Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Robotics and coding is such a great element to add to your elementary STEM curriculum. However, there is a major difference between using the tools and integrating them into your curriculum. In fact, there is a lot of great insight about this topic that is in the book for June that we are reading in the STEM Teacher bookshelf membership, which you can join in at any time. Join us at naomimeredith.com/stemteacherbookshelf. While there is room to have students to explore and see what the tools can do. You want to be purposeful about your coding and robotics and how they relate to the curriculum that you are teaching. Well, the audio from this episode has never been heard before on this podcast. This is a presentation I did in a past International STEAM Summit hosted by Wonder Workshop. I'll be sharing with you examples for integrating coding and robotics in primary and secondary along with some fun bonus challenges.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:34]:

Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for joining me in my session today, and we are talking about cross-curricular connections, robotics, and elementary lessons. say that three times fast because I did, and I had to keep rerecording that part. Now this is intended for teachers who are interested in adding robotics into their classrooms at the elementary level. So whether you are a STEM teacher, a classroom teacher, or even a homeschool parent, this session will be perfect for you. Also, if you teach in older grades and you are looking for ways to differentiate for your students who might be more at an elementary level when it comes to their coding and robotics skills, definitely jump in. We would love to have you here. If we haven't met before, I am Naomi Meredith, and I have a lot of different roles in my life. I am a K through 5 stem teacher and coach, So I teach over 500 students in my building while also supporting school-wide technology in my stem role and also have had the opportunity to co-teach with teachers in my building to help them implement STEM and technology. When I'm not busy teaching, I am also a business owner, so I love to help teachers like you implement, well, some technology and not feel so overwhelmed by that. You can find me in a lot of places, but I love to share a ton of ideas over at my podcast, The Elementary STEM Coach podcast. And at the time of this recording, I am a fiance, but by the end of the summer, I will actually be a wife, which is so crazy to me. I also didn't share the little guy with the big ears, not my fiance, but that little furball, That's Frederick the dog, and you can always check a little sneak peek of him over on my Instagram. So what we are exploring today is different options for how you can implement robotics into your lessons. So I think that one of the best ways to do that is just sharing a lot of different examples of ways that I've done this with my students over the years and just get your wheels turning on how you can make this actionable and usable for your students. So we'll talk about primary examples, secondary examples in the elementary space, and then also some bonus challenges. So other ways that you can add robotics to your content. So this is way different than just throwing robots out there into the space where “Okay. Cool. Well, here's a robot. Good luck.” That's a great place to get started, but all of these lessons that I'm going to give you a snapshot of they are really, really intentional. So when you're thinking about how robotics can fit into your curriculum, you still need to plan with the standards in mind. So like I said, I'm going to give a snapshot of these lessons, but all of these lessons except the bonus challenges, which are a little bit different, and you'll see why when we get there. But all of these challenges took about a week, depending on what they were. So all of these were planned with the engineering design process, which we'll also talk about. But all of these lessons were very intentional for the grade level that they were taught to. So they were researched and prepared with common course state standards, ELA, and math. Even thinking about those mathematical practices, which there are some excellent ones, as it relates to STEM projects. So definitely check those out. Then they also integrated the Next Generation Science Standards. Whether it came to the engineering design process, which is the Next Generation Science Standard, or if it was even more content specific when it came to specific science standards. So I have a mix of those, and we'll share those in a little bit. And then, also, the ISD standards for students are another way to integrate that innovation and really be thoughtful in your planning. So I highly recommend checking those out if you haven't already but really thinking about how your students can be innovators for today and our world tomorrow. So there are some really great technology ones in there, but also just the way they're collaborating with a bigger community and sharing their ideas. So as I just mentioned, the engineering design process is a process that real engineers use to build and solve a problem. So this is my interpretation of it. Say, you might see similar words or some steps that are combined or not, but it's generally that same process, and it is a Next Generation Science Standard. I know for sure in kindergarten, 3rd, and 5th, and I bet there is a version of it for the older grades. And so when you're thinking about this when you're planning your lessons, not all of your lessons have to follow the engineering design process. But if you want the students to build and solve a problem, this is a great method to think about. Not all of my lessons in my STEM space, whether it's robotics or not, use the engineering design process. But, again, it is a great model for students to really think through those things. So we start with our ask what is the