January 2018 – Page 4

Digital Technology Week 2

16/01/2018 Programmable Toys During our second session of digital technology we began to look into the world of programmable toys, what they can be used for and how they effect … Continue reading →

16/01/2018

Programmable Toys

During our second session of digital technology we began to look into the world of programmable toys, what they can be used for and how they effect and influence children in schools. “The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world.” (Janka, 2008, p.2).

Using programmable toys with children in schools helps them develop important skills to progress into independent individuals. Such as problem solving, concentration level, creativity and interactive responsive learning. Helping children progress in their confidence and independence results in them developing into the four capacities; confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens and successful learners. Programmable toys “encourage group interaction, conversation and collaboration” (National centre for Technology in Education, 2012, p.1).

Our task during the session was to create an activity using the Bee-Bot programmable toy and make links to a numeracy topic. My peer and I decided to base our activity on times tables and created a board where a child could programme the bee to make a times table question from any times table from 1 -10. As we created and designed our activity and board we also had to consider the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes. We looked at the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes for technologies and numeracy and mathematics and felt the following points linked to out activity:

“TCH 1-04a / TCH 2-04a – I explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts. ” (Scottish Government, 2017, p.4)
MTH 2-03c – Having explored the need for rules for the order of operations in number calculations. I can apply them correctly when solving simple problems.” (Scottish Government, 2017, p.3)

When creating the activity we made it so one child would programme the toy to make a question and another child would calculate the answer and then they would switch roles. Therefore helping us keep the views and effects of programmable toys positive for the children such as giving them a chance to be in control of their learning and have experience in hands on learning. While also getting the chance to communicate and work with other children as well as develop their confidence and independence.

Reference List:

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 22nd January 2018]

NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] http ://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 22rd January 2018]

Scottish Government (2017) Curriculum for Excellence Technologies Experiences and Outcomes, [Online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/technologies-eo.pdf [Accessed: 22nd January 2018]

Scottish Government (2017) Curriculum for Excellence Numeracy and Mathematics Experiences and Outcomes, [Online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/numeracy-maths-eo.pdf [Accessed: 22nd January 2018]

Learning through Animation

This week’s input focused on learning through animation. I was able to develop my knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to animation and the various ways it can be used within the arts and within education. Animation can be described in numerous different ways, the main one being “the process of making films in which … Continue reading “Learning through Animation”

This week’s input focused on learning through animation. I was able to develop my knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to animation and the various ways it can be used within the arts and within education. Animation can be described in numerous different ways, the main one being “the process of making films in which drawings or puppets appear to move” (Collins Dictionary, 2018).

I was very amazed and interested to find that some of the first discoveries of animation were traced back to the Egyptian times, where there were sequences of images used to decorate the walls of Egyptian tombs. Since then, capturing motion has been a main search and theme for artistic endeavor and with the advancement in technology it has allowed for animation to become diverse. Animation can range from motion pictures and games to medicine and scientific stimulation. As a child, some of my earliest and favorite movies were created through the form of animation, Walt Disney and Dreamworks are some of the twentieth-first century animators that created animated film cartoons such as Mickey Mouse, Shrek, Donald Duck and the Jungle Book. From my own experiences with animation, I enjoyed the fact that it gave life to the characters, it allows you to explore your own imagination and experience a different form of art.

Through my own research and discussion in class, I was interested to discover the ways in which animation can have a positive effect in education. I was able to find that animation gives pupils the opportunity to develop their literacy and visual literacy skills, build problem-solving skills, discriminate and interpret action and images, encourage critical thinking (e.g. which looks better, why does that one look better) and encourage collaboration and co-operation with their peers. As a student teacher, it is vital to appreciate how relevant and important it is to teach children about animation. I believe it should be used across the curriculum as a creative resource for pupils to explore and stimulate a wide range of themes and ideas and create their own animations.

I was fascinated to find the many ways to explore animation in art without the use of technology. During this input we discussed a form of moving image called flick books. It was interesting to discover that from the invention of flick books and other early animated toys, inspiration was found and gave the idea of moving pictures based on real life which in turn created the cinema. I found that flick books are an easy, enjoyable and exciting way to create a series of animations. When creating my own flick book, I decided to start with a simple idea of a stick man waving. For this all I needed was post-it notes and a pen. On reflection, I found that the post-it notes were difficult to flick and therefore in the future I would try to use index cards as they are thicker and therefore would be easier to flick.

