Dedication, concentration and exhilaration

These are the three words that come to mind to describe the past few weeks with the STEM tutor groups. The COLA has been alive with selected students across Years 1 to 6 embarking on a range of STEM challenges to enhance their learning.

Working in small groups, students in Years 1 and 2 began their journey with a Bee Bot Challenge. Given a series of maps with a variety of obstacles, students were challenged to develop a multi-step solution, to get the Bee Bot to the desired location. This task challenged students to work collaboratively, use directional language and problem solve. The exhilaration and pure joy emanating from the room as they crack the code after multiple attempts was infectious!

Year 1 and 2 students are currently dedicating themselves to extending these skills and to understand the basics of coding, via the Osmo Coding Awbie app. Students are beginning to understand the principle of issuing commands and using loops to have Awbie (the character in the app) perform multi-stepped tasks when executing the code. They have done an incredible job of collaborating to find solutions to the challenging problems presented. 

Years 3 to 6 students have worked collaboratively to design and build a Bee Bot map for Year 2 students. Students have been exposed to design principles, with the task requiring them to consider the end user, to meet the design brief. Students have worked collaboratively and engaged in fascinating discussions to negotiate, review and modify aspects of their design. The creative thinking and the dedication from teams to ensure that the task meets the brief has been impressive to see.

We Love Coding! By Addison and Connor – Year 3 

We have been making Bee Bot maps, coding Bee Bots and playing Osmo Coding Awbie. The Bee Bots were really hard to control. We put counters down on the map, to make it like a maze. You had to use the buttons on the back of the Bee Bot. There were forwards, backwards, left, right, pause, go and delete buttons. You needed to make sure you deleted the code after the Bee Bot did what you want, because it would repeat the code you had and add the new code you put in.

After we learned how to code the Bee Bots, we made our own map. We needed to make a map for Year 1s and 2s to use, which had 2 or more ways to get to the end. Our map had flowers which were basically money. You also need to avoid the enemies otherwise your Bee Bot will die! To win, you need to get the key and unlock the lock.

Coding Awbie has been really fun because you get to code the robot inside the iPad. You collect pets and they help you with your garden! We can make Awbie run, jump and grab strawberries. You can collect stars to turn them purple, so they are worth 100 points. You can use a loop to make Awbie do the same code again. You need to have the code right and the mirror looking at your code, otherwise Awbie won’t do what you want. The signs from the kit help us learn about coding.

We have really liked learning to code, especially Coding Awbie. This was the first time that we have been able to play it and it is really fun! We want to play the other versions of Osmo.

Once the Bee Bot maps are complete, students will explore the functionality of the Dash robots using the Blockly app and begin their journey into coding with a block-based coding language. They will complete a series of challenges to understand the functionality of the robot. The remainder of the term will be dedicated to designing and building an obstacle course for Dash to navigate.

It has been great to see the dedication, concentration and exhilaration exhibited by these students when attempting these complex tasks.