problem. You could develop that with your students, or you can have that question already prepared for them. Give them opportunities to imagine ideas, what are possible solutions out there, different types of research, how can students plan their designs thoughtfully, and creating, which is always their favorite part and wanna jump into, but really having those first three steps done can actually help design better things in that create stage. And then also giving them chances to experiment and improve. It's not a one-and-done kind of thing. How can you experiment and make it better? And especially with robotics encoding, there is a ton of integrated experimenting, improving, and moderate modifications or a word that you hear very often iterations. and then giving students an opportunity to share their work. And so, how do you do that with robots? Well, I'll share how I have them share. A big thing I like to use is Seesaw, so I have students take a video or take a picture. I said you can't take the robots home, but you could take them home by taking a video or a picture. So some platform like that is really great because a lot of kids don't have robots at home. They can get pricey. And so it's really cool that students will have this experience in your classroom. And then, if they take a photo or video, they can share it with their families and really explain what was happening in their class. Alright. Before I get into the specific lessons for all of the grade levels, I just wanted to show you a variety of robots that are currently out there at the time of this recording in 2023. These aren't the only robots out there. These are the ones that I have an experience with in my K through 5 STEM role, and they all do different types of things. So, really, think about what your budget is and what types of things you want your students to learn. So I categorized these robots as out of the box and ready to code. So once you literally unpack them, they're ready to go, maybe download an app, and you are coding. Of course, we have our cute friend, Dash, which, of course, we are here in the Wonder Workshop summit, so had to include Dash. If you don't have any other budget and you don't know where to begin, just get Dash. You will be very happy you did. You can use Dash with K through 5. I made Dash really big because if you don't need to get anything else, get Dash. And I'm not being sponsored by this, but I love Dash very much. He is my favorite, very favorite robot. Then we have the little sibling that I like to call them. We have Dot, and they can interact with each other, so Dot is a great addition. I didn't add on here, but CUE is a little bit more robust robot when it comes to the Wonder Workshop families. So, definitely, those are some great out of the box ready to code robots. Some other options if you're thinking about screen-free options, so you do need an app for Dash and Dot for them to perform their actions. They also have the virtual Dash as well, so that's a really awesome feature. Check into that their class connects. But if you're looking for something that is screen-free and very durable, I highly recommend the Bee Bot or the Blue Bot. The difference between the two, the Blue Bot has the capability of connecting to an iPad. It does everything that the yellow robot does, so it codes with directional coding so you can kinda see the arrows on top and it will perform the action. It's been hit or miss when it comes to the Bluetooth capabilities. It might be my iPad. It might be the robot, but overall, super great robot. For a cheaper price, if you really, really don't have a budget at all but you really want a robot in your classroom, the Code and Go Mouse does everything that the Bee Bot and Blue Bot does. Just not as durable. So think about that and how many students you teach at a time. But, again, if you need something for your younger learners, that is a great place to start. Especially if you're a classroom teacher, you don't have as many kids as 500 as I do filtering through the month, so I would definitely get a Code and Go Mouse. Then we have this cute one, the Code-a-Pillar. Super fun. So the Code-a-Pillar has different segments on its body. And when the student presses play on its back, it will read the segments in order and light up as it's performing the action. So, again, it's showing that sequential code and making it even more concrete than the Bee Bot. So the Bee Bot will remember everything that they do, but they don't have a list saying, oh, what code did I do? The kids have to remember it. And so the Code-a-Pillar is even more simplified where it has those same types of movements and also has songs and sleeping mode in the segments, but students can actually visually see their code and as their robot is doing that. Another fun one that is new that's good for, I would say, younger learners, but also, kKthrough 5 really like this one too, is the Sphero Indi, and it reads the code by the color combinations on these cards. So each card performs a different action, and the cards don't have to be lined up, so Indi can read the colors and then zoom across and go to the next one depending on how you line up the codes. Very similarly, a lot smaller. I know it looks bigger in the picture. Probably on my computer, this is actually what the real size of this robot is, is the Ozo Bot, and so this one, depending on the model, you can actually code with the iPad, but this one will read color codes on the paper. So each code and the pattern that you write performs in action. So a little bit more complicated than Indi, but super fun. And then, in the bottom corner, we have the one that's shaped like a tennis ball, and it is about the size of a tennis ball, which is the Sphero Bolt. It rolls completely like a bob. The company is based here in Colorado, where I live, which is super fun. But that one can have some more complicated coding opt options. There are some other models as well. There's also a Sphero mini that's