Every Thursday morning, Mrs Willard has been working with students using our new coding robots, BlueBots. A BlueBot is a floor robot which can be controlled by using the buttons on the top of the robot or using a PC or app. We are using the BlueBots to introduce coding to the students, which is a part of the Science and Technology syllabus.
The students have been using the buttons on top of the robot to direct the robot on a chosen path. At the moment, we have directed the bots to coloured two dimensional shapes that are stuck to a 12 grid mat. After the students decided on what shapes they would like to bot to travel to, they need to build a sequence of steps and have a partner follow the steps to complete the path. When the partner had completed the steps, they discussed whether the code worked. If not, they worked together to see how the code sequence could be improved for next time. This activity not only sits within our Science curriculum but also Mathematics as the students discuss shapes, colours and distance from one point to another. It also encourages Speaking and Listening from the English syllabus as the students work together to achieve an outcome. We look forward to writing stories about different ‘places’ our BlueBot will visit and then plotting a course for them.