In today’s class we were introduced to Bee Bot. Firstly we were give the iPads and about ten minutes to explore the Bee Bot app. My first thought was that it was just a children’s game and would be easy and straight forward to work out how to play. It looked like a garden with a path that led to a pink flower and the aim of the game was to direct Bee Bot to the flower. However, it was much more confusing than it looked as it took all of us a while to work out how to play the game correctly. After we had worked out the app game, we were given the physical Bee Bot programmable toy and shown many different ways it could be used and how it could be used in cross- curricular activities.
By then splitting in to small groups of three we were given the task to create our own Bee Bot mat and choose a curricular area to teach. We needed to make sure we included both the Learning Intentions, Success Criteria and Experiences and outcomes (E’s and O’s). My group decided to make the Bee Bot mat for the Early Stages. It was a cross-curricular area being including Health and Well-being and literacy as we based the activity on the children’s book ‘This is the Bear and the Picnic Lunch’. The mat was in the style of a picnic mat and o the squares was a mixture of healthy and unhealthy foods. We included the foods that were in the book but also had the idea of doing a class survey, by asking the children what type of food that they liked taking on a picnic and also including them on the mat. This shows the children that their opinions are valued and also makes the activity more personal to them. The children were expected to navigate Bee-Bot to each of the healthy foods on the mat, starting on the start square and finishing on the square with the picnic basket. To round up the lesson we would discuss why the children choose the healthy foods such as the apple instead of the unhealthy foods such as the chocolate bar. Then discussing the importance of a healthy diet.
After each group had finished creating their Bee Bot mat, they presented it to the class. Sharing their learning intentions, success criteria, experiences and outcomes. I really enjoyed this activity and will definitely look in to using Bee Bot in the future and when on placement. There are many benefits of using programmable toys in the classroom, such as, interactive responsive learning, instant feedback received by the learner, it is both challenging and enjoyable and it has effective cross- curricular links. According to Pekarova Janka”The curriculum introduces programmable toys as a good example for developing knowledge and understanding of the contemporary world”.
John Naughton’s article “Why all our kids should be taught to code” (2012) highlights many points as to why learning to code is important. Naugton states that “Starting in primary school, children from all backgrounds and every part of the UK should have the opportunity to: learn some of the key ideas of computer science; understand computational thinking; learn to program; and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of excellence in these activities”. He believes that ICT in schools has become a “toxic brand” and that there is a need to replace it with a more relevant subject- he suggests naming it “computer science”. It is important that children learn and understand the networked world they are growing up in that involves a new and more abstract way of problem solving. There is no better time to reveal this world to children than in primary school, as if there is no action taken now “we will be short- changing our children”. Technology plays such a vital role in today’s society and is improving everyday therefore, children need to become a part of this world as well and make use of all its amazing programs.