about the size of a golf ball, again at a cheaper price. So if you're looking for an affordable option and wanna add a variety, you can check that out. Then there are some other types of robots that I would categorize as build and code. So over the past couple of years, this isn't a new concept, by the way. But when it comes to, like, the elementary space and thinking about how to take your learners to the next level, maybe you wanna add in an element of building and coding. So these are the, again, the only options, ones that I have experienced with or know at friends who've had been using these and just taking that coding and that manufacturing to a different level for your younger students. I did put Dash on there. Dash is a building code option, or I'm sorry. out of the box option, as I talked about. But there are some attachments that go on Dash and Cue, and you actually can build things, and Dash can use those things that you build, and there are other cool attachments you can put on Dash. I'm gonna show you later in this presentation something that my students built for Dash, And so that's why I included Dash on here because there are some building elements that you could put on Dash to take it to the next level. At the very top, under the word building code, there are different options for VEX, VEX robotics. This one in the picture is the Vex Go, so a younger version is probably more appropriate for elementary. Just getting started with building and coding a robot. So similar to a LEGO kit, but not exactly. They do have the VEX IQ, which is a little more complicated. A lot of times, people will use VEX IQ in elementary but as an after school club. So Vexico might be a great option in the classroom, but Vex IQ, and you can check out their website. There are opportunities with competitions and all that. So definitely look into that. Dash also has competitions, by the way, the 1 or late robotics competition. So there are some building challenges and some creativity. So if you're looking for another way to extend their learning. I also have the Lego Spike essential kit on there, and then Lego Spike Prime would be for the older students. We have Bird Brain Technologies, the Humminbird kit, which I just got some of these this year, and I'm gonna be collaborating on a project with my art teacher. So they're gonna create something in art. And then, in STEM with me, we are going to build in code. And then a similar but different model, a different brand is the Sphero little bit kit. So lots of different options just when it comes to all of that. The examples that I'm going to be sharing are more when it comes to the out of the box types of robots, but think about how you can implement this with any type of robot. So that's funny. In the picture, right there are kids with the Lego wedo's. So that's not the one I'm gonna be talking about, but I love some Lego wedos 2.0. Okay. So here are some fun examples is what you came for. All the stuff. But wanted to give you some background in case you didn't know where to start. So we have right here an example with Greek. We were talking about communities, and teachers in their classrooms were talking about communities. And so, students were assigned a different part of the community and had to build that part then they had to label it with the predetermined labels. So when they rolled a die with those labels, they would code their robot to follow the pathway to get to those locations. So it was a really fun and collaborative activity, and it brought that building and coding to life and their classroom. And I am gonna explain these pretty short. As I said, all of these are literally a snapshot. These were more than a one-day challenge. These took at least 3 days to complete. So you get to see all the I'm doing the shared piece of the engineering design process. In a kindergarten example, is a new one that I did this year, but we were talking about animal habitats, and we zoned in specifically on the Arctic. And students were given a collection in epic books to research more about an animal of their choice, and they picked one of those animals to create and build using cardboard and paper, and they were thrilled that I taught them how to create an l brace. that will stand up their design and also the signs. And then at the end of the week, after all of their Arctic animals were created, we put them all on a grid. and then they coded their robots to visit all of the animals in the Arctic. So it was a great way for them to share. And then while they were coding and talking. They're talking all about their animals and all the things that they learned that week. Another fun kindergarten example was connected to the very hungry caterpillars, so a great literacy lesson. This was actually one of four stem stations that I did in my classroom. after we read this story, that's something that I like to implement. So I have a lot of resources to help you with that. But after reading the story, the students had the different items that the caterpillar ate in this story. They rolled the dice, and then they had to code to the thing that the dice landed on. You notice in the picture there are 2 dice. So if they were getting comfortable with the 1, then I added in the second dice, and they would have to code to one item and then code to the other, but their code had to play the whole time. So they couldn't just code to one stop and then code to the other. They had to code the whole thing. You noticed in that back corner there's the hungry caterpillar, but I disguised a bee bot. So the Bee Bots wearing a mask. So that's fun too. Kids like to dress up these robots, so that can be a challenge in itself. In 1st grade, this one was very similar to the Arctic Animal one, but instead, we were talking about animal parents and how they care for their young. And so we talked about the main things that animal parents do for their young, the ones that do take care of their babies. That was a whole discussion