I met with the teachers Thursday morning (7/25) [in case the post title didn’t give that away]. They were very pleased with the progress they had made with the robots and had planned 4 lessons within the Scribbler unit they plan to implement in the Fall.
1. Literature circle: Read one of Isaac Asimov’s stories so that the students have a better idea of what a program is
2. Basic introduction to programming: Programming in Python and Calico – investigating parameters by making the robot move and beep
3. Writing a definition: Writing a turning function for the robot that takes degrees as a parameter
4. Final project: Working with loops to make the robot do a little dance
Other comments from the teachers:
One of the issues with working with the Scribbler is that not all of its capabilities are spelled out. The freedom that accompanies that is frustrating since the its limits and usage capabilities are not fully known. Also, learning a new language is another hurdle to overcome, but it’s easier having already learned two.
What they really like about the Scribbler is that it is already built. The Lego Mindstorms and Vex robots need to be pieced together and as such, the students spend much more time focusing on that and less on programming. Furthermore, the Scribbler provides immediate feedback. Students will be able to see the robot draw and move and that will be extremely rewarding