Coding Fun with Robots

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by Kerri Lambert, OIT Teacher Specialist

Over the last several years, there’s been a push for students to learn coding in schools. Nationwide events such as the Hour of Code, held every December, have brought this valuable skill to the forefront and for good reason. Coding teaches children how to problem solve, fosters creativity, and develops computational thinking skills among a host of other reasons, including it’s just plain fun!

Yes, I said fun. You read that correctly. Fun is still allowed in school. 😊 And what’s more fun than programming a robot? Instructional robots have been becoming popular in AACPS for several years, and while COVID put a damper on them for a while, they’ve been making a comeback this school year with several schools purchasing them for use in media centers, clubs, and in classrooms.

There’s a robot for every grade level and comfort level that you can imagine, and AACPS has many robots that are approved for instructional use. Botley, indi and Beebots are perfect for our youngest learners and are screenfree. Botley and Beebots use directional arrow buttons to code the bots around the designated work space. BeeBots are coded around a grid mat; have him spell out high frequency words, sequence story events, even travel around town using cardinal directions!

Indi uses color coded tiles to tell him what to do; students lay the tiles out in a path, and indi drives over them. Challenge students to create paths that form different shapes or letters, paths of different lengths, or create puzzles for their classmates to complete.

The idea of coding each of these robots is simple, but offers important lessons in perseverance,
working as a team, and creativity. More importantly, students learn HOW to think, also known as computational thinking, as they problem solve how to get the robot to do what they want it to do. After one robotic lesson done during media with media specialist Katie Murtaugh, Park Elementary students were asked “What is something new you discovered today? Students responded with:
  • 'That when we work together we can do a better job solving problems.'
  • 'When we made a plan first, we didn't get so frustrated.'
  • 'It's more fun when we work together.'
  • 'I want Botley for Christmas!'
Important life lessons to be sure- and really, is there any higher praise than a child saying that they want something for Christmas?

Older elementary, middle, and high students can also join in on the robot coding fun with options such as Wonder Workshops Dash and Cue, and Sphero’s SPRK+ and Bolt robots. All four robots can be programmed using block coding, with Cue, SPRK+ and Bolt also being able to be coded using javascript, a text based code. While this may seem intimidating for teachers, students have little trouble learning how to use these programs. A brief introduction is all they need to get started, and both companies provide scaffolded lessons so that students can learn at their own pace.

At Riviera Beach Elementary, media specialist Stephanie Wineke reports that grade 3-5 students had so much fun learning and working with Sphero. From bowling, to coding matrix animations, to creating programs to drive Sphero over their bridge, these students really did it all. Wonder Workshop’s Dash and Cue robots have the added feature of allowing students to record custom sounds that can be incorporated into their programs. Create a historical timeline and have robots explain key events or have them retell a story dressed in character; they can even participate in the robot olympics! The content connections are really endless.

Have I peaked your interest in the possibilities of using robots with
students? If so, OIT has a website devoted to the instructional robots approved for use in AACPS. Part of the site is geared towards students with activities that they can do on their own in centers or makerspaces. The teacher side of the site compares the different robots side by side, offers pricing information, lesson ideas, and other resources to help administrators, teachers or club leaders implement coding with robots in their school. As always, if you’re interested and want to learn more, reach out to your teacher specialist in OIT!

        


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