Heretaunga Ararau and robotics

This term our junior children have been really busy exploring the robots. Everybody that starts school and joins the group is enthusiastic and keen to play. By letting the children explore and share the robots they have learned many of the basics and show confidence at making them go.
My job as the teacher is to move them on to being more deliberate and accurate.
Recently we worked with grids that the robots move on. The children's job was to programme a path so the robot would get to a specific destination.

Ultimately, this will lead to work with coordinates in future years.
At the moment, we are just trying to get our car robots to different parts of the fairground!

Working on Resilience and Perseverance with LEGO

Lately, the senior classes have been investigating our Lego EV3 robotics. They have had to draw on their knowledge of scratch programming (scratch.mit.edu) to understand how to programme the robots.
After a brief chance to explore the software and take control of the robots, the children were asked to work on a specific challenge of making the robot follow a line.

This requires them to:

• Test and alter their programmes.
• Think about and use decimals and measurements.
• Share with team members and solve problems.
• deal with mistakes and work on their growth mindset.

Of course, they also had a great deal of fun while trying to be successful!

Learning to code with Scratchjr

Recently we have been learning to fundamentals of coding using ScratchJr on the iPad. ScratchJr is a block-based coding language developed specifically for young children. The use of blocks allows the children to combine instructions without being hampered by spelling or formatting issues often present in more common programming languages.

Coding is very powerful for children as it allows them to take control of the technology and make it do what they want rather than just consuming things offered up by others. As we move on to more sophisticated robots, we will need more skills in coding. Most of Frimley's robots can be controlled using some type of block language so scratchjr provides a solid foundation for the learner.

Why do we call it coding and not programming?
It is common to refer to this activity as coding rather than programming. This is because we are creating a series of instructions that gets translated by the device (A code that can be understood once translated).
Progamming uses the machine code to tell the device's CPU (central processing Unit) chip what to do and is extremely complicated. This is the relm of the computer scientist rather than a developer. For a much better explanation check out this post.

Robots and Spatial Awareness

Since the beginning of the term, all classes at Frimley have been learning the basics of programming robots. Every child has had the experience of creating a series of instructions for the bots to follow. We've been building our common language and learning the codes that each machine recognises.

The children have been encouraged to think more attentively about the meaning of forward and backward as well as left and right. Many are beginning to realise that these positions relate to their own position or that of the robot. This is an important cognitive skill that can only be developed with many chances to explore the idea. To enhance our understanding, we have been wearing brightly coloured bands on our right wrists to act as a constant visual marker while working with the robots.

Links about spatial awareness:
Occupational Therapy for Children - Spatial Awareness

Robotics and The Maths Curriculum

As our children give instructions to the robots, they are working on a number of geometry objectives. Because the robots are so engaging, they often take on activities aimed at higher levels.

Geometry - Position and orientation (NZC)
Level 1 (Years 1 and 2)Give and follow instructions for movement that involve distances, directions, and half or quarter turns.
Describe their position relative to a person or object.

Level 2 (Years 3 and 4)
Create and use simple maps to show position and direction.
Describe different views and pathways from locations on a map.

Level 3 (Years 5 and 6)
Use a co-ordinate system or the language of direction and distance to specify locations and describe paths.