Numeracy

Numeracy in Robotics and Coding

In this newsletter article, we venture into a Year 9 Robotics and Coding class to explore the use of numeracy in using robots. Students are given a project that requires them to work collaboratively in a small group to create a test robot for NASA that is capable of following a set of commands to explore the planet’s surface. Numeracy is used in many experiments that the test robot needs to undertake before the robot can be proven and given to NASA.

Aarav Purandare and Sean O'Callaghan are working collaboratively to achieve the outcomes of the task.

Some of the tests performed are:

• Move forward for 2 seconds and record how far the robot traveled
• Record the circumference of the robot wheel
• Drive forward 5 rotations slowly and then 1800 degrees backwards as fast as possible
• Record how far your robot traveled when rotating 360 degrees

Students used Numeracy through angles, measuring distances with a ruler, using a timer, calculating circumference and more. 

Students enjoy the Robotics and Coding unit offered as an elective at Year 9 level at Wheelers Hill Secondary College. Kim Hewlett is a teacher of the STEM program and loves sharing her passion of robotics with the students. I thank Kim for letting us in her class to view Numeracy across the curriculum.

Michelle Galli

Numeracy Learning Specialist