The theme of this class has been updated to "What are 21st Century Skills" - throughout the entire year we will be focusing on Creating, Collaborating, Communicating, and Critical Thinking. This focus is based off of the ISTE Standards and I will be using the p21.org framework to engage learners and hone their skills! These skills are applicable to nearly any situation, topic, or lesson.
The first modern technology that we are using to explore, learn about, and practice our 21st Century Skills are Ozobots! I have written about Ozobots before and I will be writing about Ozobots in the future! Ozobots are line following robots (check out how they work!) that anyone can use within a few moments of exploration (so far I have used them with students k-5 and even a few siblings in pre-k). What makes these so special is that Ozobots can be easily coded using Ozocodes. These simple color codes are a version of programming that is developmentally appropriate for young learners and challenging enough to keep everyone engaged!
I am working very hard at expanding my sharing ability, hence the reason for blogging, and part of this personal goal is to write about my lessons and experiences in my new role. Below you will find a simplified version of my lesson that can easily be modified for k-5th grade.
Ozobot Intro:
To introduce the learners to this topic, first start with a brief overview of what line following robots are, and examples of where they are used. Line following robots are robots that can follow visible or invisible lines (on the floor) by using optical sensors that are mounted on the robot. These robots are used in many industries including food service (where line following robots act as servers in specialty restaurants) and warehouses (working in cooperation with employees that need to transport items across distances). If your learners are having a difficult time grasping this concept, you may want to remind them that trains follow train tracks, line following robots do the same type of activity.
 |
| Examples of Line Following Robots from the Ozobot Teacher's Guide |
To get the class excited about this topic, I reminded the class that when working with robotics in school we have different versions of technology and that the line following robots we will be using are smaller than a golf ball and fit in the palm of their hands. This wowed students and reminds then that robots (in general/any and all robots) can be small and mighty! For older students, you may want to think about introducing surgical robots
Using a document camera, such as the inexpensive IPEVO Ziggi-HD, show the class the "anatomy" of the Ozobot. I reviewed the charging port, the wheels (we spoke about the gears inside), the optical sensor and lights, the power button, the "black bar" indicating the front of the Ozobot, and the LED lights.
Ozobot Exploration:
To start the exploration I found it very important review the types of lines... we talked about how it is important for us to use "bold, juicy, just right lines" because the Ozobots cannot find thin lines and do not know where to go on lines too thick (the Ozobots detect the edges of lines, thick lines are not detected by the optical sensor on the bottom), lines that are too sloppy cause the Ozobot to act erratically. A great marker for drawing "just right lines" are basic Crayola/Rosart BOLD markers. By using the diagonal side of the marker, these "just right" lines are easy to draw. Other great markes would include the Eberhard Faber 4000 Waterbased Marker or the chisel tip Sharpie line (I am going to try and test other markers throughout the year to determine the best quality/cost supply). By choosing a water-based markers teachers do not need to worry (as much) about bleed through or cleanup (of students or tables!).For primary students I demonstrated drawing these lines, this seemed to help the students a lot!
- different colored lines
- types of lines
- zigzags
- corners
- rounded lines
- letters
A quick snapshot of #critical #thinking and #creating at #IISSFAS using @OZOBOT @ISD911 @MarkZiebarth #21stedchat pic.twitter.com/r1HKgpey1C
— Davidson Blanchard (@000Dave) September 17, 2015
Communication of Successes and Failures:
Everyone fails. Everyone has potential. Everyone is held to expectations. Everyone learns.
Communicating our successes and failures will be an essential part of our time learning together. I believe this step is just as important as discussing our objective, participating in assessments, and reflecting (even though thinking about successes and failure is a part of reflection). While working with our Ozobots we we able to discuss the power of failure.
When we fail we have two options:
1) get frustrated and quit
2) learn and provide a learning experience for others
By communicating our successes and failures we are able to not only share what we learned as individuals exploring a topic, but we are able to learn from those willing to share. It is very important to build a classroom culture that accepts failure as an opportunity to learn. A classroom culture that embraces failures that were the consequence of hard work, planning, and trying new things.
Check out some examples:
#communicating our successes with @OZOBOT and #ozocodes! @MarkZiebarth #21stedchat #IISSFAS @ISD911 pic.twitter.com/PNiO9qhDIW
— Davidson Blanchard (@000Dave) September 16, 2015
Although the process of communicating successes and failures is incredibly important to share, I would like to leave that topic for another post that will be out soon!
Ozocodes:
Ozobots can be programmed through simple color codes. These codes are commonly referred to as Ozocodes, but may also be identified as "color language". These codes provide a simple way to program the Ozobots to complete many different times, moves, actions, or speed changes! The Ozocodes look easier to draw than they really are - it takes patience, self-control, and a steady hand. One suggestion is to use the side of a black marker to start making a track, then using the tip of a colored marker, draw a small square that matches the width of the track. Continue this method until the code is complete and then complete your code/track using black. This allows for a more steady hand and better control over the design. Another helpful resource would be the calibration page found on page 15 of the Teacher's Guide. This page not only provides a clean surface to calibrate you Ozobot's sensor, but also gives a template for the Ozocodes to be written. The small square pattern found on the boarder of this page is designed to work perfectly with those students that may get frustrated, need to build confidence, or have find motor skill needs.
Let your students explore the different things they can do with the Ozobots and Ozocodes.... Some students might be captivated with the basic abilities of these robots, others might start exploring their other capabilities such as how steep of a hill the Ozobot can climb (and they will discover that Ozobots work best on flat surfaces :-) )
Thoughts...
Learning, exploring, and teaching the 21st Century Skills is more about the learning experience and less about a specific curriculum. The ISTE Standards are skills that should be integrated interdisciplinarily and should be taught within the curriculum to be most meaningful. To justify my role in the school, I will be working with fellow teacher to embed the ISTE Standards into meaningful content that aligns with the curriculum students are working on within their grade level requirements.
I hope that you found this post meaningful! Please make sure to follow me on Twitter and check back on this blog to see some of the other topics that we will be exploring through the year. I am very excited - I hope we all are!
ps - I was not paid or supplied anything for this post - I just think these tools are worthy to be shared! If you have questions about any of the items, ideas, or activities discussed in this entry, please feel free to email me, tweet me, or contact any of the mentioned companies!