This is my first step in my creation of a flick book.

This is my second stage in my creation of a flick book.

This is the third step in my creation of a flick book.

This is the fourth step in the creation of my flick book.

This is the final stage in my creation of a flick book.

Video (4)

From having the opportunity to develop and create my own flick book, it gave me the knowledge and inspiration in creating an activity, similar to this one, throughout my placement. As an aspiring teacher, I can appreciate the difficulty in finding the resources and time to accommodate more advanced, creative activities. However, I do believe that the expressive arts is a vital subject within the curriculum and therefore should be treated with the same respect as literacy and mathematics. For this activity, I only needed some post-it notes and a pen and it took me roughly 10 minutes to create. Therefore, lessons can be created to discuss the progression that technology has had on animation and children can sketch and make their own flick book to see where animation first began, be imaginative, have fun, be creative and work alongside their peers. Through my own research, I discovered that creating an activity with animation not only correlates with the ‘Expressive Arts’ subject within the curriculum but also ‘Technologies’. I found that there are numerous experiences and outcomes that would provide the desired learning for the pupils through an activity like this one.

This input allowed me to further develop my knowledge, understanding and skills of animation through the arts. It highlighted to me the importance of providing children with creative opportunities as they find excitement, enjoyment and wonder through their own creations. I have discovered various ways to demonstrate and teach children about the progression of animation throughout the years and provide learning experiences for them to develop their own knowledge and skills of animation in the arts. I was able to reflect on my areas of strength and areas for development in creating my own flickbook, which in turn showed me that in the future if I was creating a flickbook, with children, index cards would be the most suitable resource to use.

References:

Collins Dictionary. (2018) Definition of animation. [Online] Available: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/animation [Accessed 21st January 2018]

Fractus Learning. (2017) 5 Real Benefits of Using Animation in the Classroom. [Online] Available: https://www.fractuslearning.com/2013/12/06/animation-in-the-classroom/ [Accessed 21st January 2018]

Moving Image Education. (2018) Moving Image Education. [Online] Available: https://movingimageeducation.org/ [Accessed 21st January 2018]

Digital Technologies Week 2 – Programmable Toys

In this weeks Digital Technologies input we were introduced to programmable toys, and how to use these in the classroom to enhance learning in many subjects – not just Technology. We were set the task of designing and planning a Bee-Bot activity with the potential to fulfil one Technology outcome and at least one Numeracy … Continue reading “Digital Technologies Week 2 – Programmable Toys”

Before the input I was already somewhat familiar with the concept of programmable toys as my son received a Fisher-Price Code-a-Pillar as a gift on his third birthday. Observing him playing with the toy, I could see the value of programmable toys as a way to teach young children about logical sequencing and how to put a concept into words (NCTE, 2012). These transferable skills are particularly valuable in the workplace as the technology sector is booming and the ability to code is an asset to any individual wishing to pursue a career in the STEM field.

With these things in mind, it is no wonder that programmable toys are becoming more popular and their uses in the classroom are being exploited across the curriculum, even from the Early Years.

There is a heavy importance placed on Active Learning in the Early Years in the Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2007). It is essential not to teach programming in isolation. For instance, my son found the Code-a-Pillar fun for a few turns but after a while he grew bored of it. The toy moving in different ways depending on how he orders the segments is interesting for him but there are a limited number of different ways these can be sequenced without investing in costly expansion packs.

This is what makes Bee-Bot such a useful tool in the classroom. Its possibilities are not limited only to learning outcomes in Technology and there is an abundance of resources out there to assist with lessons involving Bee-Bot. My group and I were immediately inspired by one of these resources – a suggestion for an activity where bee-bot is given a list to go shopping (Lydon, 2007, p.40). We got to work creating a supermarket on a grid suitable for Bee-Bot to navigate and we designed an activity to meet these Experiences and Outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence (Scottish Executive, 2004):

“I understand that sequences of instructions are used to control computing technology.” (TCH 0-14a).
“I can develop a sequence of instructions and run them using programmable devices or equivalent.” (TCH 0-15a).
“I am developing my awareness of how money is used and can recognise and use a range of coins.” (MNU 0-09a).
“In movement, games and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions.” (MTH 0-17a).

