Hi everyone. educational environment based on team work that nurtures creativity and innovation preparing them for a world of increasing

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2 Hi everyone I would like to introduce myself and the Robotics program to all new and existing families. I teach Robotics to all of your children for an hour every fortnight. Robotics is a relatively new inclusion in the Primary curriculum and your children are very lucky to have it here at Roberts Mc Cubbin. LEGO Robotics is a hands on, multidisciplinary, collaborative, authentic learning experience designed to provide meaningful and engaging learning opportunities for our students in an educational environment based on team work that nurtures creativity and innovation preparing them for a world of increasing technological change. Robotics serves as a vehicle to teach students about Language, Mathematical skills, and Physical science such as structures, forces, gears, levers, pulleys, sensor control and other simple mechanisms. Our innovative robotics-based engineering curriculum has a strong programming component, which contains a deliberate progression of programming concepts starting in the Junior school continuing every year to grade 6.

3 to retell familiar stories or Nursery Rhymes. Students program (teach) their Bee Bot to visit shapes on the mat that they draw from a pile of multi-attribute 2D shape card packs. Students program (teach) their BeeBots to navigate around an obstacle course. Students programming the beebots Junior students program using BeeBot robots. BeeBots are floor robots designed for use by young children. They are colorful, easy-to-operate, and are a perfect tool for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, directional language and programming. ( BeeBots have a small number of on-board programming buttons: left, right, up, down, go, clear, and, pause. Here are some examples of BeeBot programming tasks which children have participated in. Delete text and insert image here. Beebots navigating through an obstacle course. Students program (teach) the BeeBots

4 Grade 3 and 4 students program using LEGO WeDo ( robots. It allows them to design their own interactive machines, and then program them, experiencing the excitement of controlling a model with a program of their own making. They will learn about gears and gear terms--spur gears, crown gears, worm gears, drive and follower gears, idler gears, compound gears and gear ratios (gearing up and gearing down), and pulleys. They will learn about sensors (inputs) like sound, light, and tilt sensors to help make the robots more interactive.. They can build up to 20 interactive models and motorize them. After completing their models children are encouraged to consider how to change the behaviour of their models. For example....how can we make the birds turn more slowly or quickly? How can we make the birds turn different directions? Different directions relative to each other simultaneously? Can they make one bird turn slowly while the other one turns fast? Can they make a program that runs for 5 seconds and then stops? Can they make a program that starts or stops by clapping their hands? The WeDo Mountain Challenge requires students to design and make a new ski lift to transport LEGO people up the slopes at WeDo Mountain. The ski lift will need to be controlled by a sensor and its cycle has to finish back at the starting position. Below is a link to a video of a completed project.

5 The Grade 5 and 6 students use a more sophisticated programming language LEGO Education Mindstorms NXT ( similar to WeDo. They continue to use loops, do much more with parameters, and also start to explore general-purpose algorithms such as programming their NXT robots to follow each other using Blue tooth. Students use a computer to write the program needed to run the robot. They then download the program to the brick and test the robot to see if it works. The rest of the process is one of back-and -forth, trial-and-error testing, followed by modifications of the robot, the program, or both. LEGO Robotics kits contain the components needed to construct a fully functioning robot: parts needed to construct the robot s body; sensors (small electronic devices that detect and measure things in the robot s environment such as light, sound, ultrasonic); motors to power the robot; gears and other mechanical components; and a small processor, a programmable brick called the brick. This small computer holds the robot s battery power and program, the commands that the robot will follow to carry out instructions, perform tasks, and solve problems. Depending on the challenge students may need to modify or completely redesign the robot build.

6 ROBOCUP I have included the link to a fabulous video produced by Bill Gates and other programming pioneers. v=gjc6ux-bfks 2013 State Champions! Robocup is the the competitive side to Robotics. This year 3 teams will compete in the Dance competition where robots and children alike will shake their groove thing in synch with the beat. As well as programming, decorating their robot and making props, the students attend an interview where they are required to explain their programs, what they learnt from the experience and how they worked collaboratively as a team While the majority of students may not seek careers in engineering, exposing students to coding from an early age helps to demystify an area that can be intimidating and equip students for a world transformed by technology. University students have programmed the NXT to play the piano.