Edison the maze racer
Teacher’s notes
The Edison the maze racer lesson set by Robert Spargo is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Doc 3.2.4.5.4.2.1 Rev 1.1
About this lesson and guide ....................................................................................... 3
Lesson overview ........................................................................................................ 4
Section 1 – What is a Euler Path? .............................................................................. 5
Section 2 – What is an input? ..................................................................................... 5
Section 3 – What is an output? .................................................................................. 6
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www.edblocksapp.com 2
This guide offers teachers and instructors overview information, facilitation
recommendations and other supporting information for the Edison the maze
racer lesson available at Edison the maze racer.
Do you need to read this whole guide to run the lesson? Absolutely not!
As long as the robots and programming devices are set up1, you can start learning
along with your students! The student sheets for this lesson have been designed to
allow students to work through the stages of the lesson independently, learning key
computer science concepts and practicing skills along the way. This guide simply
offers further information for teachers and instructors to help make using this lesson
easy and fun.
Each section of the lesson is included in this guide along with any relevant
supporting information for that section. Supporting information is divided into the
following sections:
How it works
Information about the technology and computer science concepts being
highlighted in that section.
Delivery recommendations
Suggestions for how you can cover the lesson section if you want to run the
lesson in a more facilitator-led capacity.
Tips and tricks
Helpful hints and ways to overcome common issues students may encounter.
The Edison the maze racer lesson set is comprised of the student sheets and this
guide. This set was developed using resources from the EdBlocks Lesson Activities
Collection2 and the EdScratch Lesson Plans Set3 and is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License4.
Developed by: Robert Spargo
Original illustrations by: Emma Dewar
1 The Getting started with Edison and EdBlocks set available at Edison the maze racer has step-by-
step help for setting up your robots and programming devices. If you are new to Edison or EdBlocks,
it is recommended you start with that guide.
2 https://meetedison.com/robot-programming-software/edblocks/#edblocks-resources
3 https://meetedison.com/robot-programming-software/edscratch/#EdScratch-resources
4 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
www.edblocksapp.com 3
Introduce the key computational concepts of inputs and outputs using Edison robots
and the EdBlocks programming language5. This lesson utilises the Edison robot’s
drive function through a set of progressive programming tasks.
For students to create programs for the Edison robot to ‘trace’ (ie. drive in the pattern
of) the Euler path shape mazes of choice requires the application of sequential
thinking and an understanding of the input-process-output cycle.
Grade levels Difficulty Prerequisites Duration
Year 2 – Year 6 Beginner None6 40-50minutes
Sequential programming
Inputs (including input parameters)
Computer science and computational Outputs
thinking topics Pattern recognition
Decomposition and problem solving
• Full set of Edison robots and EdComm programming cables
• Full set of prepared programming devices (computers or tablets)
• 4x AAA batteries per robot
• Print-outs or digital copies of the student sheets
• Print outs of the Euler path maze activity sheets
• Blank paper and black markers for students to create their own mazes
• EdSketch kit or Lego compatible bricks to build a pen holder
It’s okay not to know! Respond to student questions and struggles with phrases
like:
• “I don’t know. Let’s figure this out together.”
• “Technology doesn’t always work out the way we want.”
• “Learning to program is like learning a new language; you won’t be fluent
right away.”
And don’t forget to have fun! (^_^)
5 https://meetedison.com/robot-programming-software/edblocks/
6 You and your students should be familiar with Edison and EdBlocks already, however. The Getting
started with Edison and EdBlocks set available at Edison the maze racer has a step-by-step activity
for introducing Edison and EdBlocks. If this is your first-time using Edison or EdBlocks, start with that
guide and activity.
www.edblocksapp.com 4
Start off the lesson with a quick exploration of Euler Paths and Euler Circuits. Euler
circuits and Euler’s formula are very important for mechanical engineering and are
great to introduce to students early, but the complex formulae may be confusing for
younger students.
Ask students if they have ever tried drawing shapes or letters without lifting their
pencil. A Euler path shape can be explained by showing a variety of different shapes
and seeing which ones can be traced without lifting your pencil or backtracking.
Discuss what the shapes have in common with each other and see if your students
can identify the characteristics of a Euler path shape. As a class, come up with a few
definitions! You can show a few different Euler path shapes on the whiteboard, there
are examples attached to this guide.