We drew arrows to direct children through the ‘aisles’ of the supermarket (TCH 0-14a) and brightly coloured every day products with price tags on the ‘shelves’ of the supermarkets.

Armed with a shopping list and a ‘purse’ of coins, their job was to guide Bee-Bot to the items on their list (TCH 0-15a, MTH 0-17a) and use coins to help them keep track of the cost of individual items along the way (MNU 0-09a), and at the end of their ‘shopping trip’ to calculate the total cost of their shopping.

There were a number of benefits to this activity as a teacher. It did not take very long to implement the design and the mat could be used again and again with different shopping lists to give the activity varying levels of challenge when it comes to counting the money out. It is also very flexible enough to meet other outcomes, even at first level. For instance, by giving the children a bank note instead of their coins to pay for their shopping, they could try their hand at “[using] money to pay for items and [working] out how much change [they] should receive,” which is outcome MNU 1-09a. There is even scope for meeting Modern Language outcomes in this activity. If the child is supplied with a list in a language such as French or Spanish, this could meet part of the criteria for MLAN 1-08b; “I can work on my own or with others to demonstrate my understanding of words and phrases containing familiar language.”

With Bee-Bot in the classroom, the only thing holding you back is your imagination. There is an abundance of resources available to teachers to help them plan lessons that can utilise Bee-Bot to teach skills not only in Technologies but also across the curriculum. Children in First Level could even design their own mats and stories to go along with them as a Literacy lesson in creative writing.

In my opinion, Bee-Bot is superior in functionality to the only other programmable toy I am familiar with – the Fisher-Price Code-a-Pillar – for a number of reasons. Bee-Bot can store 40 instructions in each sequence whereas the Code-a-Pillar comes with only 8 segments. Bee-Bot moves 15cm with each instruction, meaning it does not take up as much room as the Code-a-Pillar which can move as far as three feet when programmed to move straight ahead. Pekárová (2008) argues that one of the best things about Bee-Bot is that activities can be designed for children that simulate real-life problem-solving scenarios. This is concurrent with the Active Learning environment that is endorsed within the Scottish curriculum in the Early Years. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which the Code-a-Pillar could be linked to real life. It is certainly more colourful than the Bee-Bot, however yet again the latter is unmatched in the amount of resources available online, such as printable ‘outfits’ for Bee-Bot that children can decorate themselves.

As a student teacher with an interest in technology it has been an interesting and fun experience to learn about how programmable toys can be used across the curriculum. I think that Bee-Bot in particular has the potential to provide children with a solid grounding in a number of logical thinking skills, while allowing them to have fun and take part in learning in all areas of the curriculum. I also think it has the potential to support teachers as a useful, incredibly versatile resource. I find myself fully convinced of the benefits of Bee-Bot compared to another programmable toy I have encountered, and I look forward to seeing how else it can be used in the classroom.

References

Lydon, A. (2007). Let’s Go with Bee-Bot. Nottingham: TTS Group.

NCTE (2012). NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] http ://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 16th January 2018].

Pekárová, J. (ed.) (2008). Intl. Conf. on Simulation, Modeling and Programming for Autonomous Robots. Venice, Italy, 3-4 November 2008. pp. 112-121.

Scottish Executive (2007). Building the Curriculum 2: Active learning in the early years. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Scottish Executive (2004). Curriculum for Excellence. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive.

Programmable Toys – Week 2 Digital Technology

In the Digital Technology class today we were looking at the use of programmable toys in a classroom. We discussed their function in education, focusing mainly on early years and how they can be used in relation to the various areas of the curriculum including literacy and numeracy. The toy chosen for us to work […]

The toy chosen for us to work with was the Bee-Bot, ‘The programmable toy Bee-Bot4 was awarded as the most impressive hardware for kindergarten and lower primary school children on the world educational technology market BETT 2006’ (Janka, 2008. p.3).