too. Not all animal parents care for their young. Some just lay the eggs and leave, but the main things where how they feed, protect, teach, give them shelter, and give comfort. And so they studied, again, great books and epic books that they were able to explore. It showed 1st graders how to search. and also use the collection that I sent them. And then you can see they made the baby animal and their adult. They had to circle the ways that the parent takes care of their young and then very similar to the Arctic animals or habitat 1. They put them in a zoo, and then the kids got to cover robots to visit all the animals. This one was actually a one day challenge, again, another stem station, but this connected with the 1st grade standard. about day and night, and what are the things that we can see in the sky during the day, during the night, or tricky, tricky, both? So students had some of those pictures that you can see on there on a grid. They were printed in colors since it makes it a little more engaging, and also they can under and what they're looking at. And so we talked about throughout the week, what are these different things? Like, what are stars? What are rainbows? So they had that background knowledge going into it when they went to that stem station, and then they would roll a die. And the dice said day, night, or both. and then they had got to choose where they coded their robot to travel to. So what item could they see only during the day? only during the night or both. Fun spoiler alert, moon goes with both. Okay. Moving on to 2nd grade. I know you only wanna hear all these things, but gotta move on everybody. Okay. So for 2nd grade, we were talking about and, again, these are things throughout the year, so don't think, oh my gosh. I taught all of these in 1 week. These are things, like, through co teaching and other units. This isn't, like, one thing I taught all the time. Okay? So this is a snapshot. Something I've done in 2nd grade is we talked about animal migration pathways, and so students research based on the articles that I wrote for them They were researching about different types of animals and why they migrate. And the reasons why they migrate aren't always the same but there are some similarities and differences. And we use Ozo Bots for this one, but you could use whatever robot, and students were given a map that matched the animal that they wanted to learn more about based on the articles that were given to them, then using the codes that Ozobot reads, they had to create the migration path for the robot to follow, and they had to go to their migration spot and come back where they started. So the map did have some you can kinda see some stars so they knew where to go and numbers, but then they had to figure out the code. Another one is super fun. This is what I've always wanted to do when I taught third grade, and I didn't have robots. But then I made it as a STEM teacher. So this one was fun. We were talking about predator and prey. And for this example, their robot was representing the baby grab it. So the baby rabbit on the grid and there is much more cards than this than they were cut out on a grid where the robot could travel to each of the spots. and their robot, their baby rabbit, had to get back home to its mommy. But the path for the robot wasn't very very easy, so there's different obstacles, but also good things along the way. So, you know, if there's wildflowers that the bunny can baby bunny go through dandelions, go chat with his mouse friend, but he definitely wants to avoid the fox. So students had a fun time creating these pathways, so they had the chance to move the cards around and create a new path. I did tell them you can't make it too difficult. It can't be all predators and just, like, blocking because then the baby can't go anywhere, which it is the circle of life. But this was a fun one. So you could do this for other types of animals. So talking fast, we just wanna make sure to get through all these again. Hopefully, you're writing down good notes and getting lots of fun ideas. This is the stuff I love you. guys. I love creating lessons. Okay. So, count going into secondary, not much different, but more things to think about and things that are more content specific for them. So as a whole, this is just in general if you're thinking about how to integrate robots with what you're doing. Any grade, you could do use this as a practice tool. So in this picture, you can see that there are different math facts and whatever they land on they have to solve, and then they have to collect all of the math facts. Think about how you can integrate vocabulary or any skills that you want them to work on, maybe some social emotional skills, maybe putting things in order, a matching game. So You might even have flashcards already, but you can reuse them in a different way and add an element of coding. So you're really making this more engaging. Our students want more engaging things. So what a great way to integrate that. So I just added that as an aside. This is a really good way to get started. For 3rd grade, we talked about the Winter Olympics. We also use those robots, but, again, you could use whatever robots you have. And we talked about how with the Winter Olympics, everything is above the equator, and you need to think about why. Why are they all above the equator? So we talked about that, and then students had to code the pass I would say, past 50 years, maybe not that far back. But past whatever years, in order of when they happened. So they really had to think about their mapping skills. And before this, they did actually go into Google Earth. and we learned more about those places and showed them how to use Google Earth. So integrating some other stuff in that lesson. With 4th grade, we were talking about lines, angles, and symmetry, and how snowflakes have all of those elements when it comes to those math standards in 4th grade. And so students used chalk to