, please send us an email if you run across any parts that are no longer available. We also do our best to make sure that any listed supplier provides prompt, courteous service. Science Buddies does participate in affiliate programs with Disclaimer: Science Buddies occasionally provides information (such as part numbers, supplier names, and supplier weblinks) to assist our users Home Science Tools, Amazon.com, Carolina Biological, and Jameco Electronics. Proceeds from the affiliate programs help support Science Buddies, a 501(c)(3) public charity. If you have any comments (positive or negative) related to purchases you've made for science fair projects from recommendations on our site, please let us know. Write to us at scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org.

Remember Your Display Board Supplies

Experimental Procedure

Preparing for Testing

Assemble the Frightened Grasshopper using the instructions that came with the toy. The parts that come with your kit are shown in Figure 1. Your completed grasshopper should look like the one in Figure 2.
Because the toy is fragile and has some small parts, the assembly should be done with the help of an adult.

Figure 1. Parts for the Frightened Grasshopper robot kit.

Figure 2. An assembled solar-powered grasshopper.

Make sure the grasshopper works by taking it outside and exposing it to bright sunlight. It should start to move when in the sunlight. See the video in the Introduction.

Performing the Experiment.

1. Unplug the lamp.

2. Put a 150-W incandescent lightbulb in the lamp.

3. Plug it back in.

4. Turn the lamp on.

5. Remove any sources of light, other than the lamp you are using.

1. Turn off any other lamps in the area and block sunlight from entering the room.

2. The room does not need to be very dark or pitch black. Just make sure there are no bright sources of light, other than the lamp.

6. Hold the grasshopper near the lightbulb, with the solar panel facing the lightbulb. The grasshopper should not be quivering yet.

1. Try to keep the solar panel pointing directly at the lightbulb so that you get consistent results.

2. Depending on the shape of your lamp, you may need to remove the lampshade to get close to the lightbulb. Use your judgment.

7. Have your helper measure the distance at which you're holding the grasshopper away from the lightbulb with the ruler and record the number (in centimeters, cm) in a data table, like the one below, in your lab notebook.
Use the ruler to measure the distance. If the ruler is too short, use the cloth tape measure.

Lightbulb Wattage

Starting Distance (cm)

Trial 1: Distance When Quivering (in cm)

Trial 2: Distance When Quivering (in cm)

Trial 3: Distance When Quivering (in cm)

Average (cm)

Table 1. Trial 1 Data Table

1. Move the grasshopper closer to the lightbulb, until it starts to quiver.

2. Have your helper record the distance, in centimeters, at which the grasshopper started to vibrate, in your data table.

3. Repeat steps 5-6 two more times to ensure your results are accurate and repeatable. Try to use the same starting position each time.

4. Turn the lamp off and unplug it.

5. Repeat steps 1-11 with the other three lightbulbs. You should have a total of three trials for each lightbulb.

6. Repeat steps 1-12 two more times, so you have three data tables.

Analyze Your Data

1. Calculate the average distance, as follows. Add the three trials within each data table for each lightbulb, and then divide by 3. Record the averages in your data tables.

2. Make a graph for each of your three test sets, either on paper, or using a website like Create a Graph.

1. Put the wattage (25, 60, 100, and 150 W) on the x-axis.

2. Put the average distance, in centimeters, on the y-axis.

3. How did the wattage affect the grasshopper's movement? Think about what you could do to improve the procedure.

Communicating Your Results: Start Planning Your Display Board

Create an award-winning display board with tips and design ideas from the experts at ArtSkills.

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:

Variations

Experiment with different kinds of colored plastic to see which block light from activating the grasshopper. This might be easier using filters over a flashlight.

Take the grasshopper outside at 9:00 AM on a sunny day and place it on a flat surface in the sunlight. Record the number of times it spins around in 1 minute. Repeat this test every hour until it is no longer is activated by the sunlight. Graph the time of day on the x-axis and the number of rotations on the y-axis.

Devise a way to make a sun-activated alarm clock from the grasshopper.

Ask an Expert

The Ask an Expert Forum is intended to be a place where students can go to find answers to science questions that they have been unable to find using other resources. If you have specific questions about your science fair project or science fair, our team of volunteer scientists can help. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot.

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The Frightened Grasshopper: A Solar-Powered Robot Bug

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Please ensure you have JavaScript enabled in your browser. If you leave JavaScript disabled, you will only access a portion of the content we are providing. Here's how. Difficulty Time Required Very Short (≤ 1 day) Material Availability The Frightened Grasshopper toy needs to be ordered from online.