I have been lucky enough to work with Bee-Bot in the past both in university and while out on school placement. I would say that I am fairly confident using the Bee-Bot however when I was asked to try the Bee-Bot downloadable app on the iPad I found it quite difficult. I am assuming it was teething problems and I will be ok with it next time.

In our small groups we brought together our ideas and we designed a lesson plan that would include a Bee-Bot and a Bee-Bot mat. The lesson would make clear links to the Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes across all levels to ensure we could use the lesson through out the school.

The group decided that a number grid would be good as numbers are used across all levels and also that greater numbers could be added allowing the children to challenge themselves. We made a mixture of flash cards which included addition and subtraction questions, we also used a mixture of symbols and words within the questions. The children would work on a points based system and record their answers and scores, first to reach five points was the winner. Most questions were worth one point however in-order to encourage the children to challenge their own abilities we awarded slightly more challenging questions with two points. There was also a discussion in the group about the lesson moving to higher levels and in that case, the children can be in control of the activity and make flash cards for their peers that they thought to be more challenging.

All of this supports development in the ‘four capacities’ which are:

Confident individuals
Effective contributors
Responsible citizens
Successful learns

I say this because, as a class we discussed what the benefits are of programmable toys. Some of the benefits included were; concentration, estimation, communication, problem solving, interactive learning and instant feedback. All of which are crutial for development (Janka, 2008). When taking into consideration the benefits, the small group decided which learning experiences and outcomes would link to our lesson plan. The E’s and O’s best related were Mathematics and Technologies:

I use practical materials and can ‘count on and back’ to help me to understand addition and subtraction,, recording my ideas and solutions in different ways. MNU 0 – 03a
I can use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division when solving problems, making best use of the mental strategies and written skills I have developed. MNU 1 – 03a
I an developing problem solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn with electronic games, remote control or programmable toys. TCH 0 – 09a/TCH 1 – 09a

Janka (2008) suggests that by introducing programmable toys at an early age, it is a good time for developing knowledge and understanding in an ever changing world of developing technologies. This is happening within curriculums across the world and educators are finding out that it does not take long for the children to grasp how the programmable toys work (Lydon, 2007). Bee-Bot is an excellent example of how digital technology can be operated by early year level children, this is because Bee-Bot has a very few buttons and it makes noise, which confirms instructions. The Bee-Bot is also very colourful and looks fun, it is a little bumble bee which the children can then give character to and create a story.

In conclusion I feel very positive about working with programmable toys, I am confident that I will be able to involve toys like Bee-Bot into my lesson plans. One thing I need to ensure is that I don’t spend too much time away from these technologies, as in the past I have forgotten how to operate them. I will do this by keeping up to date with changes and advances in education regarding programmable toys. It is very clear why these technologies will help learning in the classroom and I look forward to any developments or changes in the future.

References

Education Scotland (2004) Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers [Accessed: 16th January 2018]
Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Access: 16th January 2018].
Lydon, A. ( 2007) Let’s Go With Bee-Bot: Using your Bee-Bot across the curriculum. TTS Group Ltd.
NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] http ://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

Personal Reflection Bee-Bot – Day 2 16/01/18

Today I was learning to use a programmable toy – Bee-Bot. I have not had a lot of experience using Bee-Bot. Although I think it is straight forward and easy to use. In my group we came up with a couple of ideas to use related to a mathematical activity. The ideas we came up with were; Time, shape, times tables, counting, recognition of numbers and money. The idea we progressed on was the concept of time mixed in with a child’s daily routine. We used the Curriculum for Excellence (Education Scotland, 2004) outcomes “I am developing problem- solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn with electronic games. remote control or programmable toys. [TCH 0-09a/TCH 1-09a]” and also “I can tell the time using 12-hour clocks, realising there is a link with 24-hour rotation, explain how it impacts on my daily routine and ensure that I am organised and ready for events throughout my day. [MNU 1-10a]”. With this concept we created a mat with a range of analogue clocks with a digital time at the bottom of each box so that children were seeing what 24 hour time looked like and also what an analogue clock form looks like. Although it was mainly for children at level 1 stage who may have had prior learning of time with a grasp of what O’clock, Quarter Past, Half Past and Quarter to looked like. With the mat that we created children were able to involve their daily routine for example; what time school starts/ends, what time they get dinner, brush their teeth and go to bed. This enhances children’s learning of time because using Bee-bot changes learning to become more interactive and allows children to work with their peers in groups. It also allows children to think of their own daily routine and links it to what they do on a daily basis. Bee-Bot can help children who struggle with sitting at a table writing as it gets the child out of their seat and able to interact with others.

