Bee-Bots in the Classroom

Bee-Bots I had seen them in our resource room but didn't know how to work them or know how I could use them with the children. Know I feel confident to use them and am very excited that they can be used in so many different ways! 

Today I was lucky enough to attend a workshop at the Turanga Library with Emma Planicka exploring Bee-Bots in the Classroom. 

Why Bee-Bots?

• Directionality
• Making shapes
• Debugging
• Building algorithms
• Storytelling - comprehension and retelling
• counting, number before and after
• Visual art
• Collaboration
• Phonics and much more!

Bee-Bots expose children to the opportunity to explore curriculum areas in creative and fun ways while also covering elements of the digital curriculum. I had no idea they could be used in so many different ways!

Along with being amazed with all the wonderful learning experiences you can use Bee-Bots for, the one thing that I walked away with was realising that you cant just give children the Bee-Bots, explain the task and off they go. Children need to be exposed the the language and vocab before even touching a Bee-Bot as this helps them to develop an understanding and hearing the language being repeatedly used in a range on contexts. 

Some key questions to ask students:

• Are robots smart? Do they have a brain?
• What are some robots you would find in your home?
• Discuss algorithmic thinking - link to daily routines 

Learning experiences for children before using the Bee-Bots:

• Rubber Mats/PE Dots (direction, forward, back, left, right) 
• Grids
• Maps 

I can not wait to give Bee-Bots ago as well as teaching and encourage my other colleagues to use them!