In today’s class we were looking at programmable toys and the benefits they have. We were using Bee-Bot to design a map based on a numeracy outcome. Doing this task was extremely useful for me as I was able to gain ideas for when I am teaching how to sometimes cover multiple outcomes during the same lesson.
There are many benefits of using programmable floor toys in the classroom including teaching the children the concepts in a fun manner and helping with developing knowledge and an understanding of the modern world (Janka, 2008). Numeracy is a subject in particular that benefits as children can describe simple journeys made by the programmable toy which will help the pupil’s develop positional language and estimation (Janka, 2008). The National Centre for Technology in Education (2012), found that programmable toys also encourage the building of skills such as logical sequencing, measuring, space orientation and comparing lengths.
We worked in groups to create an activity using Bee-Bot. We picked a mathematical outcome from Curriculum for Excellence and created a game based on flags of the world. The children would get question cards and have to use positional language to answer the questions. They would also be asked to move to certain locations without going through certain landmarks. I have attached pictures of our finished activity below.
In the future, I would use Bee-Bot in my classroom as it has many benefits and allows children to enjoy activities for outcomes that may not necessarily have been too engaging. It also spreads across many different areas of the curriculum from literacy to technology.
References
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]
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]