draw sketches of their snowflake on the floor, and they were absolutely like, enthralled by drawing in the flow of chalk. And then they taped their snowflake. They put tape over their chalk design, And then throughout the week, they had to figure out the code for their snowflake. Now I really made sure with this. They did use measuring tape measuring tape to measure their tape. Because if you really had a symmetrical design, you could add elements of your robotics with looping. I don't have the video on here, but I did have a student who measured so precisely that their code was absolutely flawless, and it was on a forever loop. So the robot was tracing the Snowflake forever perfectly because the Snowflake was made perfect, and the code was very. So that was just a really cool way to extend this lesson, but also give a concrete way to apply their math vocabulary. Similarly, another winter slash spring because the Iditarod happens in, actually, the springtime. We added in that element of maker space. So we were learning a lot by about the Ididderad. And here in Colorado, students really don't know what the Ididderad is. So it's very exciting. It's an engaging topic. They don't know a lot about, and so you can see from the student plan that they were designing a plan for their robot to pull their sled throughout the Iditarod race. So we didn't use a whole lot of materials, and they did have a pathway. So I did create the whole Iditarod track, where it had all of the stops along the way, and it was the track that matched that year because it changes every so often. And so students had to code it down the retroist treacherous pathway of the Iditarod. So a super fun lesson, and they were so proud of their designs. And then at the end, they did to race their robots because, let's be honest, who doesn't wanna do that? So, hopefully, those ideas just are getting your wheels turning in just some fun and engaging ways where robotics just aren't an add-on. It's something that's integrated into what you're doing. And that's what we really wanna do. It's it can be a natural part just like having a laptop in your classroom. It's another manipulative. Yes. It moves, but it can do so many things. So it doesn't have to be so scary and overwhelming. Think about lessons that you already have, maybe are a little bit boring. How can you add robots to make it more interesting? These are some bonus challenges that I'm going to be talking about. These were more so an after school club that I did, but If you're scared to try robots, but you do have the opportunity to do an after school club, this is a little hack that I like to do as a STEM teacher. because it is a little more low key in a club where you have less students. It's more laid back, and then you can try a challenge. This one is from an event that I co-planned in my district. Me and another teacher were in charge of our Dash robotics competition that was district led, so something that we did with the other STEM teachers. And he and I had plans for our whole side of Dash to be all about the Olympics. So there were all of these different challenges more than what is shown, but all of these different challenges that students had to apply their coding skills that they were doing after school with all of these different fun challenges. They kinda knew some of the things ahead of time. They had similar practice things, but they didn't know it was going to be Olympic themed. As you can see on the left, they got to use the launcher to launch the ball into different basketball hoops and score different points. On the top right, they had to create a foot attachment to shoot the ball into the goal, and they got different points, of course. with that. And then, on the bottom, they had to create an attachment for Dash to carry an Olympic torch, so they had to make the Olympic torch and then code Dash to go all around the Olympic stadium. So this was super fun. It was a great event had a lot of fun planning this with that STEM teacher, and I even had some of my students help me make all of the little setups too. So that was just, like, another fun way. So even think about how you can collaborate with other teachers in your district. You could do something like this in person Or, again, Wonder Workshop has their Wonderly Robotics competition, and they have really great challenges every year, and you can implement that. And you can share your ideas there. So overall, I hope that you gain a lot of different ideas when it comes to integrating robotics into your lessons in the elementary classroom that are cross-curricular, but don't let this session stop you there. I would love to connect with you after today's session and also at my keynote speech. So definitely go and check that out at the closing keynote for the summit. But I would love to connect with you, and you can connect with me in a lot of different ways. As I said, I have a podcast, the elementary stem coach. I had Brian Miller, who you heard throughout this summit. On my podcast a while back, he had a great episode, so definitely go check out episode 32. You can email me or find me on my website, NaomiMeredith.com. I'm very active on Instagram, so you can check out all the things there and get inspiration at@naomimeredith_ And then you can also find me on YouTube or my tpt shop, teachers by teacher shop, and just search up Naomi Meredith. So definitely reach out. I'd love to help you on your journey with robotics, but for all things elementary STEM, I'm your go-to girl. But thank you so much again for your time, and I hope that I get to talk with you soon. This presentation had a ton of visuals, and I bet you are dying to see all of the examples and handouts. You can grab the video recording of this episode, the video slides I referenced throughout, student examples, and bonuses for only $5. That's less than a fancy coffee drink. This will all be linked in the show notes, and you can check it all out here at naomiemeredith.com/pdreplay.