Jousting with Sphero Robots

The arena buzzes with anticipation, the roar of the crowd echoes across the land. Banners displaying noble crests flutter in the wind, and trumpets sound the fanfare calling the contenders forward. Lords, Ladies and mythical creatures from all over, I welcome you to the Jousting Tournament!

Pre-Lesson Preparation

Hello Everyone welcome to my Jousting Tournament Activity; today we will be combining Arts and Crafts with Coding. Now it’s important to note that I originally planned this activity to last for 45mins to an hour however it did take my group a little bit longer than an hour to finish everything and that includes the clean-up step so please adjust the timing of things to best fit your group, and it would be best to split it over two days. Just remember my activity is scheduled for a one day session.

Additionally, this lesson was designed in mind that the participants have already been exposed to Sphero coding and are comfortable using the robots with little to no support.

For this activity the following supplies are required;

• Sphero robots (I use the Sphero minis at my site)
• Cups that will fit over the top of the robot
• A straw and paper that will be used to create your jousting lance.
• iPads with the Sphero Edu app installed
• An assortment of random art supplies that can be used to make knights unique

Lastly, the format for the Lesson time written below is as if you were teaching the lesson, instances of // are used to make side notes for you to adjust the lesson for your specific groups' needs.

This image contains a sample of random art supplies that can be used for the creation of the knight. It's always best to use what you have instead of buying new so recycled knights are the cat's pajamas.

Lesson Time

Introduction

Hello everyone and thank you all for joining me today, I’ve got a lot of fun things planned for you all. First we are going to go over some expectations, then we are going to discuss a little about knights and then we are going to get into the activity part of the program and let you build and joust your knight.

Community Expectations

//These are the community expectations I used for my group, please modify as needed. I used the “I Can” language format as it provides a more positive outlook on the rules as well as gives them a chance to read it out loud and cementing the content in their heads.

• I can be kind to myself and others.
• I can listen to directions and create a positive experience for all.
• I can hold my personal conversations until work time.

Ice Breaker – Dissecting a knight

What is a knight?

//provide a chance for the participants to think, pair, share and then ask for volunteers to share what they talked about.

A knight is a brave champion who would defend their country from;     

• Invaders
• Injustice      
• Dragons
• Unicorns

Today you will be given the opportunity to create your own knight and then defend your honor in an epic jousting tournament.

Crafting Time

Okay everyone it is time to start making your knight.

1. Craft a shield. Using cardboard and paint create a shield that your knight will proudly display. Remember to add your family crest. A family crest displays victory and triumph from your family’s past; be it a beast that was slain or a symbolism of honor and justice as the knights shield is facing outwards a message of just who your Knight is shared with friends and foe alike.
2. Crafting your jousting lance. To craft your jousting lance, you will need a straw and a piece of paper. You are going to roll your paper into a cone shape and then tape or hot glue the paper down. Then do the same with the straw inside.
3. Next design a face for your knight, you can find a coloring sheet on the internet or draw your own using the sketchpad app.
4. Once you have your knight made it is time to give them a back story. Please either write down who your knight is or using the pages app write out who your knight is. (You can look at the attached image for the sample questions I used)

Image of Sphero Cup knight; given with permission

Jousting – Da Rules

Now it’s time to discuss the rules of the joust

1. Two knights will enter the arena at a time.
2. Any knight that leaves the arena or is defeated (the cup falls off of the Sphero) loses.
3. As we are all knights of honor we will be good sports and thank our fellow knight for the match.

This is an image of a handcrafted puppet holding up a scroll saying "Da Rules". It was created using an AI art generator by a staff of the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County and given permission to be used.

Jousting

//During this section you will have your participants place their knights on top of the Sphero and when you say go have them charge at each other. This session of the activity utilizes the Sphero coding app and can be modified depending on the comfortability, timing and challenge you would like to provide.

                             //Drive: The drive-based coding allows those who are not as strong with coding the opportunity to succeed. If you are low on time this is a faster way for the kids to get the coding aspect done. 

//Block Based and Standard Typing: The Sphero app also offers opportunity for users to try a block based and standard typing of coding, if you have enough time or are looking to challenge your participants having them use these methods are a good go-to. Now it is time for the joust!!!! Will the following knights enter the arena ____________ and _________.

--using a standard tournament bracket style have the knights joust until everyone has had an opportunity to participate, if your group can handle someone “winning” the tournament then you can present them as the grand champion of the joust—

Clean-up

Okay everyone, now that we’ve wrapped up our jousting it’s time for the most important step of all…(pause for dramatic effect) It’s clean-up time! In order to be respectful to yourself and the other people who use this space we need to get it cleaned up within the next 3 minutes.

Reflection

//Holding a reflection section is very important for our participants and educators as it lets everyone know if the activity was fun and the appropriate level of challenge. For our reflection will use the exit ticket method, depending on your participants you can present it as questions on the board that anyone can answer, you can have it as a physical piece of paper for them to write on or you can create a forms tab that you could collect typed (by hand or using the speech-to-text tools) or collect a recorded response.

• Did we have fun?
• What did we enjoy most about the program?
• What do we think would make the experience even better in the future?
• Did anyone have a good learning moment from today?