The role of programmable toys in education dates back to the 1960’s when Seymour Papert created the programming language called logo. The learner will control the movement of a ‘turtle’ that will draw lines on a screen when instructions have been given. For example ‘fd 5’ and ‘rt90’. Students learn about lengths and angles while creating patterns and diagrams. (Transum 2018).

Janka (2008, p2) states the benefits from use of programmable toys, “the curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world”. She also states that in the field of mathematical development, children should develop the ability to describe simple journey and instruct the programmable toys in order to develop positional language and estimation”. This Benefit was useful to me because my assessment on Bee-bot was related to a mathematical activity and to make the Bee-bot maze I had to measure the length that Bee-bot moved which is 15cm (Bee-Bots body length) and estimate how the robot turned and found that he turned in right angles.

The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE, 2012, p1) explains that a benefit of floor robots is that it helps with sequencing, measuring, comparing, lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts in words. Another benefit from the National Centre for Technology in Education (2012, p1) states that floor robots encourage group interaction, conversation and collaboration. Page 1 also states that floor robots are usually appealing to young children because of the design of bright, clear buttons and are a robust design (NCTE 2012).

Personally I think that Bee-bot is useful because it allows children to follow a set of instructions, it keeps their brain active, it is an interactive and hands-on activity for children to take part in, it allows children to use their problem solving skills and follow patterns and sequences. It is beneficial for student teachers and teachers as it helps teachers when teaching children about directions along with many other curricular areas within the curriculum for excellence.

References

Education Scotland (2004) – Curriculum for Excellence; Experiences and Outcomes [Online] https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes [Accessed on 16th January 2018]

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy. [Online] http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_nu

meracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 3rd January 2018]

Transum (2018) – Logo [Online] http://www.transum.org/software/Logo/ [Accessed: 16th January 2018]

Digital Technology Reflection 16.1.18

Programmable toys are becoming more visible in the education sector especially within primary schools, this is due to the benefits that occur around them and help teachers and educational influences in different types of learning to benefit, all different types of children. These programmable toys have been around since the 1960s, where the role of …

Continue reading “Digital Technology Reflection 16.1.18”

These programmable toys have been around since the 1960s, where the role of the robot provided children with an opportunity to learn complex programming by controlling to the movement of the robot with the arrow to draw lines on the screen.

These are stil in our educational environments today as the CFE declares: ‘[The curriculum] introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world’ Janoka (2008). This suggests that children will benefits from this exercise in the future when they are experiencing the different parts of the world whether through work or any other extra curricular activities they do.

Personally, I believe that programmable toys will help children enhance their learning through other curricular activities as well and that the different toys will equip them for their future with the different skills they will learn through this exercise.

References:

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf

Digital Technology Week 2- 16/01/2017 (Programmable toys)

This week in our Digital Technology module we are looking at programmable toys, specifically Bee-Bot. We began our lesson by looking at our learning intentions and success criteria before moving on to a brief history of programmable toys. Here we looked at Logo which is an online programming opportunity where children type various pre-composed directional commands to move around an arrow head which then draws lines (Transum, 2018). This system is similar to one I used in Primary school, without the addition of an animal to move around in place of the arrow head. Even this small advancement from an arrow-head to an animal shows the ways in which technology is constantly improving to new and engaging heights. Reflecting on how far programmable toys have come, children can now physically programme a colourful, engaging toy themselves which also has an app with the same Bee-Bot children can use, making the toy more accessible to all the children as whilst some are using the Bee-bot toy others can be playing the Bee-bot game on their tablet.