• Recommended time: 5-10 minutes
• If you have time, letting students trace or draw some shapes themselves
would be a good way to plan and familiarise themselves with the instructions
they will need to provide Edison with.
Before starting to program Edison, students should have a grasp of sequence and
what an input is.
Understanding the input-process-output cycle and the roll of sequence in structuring
programs is one of the most important aspects of learning to code.
• Recommended time: 10 minutes
• If students are new to programming, you may want to work through an
example by describing the sequential order required to move in the pattern of
a shape (square or triangle should be relatively simple). You can have
students then translate this pattern into code blocks and discuss why it’s
important that the blocks are arranged in a particular order to get the outputs
you are looking for.
• If students are new to EdBlocks, you may want to showcase each of the three
drive blocks (drive forward, turn left and turn right) to the whole class.
www.edblocksapp.com 5
• If this is your student’s first-time using sequence, try asking them to develop a
simple set of sequence instructions for a task such as making a sandwich and
have another student act out the steps. This is a great way to show students
the importance of sequence and encourages them to not overlook steps.
Explore the output of code input in action. Students create their own program to drive
a Euler path maze. The mazes are attached to the student handouts and will need to
be printed in at least A3.
This section introduces the concept of an output. Students then work through two
programming tasks. First, they choose a Euler path maze (using the activity sheets)
and use the ‘drive’ block category in EdBlocks to create a program to direct Edison
through the maze. The second task is a semi-open-ended challenge, asking
students to design their own Euler path maze (or solve another maze via the activity
sheets), then program their robot to drive it. There’s no real ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to
complete this programming section. Any program that meets the criteria of ‘drive
Edison through the maze’ is okay. This is an important concept for students to begin
to understand. There are many solutions to a problem in programming, which makes
it highly creative!
• Recommended time: 35 minutes
• Ensure the mazes are printed on at least A3 paper, A4 will likely be too small.
• If students are having a difficult time getting Edison to navigate the maze, it
may be beneficial for them to change the speed setting to slow, so they can
more accurately control the actions of Edison.
• Resilience is key in programming! If students are getting stuck with this
section, help them break down what they are trying to do into smaller chunks,
then work out a solution for each part one at a time. Practicing decomposition
in this way is a valuable computational thinking skill.
• If students are new to EdBlocks, be sure to share with them that any code
blocks in the programming area that are NOT attached to the ‘start’ block will
not download to the robot. This is really helpful in this section because
students can test sections of their coding solution by attaching just those
blocks to the ‘start’ block in EdBlocks, then downloading and running the
program in Edison. They don’t need to delete the other blocks. Instead, they
can leave the rest of their program in the programming area unattached to the
‘start’ block. This way students don’t need to start over from scratch each time
they want to check just one section of their code.
www.edblocksapp.com 6
• There are several different types of drive blocks in EdBlocks. For this activity,
students need to use both the ‘drive forward’ and the ‘drive [direction] for
[time]’ blocks:
Remind students to use the right type of ‘drive’ block in the right spot of the
program.
• Tell students they can change the time by clicking on the number and typing
in their desired time, anything from 0.01 to 320. Time is in seconds.
• If students are having issues with Edison turning, advise them to add in some
wait blocks between movements, as this will allow Edison to stop momentum
before attempting a turn.
• The distance parameter may have to be slightly changed after a turn as
Edison does not turn perfectly on a spot and instead drives slightly forward. It
is very likely the mazes will need to be solved with a decent amount of trial
and error.
• If Edison’s wheels catch the edge of the activity sheet’s paper, this can throw
the robot off slightly. You can fix this by taping the activity sheet down or
replicating the activity sheet’s pattern on a larger piece of paper.
• If you want to highlight the idea that many different solutions are possible, split
your students into groups for this activity and give each group the same maze
to work with. Have each group demonstrate their solution for the class.
Discuss the differences and similarities in each group’s program and highlight
how, even if they are different, by meeting the criteria, they are still all correct.
Even if the students choose the same route through the maze, it is possible
that the programs that they wrote will be different.
What should I do if a student finishes the lesson early?
• Encourage students to write another program for Edison in EdBlocks. What
do the other blocks do? What can they get their Edison robot to do using code
in EdBlocks? Design a maze that incorporates making noises or flashing
lights at certain spots.
• Or, ask students who finish early to help classmates who are having trouble
with the activity.
www.edblocksapp.com 7
Euler Path shape examples:
www.edblocksapp.com 8
