How coding can used for RC Cars

 Hello my fellow blog readers!

Today I have a very different and special blog for you! A guest speaker who is a math consultant was brought in and introduced a variety of new manipulatives I’ve never used before. Many of them had to do with coding which was a new concept for me when I entered post secondary. If you weren’t aware, the mathematics curriculum has been updated to include coding in mathematics. Many of the tools I will showcase below could be implemented into the classroom as we adapt to the world of coding.

The first thing the math consultant introduced us to was an activity called leapfrog. If you are unsure of the math problem I’d suggest googling before you continue reading this blog! In summary you have x amount of chairs (has to be odd greater than 3) and x-1 frogs. The frogs will be split into two groups with one starting on each side and must switch sides. The only way they can move is in an open spot next to them or by hopping over a member on the other team. When you break this problem down into the least amount of moves it takes, it turns into a beautiful mathematical problem. Below is a copy of the work me and my group members did when trying to solve the problem for any value of x (Linear equation).

When you break down the problem into slides (‘S’) and jumps (‘J’) the problem becomes a lot clearer. You can use prompts such as asking students what’s the fastest way to move. Students should quickly realize the jump crosses more spaces and can work to build an algorithm that maximizes the amount of jumps. Working with students through a problem like this can help them break it down into little steps. As an extension, students could have the ability to program this algorithm. 

The next task we did was something I had never done before. We used a texas instrument calculator that was hooked up to a program and an rc car. After playing with the program a bit, me and my colleague Jessica had time to create basic shapes. After completing this, we decided to personalize it and even wrote her name! Here were the results:

Although it took a bit, we were able to successfully spell out “JESS”!!! I found this activity to be extremely cool and engaging. Since we had a relatively fun goal, the time went by so fast we were tricked into learning. Even an activity like this can be so simple as a way to introduce students to loops and blocks where they need to repeat a letter. Since we had to draw “S” twice, we copied our code once we repositioned to the bottom left draw point. 

In conclusion, mathematics can be extremely fun and it is our duty as educators to provides students with engaging opportunities 

Hope to see you all next week!

Madison Salmond