Bot+Boy+Preschoolers: Introducing Robots to Littles

Over the last couple of years in my library we  have started working with some of our codable robots with our preschool students. The idea came from a session I attended at the SXSWEDU Conference in Austin, TX. At one of the sessions that I attended featured Ann Gadzikowski, author of the book Robotics for Young Children. This session was really interesting! Gadzikowski discussed the importance of talking to young children about robots and the many roles that robotics plays in our daily lives. She states in the book “Children see and sometimes even use machines and computers, smartphones and robots, all around them every day. It would be silly to make them wait until they take computer science classes in high school or college to learn the basic concepts.” Gadzikowski also says, “We are building a foundation and creating a pathway for later learning.” (Gadzikowski pg. 4). These statements really made so much sense to me, it is important that we start to have conversations with our youngest students about the robots and computers that are a part of their lives so they better understand how machines work. By laying the foundation early, as students advance in their learning they will have background knowledge and understanding.

I collaborated with the technology education teacher to develop a program that incorporated the work we were doing with literacy in the preschool program and adding the element of coding robots. We started the conversation by talking and sharing the different codable robots that she had in the technology department and ones that I had in the library. This was a way of “publicizing to learners, staff, and community available services and resources” (AASL 2018, School Library III.C.3). We also talked about the connection with sequencing in coding and sequencing in storytelling. We designed a series of lessons that would combine storytelling and literacy with coding and robots.

Lesson 1: Ozobots

The first step was sharing the book Bot+Boy by Ame Dyckman. This is a great book to share with young children as they are beginning to talk about robots. In the story a young boy is playing with a robot he found. They are having a wonderful time when the power switch for the robot is accidentally switched to off. The boy thinks the robot is sick so he takes him home and tries to feed him soup and put the robot to bed. During the night, the robot’s switch is clicked back to the on position. The robot seeing the boy asleep in bed thinks that the boy needs to be repaired so the robot gives him more oil and tries to plug the boy in to get more power. The books is sweet and the illustrations are wonderful. The story also includes the starting point to talk about what is different about the boy and robot. Learners shared their connections with the story and the difference between machines and people. This was a way for learners to “[Develop] new understandings through engagement in a learning group” (Learner III.A.2). We then talked about different machines that we have in our lives. Students named the different machines that they encounter in their daily lives.

Then, I introduced the first robot that the students would be exploring Ozobots. Ozobots are small robots that have a camera on the bottom of the robot. Users can draw different lines and patterns using markers and the Ozobot will read the lines and follow the path. We talked about how this was a different robot then in the story or ones that students encounter in their lives. We also talked about how you need to program or tell some robots what to do, and the way that you program an Ozobot is by drawing different lines. Then we set students up with markers, paper and Ozobots to begin to explore coding these robots!

Lesson 2: Rotating groups with Dash, Root, Mouse and Cubetto Robots

The next step was introducing students to more robots that incorporate different coding applications. We broke the students up into small groups and paired them with a different robot, a teacher and a book. We used the books by Jan Thomas. I love to use these books because the stories are fun and engaging as well as having a clear and simple, beginning, middle, and end. I make photocopies of important events from the story. The students listen to the book, then they put the images from the book in order from beginning to end. This is a collaborative process, students talk to their classmates and agree on the correct order.

The final step is showing the students how the different robots work and then they code the robot to go to each of the photocopies of the illustrations from the book from beginning to end. This is a way of highlights the sequence of a story and making connections to the sequence of coding a robot. This a process and groups need to code and recode their robots to ensure that they follow the whole path of the story. Sometimes they do not give the robot enough commands to go forward to reach different pictures or they turn the robot in the wrong direction. Then the group needs to discuss what went wrong and how they are going to fix the code to complete the challenge. In this process learners are “actively contributing to group discussions” (Learner III.D.1).