We were given some time to explore the Bee-bot app for ourselves which is similar to the Bee-bot itself however with obstacles on-screen to avoid and a goal to reach. Having forgotten the basics of reseting Bee-bot every time you input more directions I at first found this task surprisingly challenging however after being reminded of the rest button this task was a lot more enjoyable although still required a high level of concentration. I was therefore surprised when I read Alison Lydon’s Sharing Good Practice article which discussed using Bee-Bots in the nursery setting. I found it especially interesting when she discusses how 12 out of the 28 children after the initial instructions were then able to use the Bee-bot without any adult help (Lydon, 2008). For children of nursery age to be able to understand and use a programmable toy such as this the benefits for learning, development and confidence would be extremely beneficial. In the British curriculum practitioners are encouraged to use programmable toys particularly as a way of both developing knowledge and an understanding of the contemporary world (Janka, P, 2008).

After looking at the background of programmable toys and more specifically at Bee-bot itself we operated into small groups to being our assessment task. We had to create a mat for Bee-bot which we could use for an activity specifically focused on mathematics. We had a chance to look around at some other examples from previous years and were then given resources and time to think and create our own Bee-bot activity. Emily, Emma and myself began thinking of what sort of activity we wanted to do. At first we decided on a fun shopping activity incorporating Spanish where we would give the children various coins so they had real-world materials to use and ‘spend’ as Bee-bot went shopping with the items labelled in Spanish. However, as much as we liked this idea it became clear rather quickly that it was quite complicated to set up and explain to children in early level as subtractions became involved if they only had a certain amount of coins to spend so we decided we would look into this further on another day but that for the assessment we would focus on daily routine and time. ‘I can tell the time using 12 hour clocks, realising there is a link with 24 hour notation, explain how it impacts on my daily routine and ensure that I am organised and ready for events throughout my day- MNU 1-10a’ (Curriculum for Excellence 2004). This is one of the first level outcomes we decided to focus our Beebot activity on. We wanted our activity to be fun and engaging as well as a meaningful learning activity which really would help towards children being confident in telling the time, in 24-hour, using analog clocks alongside their daily routine. As well as the clocks we also put words beside each clock and one option for the activity is children would have to find their way around their morning routine. So they would take Beebot to the square which was the time for them waking up, then getting dressed etc. Another option for running the activity, we created cards with instructions on as can be seen in the pictures below. Some of the cards said ‘the time school starts…’ and so the learners would take Beebot to the clock that said 9 O’Clock so they would have to recognise the time whilst also linking this to their routine and remembering what time their school starts at. Alongside set times we wanted to make our activity more interactive and so some parts of the daily routing, e.g. ‘I brush my teeth at…’ has hands for the children to place on themselves. This could help the children understand that everyone has their own routine and so not everyone does everything at the same time. It also allows the children to place their own hands on and can then explain to you at what time they have chosen, this may also help check for further understanding of how the hands on the clock work the tell us the time.

I found this class really enjoyable and invaluable for use in the future. It was really good to work with others and share ideas which can be used in our future teaching.

References

Curriculum for Excellence (2004) Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 16 January 2018]

ICTopus Article (2008) Sharing Good Practice: Robots in Early Education by Alison Lydon. [Online] https://oponoa- programmeertalen.wikispaces.com/file/view/BeeBot_article.pdf [Accessed: 16 January 2018]

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 16 January 2018]

Transum. (2018) Logo [Online] Available at: http://www.transum.org/software/Logo/ [Accessed 16 January 2018]

Digital Technologies 18/01/18

Today’s lesson focused around the use of programmable toys used in education, in particular Bee-bots. From this, I gained knowledge on when programmable toys were first used in education, what the benefits of them are and I also worked as part of a group to create our own numeracy lesson using a Bee-bot. Throughout this task, we had to think about Curriculum for Excellence outcomes, this gave me good insight into what creating lessons will be like in future years of being a teacher.

I was surprised when I learned that programmable toys were first used in education in the 1960’s when Seymour Papert created Logo. Logo allows children to participate in complex programming as they can control an arrow which allows them to draw shapes, symbols etc. Ever since then, the use of programmable toys within education has expanded and children continue to get more out of technology as time goes on. This is stated by (Janka, 2008, p2) when he states “The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world.” As well as this, programmable toys have numerous amounts of benefits. As technology such as Bee-bots allow children to see if they are correct or incorrect quickly, they can gain instant feedback. Through this, the children are always in control and learning hands on, this allowing time for them to engage and get the most out of their learning. Children are often able to pick up how to work them quickly, this is backed up by Lydon (2008) as she introduced twenty-eight nursery children to Bee-bots and twelve were able to use them themselves without any further help after only being told how to use them once. This shows the active engagement children have with independent learning and how much they appreciate a challenge through using programmable toys for the first time.

