Robotics, Coding & Beyond

The new year brought new members to our after school Robotics & Coding club. We had 30 students in the library for the first meeting of 2015. Thankfully, we also had two parents helping!

It was so fun to see the number of students who had received either a Sphero or an Ollie for Christmas! I encouraged them to bring their own Sphero & device, and they did!

The first thing we did was participate in a Google Hangout with a young man who has graduated with a degree in computer science and currently works as a programmer. Aaron happens to be friends with my oldest daughter and was kind enough to visit with our students about opportunities they might have if they learn computer coding.

He works in Austin, Texas for a start up company, but has also worked for Samsung. Aaron shared how he has people who approach him about jobs, having received an email just that day about a job opportunity. I wanted the students to know that although it is fun playing with the Sphero robotics balls, that it could lead to more. With House Bill 5, students will choose a focus in high school. One of the strands is STEM. Robotics and coding feed right into this, and I hope that through our after school club, students might decide that this is something they are interested in.

The students listened intently as Aaron shared that he did not do any coding until he got into college and how he was impressed that they were doing these things in elementary school. It was also very interesting to hear him say that the majority of the people he works with are men, but the few women he works with are very talented. We have quite a few girls in the club, and I saw smiles on their faces as he said this. It made me wonder how many of them might go into this field when they finish school.

After we finished visiting with Aaron, Dr. Keith talked to the students about an early form of coding-- Morse code. Some of the students were familiar with Morse code, and were excited to share what they knew. Dr. Keith talked to the students about using Morse code to program the Sphero balls. 

We are using the SPRK Education Program on the Sphero website. These lessons are a great way to extend the learning with Sphero. With these lessons, students learn to program Sphero and Ollie, instead of just driving them with an iPad app. 

Our after school club keeps growing and it will be exciting to see what all they learn this school year. I would love to hear from others who are using Sphero robotics balls and Ollies in the elementary school. 

Coding & Robotics Week 3

This week, during our Coding & Robotics club time, our students were actually able to program the Sphero Robotics balls using the app MacroLab.  Thankfully, Dr. Keith explained all of this to the students!

He started our club time by showing the students that they could actually do more with the Sphero balls that just drive them using the iPads as a remote control. Using our big screen, he demonstrated how to command the Sphero to do what you want it to do using an app called Sphero Macrolab.

Basic programming was explained to the students, as well as degrees and angles. The Sphero Macrolab site says, "The macro system we have developed for Sphero has very practical applications, such as teaching kids procedural thinking and basic programming skills."

It was very exciting to watch the students actually program the Sphero instead of driving it with the iPad app. There was definitely collaboration and critical thinking involved in this process, as pairs of students worked together to drive the Sphero ball.

iPads ready with the Sphero MacroLab app

The students did a great job of applying what Dr. Keith had taught them, and Sphero balls were buzzing all around the library! 

A few students worked with the new Sphero Ollie, using their own device to control it. We had a little difficulty finding the right device to pair with it as it seems our iPads are too old for the app to work. Luckily, a couple of our students had newer devices and downloaded the app. That is a great thing about being a BYOD campus! Someone usually has a device that will work!

As if learning to program the Sphero balls weren't enough, we also brought out the new Makey-Makey we received through Donors Choose. I have to admit that I have been a little intimidated by the Makey-Makey, but the students (with the help of Dr. Keith) figured it out quickly! We even had students come in during lunch the next day to explore it more!

Next week we will continue to learn programming using the Sphero ball and the Sphero Ollie. After the Christmas break we will bring in new members to learn coding and robotics, while the current members continue learning. It is exciting to hear the students talking about coding, coming into the library during lunch, recess and any free time, to work with the computers or Sphero balls! 

Robotics and Coding Club

Curtis students met for the second time last week  for the Robotics & Coding club. This session there are four weeks and students will be able to work with the Sphero robotics balls & Ollies for 2 weeks and code for two weeks. We are using Code.org for coding, as well as other sites that can be found on our Coding Symbaloo.

With 20 members in the club, and more wanting to join each day, having help is necessary. Thankfully, we have a parent who enjoys working with the students. Dr. Keith Emmert also happens to be a math professor at a nearby university so that is an added bonus! In addition to Dr. Keith, as the kiddos call him, we also had two high school students who were working for community service hours. This was a big help! 

The students loved the addition of the Ollies to the robotics club. We did have a little difficulty finding a device that would run the app. It seems are library iPads are too old to run it, and even my phone wouldn't run the app. Fortunately, two students had devices that would run the app, so we were able to see how they worked.

The plan will be to continue to work with these students with coding & robotics, even after the four weeks are up, and then bring in more students. 

There was a tweet recently that said something to the effect of "it isn't possible if you don't know it is possible". This is one of the main reasons we are introducing coding to our students. As they move through middle school and high school, they will pick a track to focus on. As the code.org site says in one of their videos, approximately one million jobs may go unfilled due to not having a skilled workforce for computer coders. Maybe a few of our students will choose to learn more. We have one student who created an app after participating in Hour of Code last year.

Grant explaining his app to Mrs. Rife

It is fun to see students becoming more comfortable with coding and operating the Sphero & Ollie. As we head into Hour of Code week, I'm excited to see what they discover! One thing I've learned is that I don't have to be an expert at something before I open it up to students. If I waited until I was comfortable with coding and robotics, our club would never have started. I am learning right beside my students!