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Robotics Academy Curriculum for the NXT: A Brief Review

By Rick Rhodes

(NOTE: Volume I of this curriculum teaches students to apply measurement and geometry to the NXT. It is not covered in this review).

This is a complete curriculum for teaching students about NXT hardware and software. (NXT-G is the only programming language covered).

The curriculum teaches students to build three different NXT models, to program them to do different tasks and to reflect on their experiences. The three models are a caliper, a guard dog and a mining robot that investigates tunnels. Lesson plans for teachers are included.

PROS-
*Outstanding instructional videos for teaching students to build and program. (The videos are flash files playable in any web browser).
*Detailed worksheets for student reflection
*A wide range of programming levels are covered, from beginning to advanced.

CONS-
*The price: $225.00
*Some of the worksheets and powerpoints use technical language beyond the range of some young students. (These, of course, can be reworked by teachers).

The curriculum is available from the Robotics Store: store.robomatter.com

TEACHERS: Let us know if you have used this curriculum and what your experience has been. And feel free to post questions if you'd like more details about the curriculum.

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