After working as a group using Bee-bots, I am aware how engaging and active learning with programmable toys is as I loved creating a game using them. From this, I can understand why children get so many benefits out of using them and how much of an important role they play within the curriculum. My group created a numeracy game with the Bee-bots, in which compass bearings and the three times tables were used. We made it fun by giving it a treasure hunt theme, in which there was different obstacles to get through on a boat such as sea creatures, anchors, coins etc. The start box had the question “3×1”, from this, there was a card with 3 on it which gave the direction to go in to get to the next question. Eventually, the right answers led to a key, which enabled the treasure hunt box on the last square to be opened. We even gave the Bee-bot an eyepatch to match with the theme! This learning game which could be used in future years as a lesson was the curricular outcome first level TCH-101a ‘I can explore and experiment with digital technologies and can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.’ We choose this outcome as the game we created allows the opportunity for mathematical skills as a whole to be improved, through working on times table and direction skills. Therefore, if children were to ever engage with this, they would be able to take what they have learned into maths lessons and the outside world.

Overall, this class enabled me to recognize the importance of programmable toys and although they were first introduced in the 1960’s within education, as time goes on they are getting more engaging and allow children to be creative and learn hands on. I thoroughly enjoyed creating my own learning game with my group and it has made me even more excited to become a teacher and plan lessons to see how much children learn and get satisfaction out of using technology.

References:

ICTopus Article (2008) Sharing Good Practice: Robots in Early Education by Alison Lydon. [Online] https://oponoa-programmeertalen.wikispaces.com/file/view/BeeBot article.pdf [Accessed: 17th January 2018]

Janka, P. (2008) Using a Programmable Toy at Preschool Age: Why and How? [Online] http://www.terecop.eu/downloads/simbar2008/pekarova.pdf [Accessed: 17th January 2018]

Programmable Toys Workshop (16/01/18)

Today in our digital technologies workshop we were learning about the use of programmable toys, in particular the Bee-bot programming, within a classroom setting. I had prior knowledge of how these could be incorporated into a child’s learning as I had previously used the devices throughout my years in primary education, and also in semester … Continue reading Programmable Toys Workshop (16/01/18) →

Today in our digital technologies workshop we were learning about the use of programmable toys, in particular the Bee-bot programming, within a classroom setting. I had prior knowledge of how these could be incorporated into a child’s learning as I had previously used the devices throughout my years in primary education, and also in semester one we had an input surrounding these robots and we got the chance to use these to their full potential.

After further investigation it was clearly identified that Bee-bots could be used by all levels, in many settings, covering a variety of different outcomes from the Curriculum for Excellence. In particular we focussed on numeracy outcomes from the CfE and how the Bee-bots could be used by the children for educational purposes.

We were set the task of creating our own Bee-bot mat in groups, incorporating a numeracy element into the game. We created the theme of a trip to the grocery store in which the children would follow a shopping list and send the Bee-bot to each appropriate item. Once they reached the item, they had to collect the correct sum of money from the purse and make their way to the checkout using their Bee-bot. During this example lesson, three main outcomes of the CfE could be achieved. These included; TCH 0-09a “I am developing problem-solving strategies, navigation and co-ordination skills, as I play and learn using electronic games, remote control or programmable toys”, MNU 0-09a “I am developing my awareness of how money is used and can recognise and use a range of coins” and also MTH 0-17a “In movement, games and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions”.

The use of programmable toys within the classroom has many benefits to enhancing a child’s learning for many different subjects. The use of Bee-bots can be incorporated into literacy as it gives them the ability to create a story from following directions eg treasure, keys etc; maths as it gives them the ability to calculate a route and improve following directions; and also art as it gives them the ability to draw and create maps for the Bee-bots to follow. The use of the Bee-bot also improves a variety of other skills such as teamwork, problem solving (ie going from A to B without passing C) and also directional skills (ie left, right, forward, backward, north, south, east and west).

