Tuesday 15th January 2019
Programmable toys and how effective they can be when used in the classroom are phenomenal, they can cover a wide range of educational purposes and encourage even the most reluctant learner to engage with lessons. ‘Successfully educating children in technology means engaging them in purposeful activities’ (Fleer & Sukroo, 1995). In this week’s lesson we were learning about programmable toys and how they can be used successfully within the classroom. Before the lesson we were advised to do some reading to help us gain an understanding as to why programmable toys are successful within the classroom and how they can support and develop children’s learning. This helped me understand the benefits of programmable toys and if you use your imagination, you can apply them to many different lessons. Having only seen programmable toys being used a few times in schools before, I did not realise the extent of activities they could cover and how you can apply them in the classroom
We specifically looked at the programmable toy Bee-Bot. Bee-Bot is a bee shaped electronic robot that has four arrow buttons, a pause and clear button on its back which you use to programme the robot to do specific moves along a mat. The mat can be constructed by yourself or you can obtain mats from different websites, you are also not restricted in the type of mat you can use for Bee-Bot either. As long as the mat is made up of 15cm x 15cm squares, it can be as big, little, long or short as you wish. This is the first time I have used Bee-Bot, although I have saw it being used in schools before, I have never tried it myself. I found Bee-Bot to be very robust and easy to use, you can also design templates to place over the robot, so it does not always have to be a bee, which I think is very useful and allows a teacher to be as creative as they wish when using Bee-Bot within the classroom. Therefore, allowing you to adapt Bee-Bot to fit within any lesson you are planning, and Bee-Bot is a great tool to use to help cover interdisciplinary learning within the Curriculum for Excellence.
First of all, we were asked to design a mat for Bee-Bot and relate it to a lesson that could be taught within the classroom. I was very excited about this as I am a very creative person and love to able to put my design skills to use. From the pre-reading that I done before the lecture I gathered that Bee-Bot is more suitable to early and first level within the curriculum and helps build their problem solving, numeracy and literacy skills Something that you would not normally achieve with just using concrete materials and also allows them to have fun while doing so (Lydon, 2008). Keeping this in mind, I also had to ensure that I was connecting the lesson to at least two of the ‘experiences and outcomes’ (E’s and O’s) within the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and try to ensure it covered at least two of the areas within CfE. Today’s lesson was also the first of our four assessment tasks within the module, so I wanted to make sure I was making my mat as interesting and fun as possible.
To begin with I came up with the idea that the children would go shopping for ingredients that they would need to make pancakes, I thought I could connect it to religious studies and numeracy as well as technologies. However, I felt it was starting to grow arms and legs, the more I started to plan the mat and which parts of CfE it relates to the further away from the actual task I was getting. This is something I struggle with a lot, I can come up with ideas, but I then find myself lost in all the extra work I have got myself into when in fact the extra work is not necessary and can become very confusing. At this point I took a step back and realised I was going far to off track and decided to change my idea. I took a different approach this time and actually went through the E’s and O’s and decided on a lesson idea by being able to relate it to an area of curriculum. Thankfully this helped and I came across a benchmark within the early level of the ‘Technological Developments in Society and Business’ section that asks you to teach children how to recycle.
The outcome was:
TCH 0-6a
To help care for the environment, I reduce, reuse and recycle the resources I use. (Education Scotland n.d. P205)
So, with this in mind I came up with the idea of recycling bins and having the children put the appropriate piece of rubbish in the correct bin. Straightaway I realised how simple an idea it was but how effective it could be in teaching children the appropriate ways to recycle, something which even adults can struggle with. I found there was also a way you could relate this to the school environment, as nowadays most schools have recycling bins and are trying to ensure they are being eco-friendly. I investigated what is the most common bin types and related these to the types of rubbish/ recycling children could come across within their school or home setting. I settled with four bins; Food waste, plastics, paper or card and glass bottles or jars. I made the bins brightly coloured and eye-catching, I also made the pictures of the rubbish as close to real life examples as I could to allow children the correlation between the two. I also gave the children a real-life scenario for completing the task. This ensures children feel as though there is a purpose to the lesson and encourages them to try and solve the problem. Throughout my time at University so far and when I was on placement, I realised this a very helpful tool in keeping children engaged with learning.
The activity involved children having to help Bee-Bot tidy the recycling centre;
Step 1 – they would have to choose which item they wanted to recycle first,
Step 2 – they would then have to direct Bee-Bot to the item they have choose,
Step 3 – they would lift the picture and attach it to Bee-bots back,
Step 4 – then direct him to the correct bin,
Step 5 – they would place their picture in the bin they have chosen,
Step 6 – the group of children would then discuss if the answer was correct or not.
The interdisciplinary learning throughout these lessons could be very vast, however I chose three that I feel related to this activity the most.
MTH 0-17a
In movement, games and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions. (Education Scotland n.d. P205)
TCH 0-06a
To help care for the environment, I reduce, reuse and recycle the resources I use. (Education Scotland n.d. P309)
TCH 0-15a
I can develop a sequence of instructions and run them using programmable devices or equivalent. (Education Scotland n.d. P312)
Having now sampled with Bee-Bot and created a lesson where Bee-Bot could be used, I feel it is a resource I would definitely use within my classroom especially at early and first level. Although I would not rule out using it in second level as you could turn the lesson on its head and have the children develop a mat for Bee-Bot to go on, which allows older children to be able to develop their problem-solving skills and to think outside the box almost. Especially since programmable toys are not used within the classroom that often, I feel it is a resource that needs to be utilised a lot more. I really enjoyed using Bee-Bot and enjoyed this week’s input as I was able to see everyone else in the class’s ideas and it really opened my eyes to the possibilities that Bee-Bot can create within the classroom.
Deborah ♥
References:
Education Scotland. (n.d.) Curriculum for Excellence. [Online] Available: https://education.gov.scot/documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf [Accessed:8 January 2019]
Fleer, M. & Sukroo, J. (1995). I can make my robot dance. Victoria: Curriculum Corporation. Children, robotics and problem solving: Technology in the early childhood classroomFaculty of Education, Curtin University of Technology [Online] Available at: http://www.valiant-technology.com/us/pdfs/robotics&problemsolving.pdf [Accessed: 5 January 2019]
ICTopus Article (2008) Sharing Good Practice: Robots in Early Educationby Alison Lydon. [Online] Available at: http://moodle1819.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/39830/mod_resource/content/1/Reading Programmable Toys/ICTopus – Sharing Good Practice – Robots in Early Education .pdf [Accessed: 12 January 2019]
