D5.2.1: Tools for tangibles
integrated into TM 2
The RCX and ToonTalk prototypes are located in the Randomness "tools" section of the
WebLabs WebReports site:
http://www.weblabs.org.uk/wlplone/Tools/randomness/tool_index_html
The RCX functionalities used by the tools require version 2 of the LEGO firmware. The
latest LEGO firmware and documentation is available as part of the "LEGO
MINDSTORMS Software Developer Kit 2.5"
http://mindstorms.lego.com/sdk2point5/
In order to run the actual code, you will need to install ToonTalk version 3.68 or higher.
The installer can be found under the folder “TT_3.68_Full_Installer” at:
ftp://www.weblabs.eu.com/ToonTalk/Releases/
If you do not know how to access this site, email us and we will send you a username and
password.
To use it, you should:
1.
Download the contents of this folder to an empty local folder.
2.1
Run setup.exe from the local folder,
OR
2.2
Burn the contents of the folder to a CD, and insert it into the CD drive.
3.
Follow the on-screen installation instructions.
Alternatively, you can email us, and we will send you an installer CD.
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1.
Introduction
The goal of the tangible tools is to enable learners to create connected executable models
of a phenomenon both in a virtual world (the computer screen using ToonTalk) and in the
physical one (using the LEGO MindStorms robotic kit).
The prototype tools described here have been developed in the context of the
Randomness activity sequence with hooks to the Ecoliteracy one. We have iteratively
refined these tools on the basis of evaluation and testing with students.
Tangible random devices offer an opportunity to make pupils experience concepts of
randomness and probability starting from their intuitions. It also allows us to discuss
interesting advanced issues, such as comparisons of random generators and the properties
of random walks.
Our approach is to start developing the concept of randomness as a basis for investigating
probability. Probability at school is usually introduced via sample activities with coins,
dices or spinners. RCX-Lego tangibles provide another set of tools that augment physical
devices with computational power and link them to the computer based ones.
We have developed three LEGO robots designed ad hoc for some of our educational
goals:



shaker-bot aimed at exploring the dichotomy “predictability vs. unpredictability”;
random-bot aimed at exploring the independence of random events on their
history;
sweeper-bot aimed at exploring certain properties of random walk, e.g. an infinite
random walk covers the whole available space.
The LEGO robots are capable of logging the data of their experiments that can be
uploaded within TonnTalk for further analysis.
The tangible experiences can be revisited by pupils building ToonTalk
models/simulations of the LEGO robots and by analyzing the experimental data using the
same set of tools (e.g. the random garden) used for experimenting with random
generators on the computer.
The ToonTalk based tools includes:
 random generators: tools that produce random output while allowing the
manipulation of features such as the sample space, and probability composition;
 data analysis: numerical and graphical tools aimed at exploring the law of large
numbers and probability of events;
 animation: tools to build simple animation that can be interfaced with the output
of random generators.
More details on the use of these tools in context can be found in the activity sequence
documents.
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2.
List of tools
The following tables lists all the tools current available on the WebReports site for
randomness.
Tool
Random jump
ToonTalk Sweeper Bot
(Random Bot 2D)
Stream bar graph
Stream counter
Remove duplicates
Nest to box
Box to nest
Random gardens tools
Coin
Description
Behaviour that moves jumping
randomly around.
A vehicle that moves in a 2D area
and sweeps balls away, or
disintegrates them.
Plots a bar graph of the elements of
a stream
Counts how many times an object is
present in a stream
Removes all duplicated elements of
a box.
Converts a stack of objects on a nest
into a box.
Converts a box of objects into a
stack on top of a nest.
ToonTalks tools for exploring
random numbers generators.
coin you can toss by hitting t
Destructive random garden Picks at random one of the parts
(i.e. pictures, texts and numbers) of
the white picture.
Random Garden
Picks at random one of the parts
(i.e. pictures, texts and numbers) of
the green picture.
ToonaTalk Shaker
It is a tool that can contain one or
more balls, when it is shaked, the
balls begins moving, bouncing on
the sides of the shaker, and slowing
down according to a predefined
friction
Bounce Random Garden
Extracts an element from its
contents whenever it is touched by
another ToonTalk object.
Copy touched
this little gadget sends a copy of
whatever it touches to a nest.
D5.2.1 Tools for Tangibles integrated into TM2
Type
Animation tool
Animation tool
Data Analysis
tool
Data Analysis
tool
Generic tool
Generic tool
Generic tool
Notebook
Random
Generator
Random
Generator
Random
Generator
Random
Generator
Random
Generator
Random
Generator
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Table 1. List of Toon Talk tools.
Tool
The Random Bot 2D
(Sweeper Bot)
ShakerHarvester
The RandomBot1D
(Drunk Bot 1D)
ShakerBot
Description
Description and building instructions of the Random
Bot 2D also called Drunk Bot 2D or "Berto" (as pupils
of Class2A suggested)
Description of the RCX tool ShakerHarvester, with
images, instructions, and NQC file.
Description of the RandomBot1D with instructions for
building and running it.
ShakerBot RCX Robot
Table 2. List of RCX tools.
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