The National Centre for technology claims that “Floor robots in the classroom help with the development of skills such as a logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation, and expressing concepts in words”. This shows that the use of these robots allows children to develop vital skills in a way that is engaging and allows participation for all pupils as it may be seen as a fun exercise for many.

Alison Lydon also claims that “[The children] gained independence faster than I anticipated. Twelve out of the 28 were able to use the Bee-Bot without any adult help after the initial instructions”. This shows that the use of programmable toys allows many children to work amongst themselves with very limited help from teachers. this allows them to work together and enhance their learning by working out sequences and patterns for themselves.

Overall, through investigating how these programmable toys work and how they can enhance the learning of a child, I was surprised as to how these toys can be incorporated into many different situations. It was a great opportunity to get to see other groups ideas for the design of their mats and how different aspects could be adapted or added to their mats depending on the age and stage of the children. The idea to make our mat slightly more challenging included having the shopping list in a foreign language which would then test the child’s knowledge of other languages. These robots are a very good way to engage pupils in enhancing a variety of skills, and is something I believe to be very useful in a child’s development within a classroom situation.

References

NCTE (National centre for Technology in Education) (2012) NCTE Floor Robots – Focus on Literacy & Numeracy.
[Online] http://www.ncte.ie/media/NCTE_Floor_robots_focus_on_literacy_numeracy_primary_12-06.pdf [Accessed: 15th January 2018]

ICTopus Article (2008) Sharing Good Practice: Robots in Early Education by Alison Lydon.
[Online] https://oponoa-programmeertalen.wikispaces.com/file/view/BeeBot_article.pdf
[Accessed: 15th January 2018]

Programmable Toys (16/01/2018)

Today in our second class of Digital Technology we were introduced to the concept of programmable toys, with the main focus in particular on Bee-Bot. I had prior experience of using this programmable toy as we had previously undertaken a lesson in Semester 1, which introduced us to the unit, gave us an understanding on how it works, areas in the curriculum in which we can utilise it whilst interlinking Curriculum E’s and O’s across the three early level/primary school levels – early, first and second. My first experience using Bee-Bot I thoroughly enjoyed, as it gave me my first proper experience of getting hands on with this type of programmable toy and made me feel excited at the prospect of using it in the classroom with pupils. We had created a game which focused on literacy outcomes, whereas today we focused on numeracy and chose a first level outcome in which as a group we to structured an activity around.

As suggested by Janka (2008, P.2), ‘The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world”. Being able to integrate technology into the classroom I feel is important as it provides young learners with having experiences of technologies that surround them consistently. Furthermore, the National Centre for Technology in Education (2012, p1) states that the use of floor robots impose a variety of benefits on young learners. These benefits include: Developing skills such as logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts in words; encouraging group interaction, collaboration and conversation swell as providing a vehicle for the introduction of key concepts to young learners in an easy and friendly way.

The first level outcome which we used as a framework for our Bee-Bot activity was MTH 1-17a; ‘I can describe, follow and record routes and journeys using signs, words and angles associated with direction and turning’. We chose to base the theme of our activity on worldwide flags and famous landmarks, with direction and navigation being the prominent focus. We created brightly coloured images on the activity mat along with a set of questions that gave instructions to the participants. Bee-Bot required to be programmed to reach the specific destination along with a set of directions for each question tone recorded by those pupils in participation.

Overall, I felt we produced a brilliant resource which could easily be adapted to allow early and second level pupils to also use this is a learning aid. The use of the Bee-Bot today highlighted the importance of making activities intriguing and fun whilst eliminating the potential of repetition. Bee-Bot is a format of digital technology that if I am able to have access to, I will certainly endeavour to use in my future career as a rimy educator. I feel that it is an exciting and autonomous piece of equipment which brings children together in their educational journey to work as part of a team and also promotes their creativeness if they wanted to produce their own game or resource for the floor bot and also develops their problem solving and critical thinking skills. I look forward to seeing what next week brings in Digital Technology as I felt today’s lesson and activity was of great benefit to me as a prospective teacher.