Bee-bots
Aim: Follow (and give) instructions to move a familiar object or locate an object
Aim: Follow (and give) instructions to move a familiar object or locate an object
A group activity.
Equipment: Bee-bots
Observed in action at Little Scholars, Queensland
What to do:
Bee-Bots are a wonderful digital technologies resource to introduce students to coding and computational thinking. Children give the small robot commands (Bee-bots can remember a sequence of up to 40 commands!), to direct it to move forwards and backwards in 15 cm increments, and to turn 90 degrees left and right. At Little Scholars I observed 4-year old children programming a bee-bot to move from one place on the map to another by moving "forward 3 spaces, turn right once and move forward 1 space".
*The process is possible to replicate as a class or group activity without a Bee-bot on a grid floor or table space using e.g., a toy car. Ask students to giev the car directions to get from one place to another and the teacher replicates the instructions to see if they are successful.