The Dash and Root robots use drag and drop coding on an ipad app to connect to the robot. Cubetto robot using different colored tiles on a board to instruct the robot to move and the Mouse robot has directional buttons on the robot that code the robot to move. We do this project over several weeks so all the students have a chance to read different stories and gain experience with different robots and different types of coding.

We do this project in the fall to introduce students to the coding robots. In the spring we do some more connected building and making projects with the robots and storytelling. This set of lessons builds a great foundation for coding that we advance as the students more through the grades.

This is not only a collaborative project for learners it is also an example of collaboration between the school librarian and a fellow educator. The tech ed teacher and I recognized shared goals with this project and found an opportunity to “[partner] with other educators to scaffold learning and organize learner groups to broaden and deepen understanding” (School Library III.A.1).

Made By Maxine: First Grade Rapid Prototyping Challenge

The first graders do a big design and building project that starts early in the school year. This project is long and incorporates lots of parts including the students make a working art robot. This is a collaborative project with the library, technology and the classroom teachers. At the end of the project each year, all the teachers involved in the project get together and reflect on what worked and what did not work with the project and any ideas to change things for the following year. This is a way that I “partner with other educators to scaffold learning and organize learner groups to broaden and deepen understanding” (School Library III.A.1). One of the suggestions from the first grade team was the students do a short building project before the bigger design project. The idea was this would help remind students where materials are in the makerspace. It would also get students back into the mindset of using different materials, working to build with others and then cleaning up the makerspace. We wanted this one session build to get students thinking about building and collaboration. The great book “Made By Maxine” by Ruth Spiro and Illustrated by Holly Haatam was the inspiration for the project.

We started by reading the book. In the story Maxine is a maker. She makes new things out of old things, tinkers and builds. She meets Milton, the goldfish and he is the best pet in the world. Maxine builds him amazing fish tank with different spaces and rooms using different materials. She also makes Milton an automatic feeding machine and a musical sensor machine! When it is time for the school pet parade, Maxine is determined to invent a way for Milton to be able to take part. She tinkers and builds but nothing works. She is about to give up but realizes that Milton is her friend and she wants him to come to the parade, Maxine goes back to the drawing board and makes, tinkers, builds and rebuilds, designs and redesigns and she makes Milton an amazing mobile, musical fish tank float for the school parade.

After reading the book, students talked about what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story. They also talked about challenges Maxine faced as she was trying to make a float for Milton to be in the parade. Students discussed how she failed several times before she was able to come up with a plan that worked for Milton.

The next step was for students to engage in a rapid prototype challenge inspired by the book. We set out a random set of materials; cardboard, foam, empty tape rolls, etc, for each group. Then we had a collection of tape, scissors, pipe cleaners, straws and streamers. Finally, each group had a small toy animal on their table. The challenge was for students to build only using the materials on their table and the items in the bins.

When students arrived for class, I explained the challenge. Just like Maxine made something for Milton, they would need to make something for their animal. This was a way to have students think about what they learned for the story and make and create something new. This “allowed learners to build on their prior knowledge and create new knowledge” (School Librarian III.B.2). Each group would work with only the materials at their table and the options in the bins. They would need to rapidly design and prototype something the would benefit their animal. The students had four minutes to look at their materials, talk with their partners and plan. This was a way that learners “actively contributed to group discussions” (Learner III.D.1). Then they had fifteen minutes to build. The last five minutes each group explained what they built and how it would benefit their animal.

Students were creative with their designs. They built spaces for the elephant to find shade and water on hot days, an obstacle course for the alligator so they would have things to do, small and large pools for the whale to swim around, and more. Students talked with each and designed together, including ideas from each member of the group and because of the time limit really worked together to complete the challenge. This was a way to help learners “recognize learning as a social responsibility” (Learner III.D.2).

The goal of this project was for students to start thinking about how to plan and design together and how to use different materials. We will be diving into the larger Dot Day project that will involve more research and planning, as well as many options for students to use to build their robots. This rapid prototype lesson was a way to help get them into the collaboration, tinkering and designing mindset.