{"id":1266,"date":"2018-02-18T06:10:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T06:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrsbarkerstearoom.com\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2018-02-18T07:37:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T07:37:07","slug":"go-george-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrsbarkerstearoom.com\/?p=1266","title":{"rendered":"Go George Go (or should that be Go Geoff?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had been keen to explore Beebots in the classroom but never found the time. Thanks to Geoff McIver my Beebot journey has been kick started. Geoff has recently worked with me in Year 1 classes, demonstrating how to use Beebots effectively.<\/p>\n

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To prepare for Geoff’s lesson I gave the students some paper arrows and allowed time for them to play and explore. They had to make paths in straight lines from one object to another. They loved this and\u00a0it was a fun way to begin our focus on coding….and although the photo at left wasn’t what I expected to see it did show creativity!\u00a0We then played an online game Go George Go (PBS Kids – George<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em>to consolidate the concept of programming a sequence of movements ‘step-by-step’ to achieve an outcome.<\/p>\n

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Geoff’s visit involved coding Beebots to navigate challenges involving shapes. This highlighted the potential for coding in Maths…<\/em>Start on a blue square. Can you get to a green square without going over any circles?<\/em><\/p>\n

After our lesson with Geoff, I designed a lesson that challenged the students to program George (from PBS Game) so that he took the longest path, then the shortest path, to get to ice-cream. The students were required to map out their ideas\u00a0individually on paper, then work with a partner to test their ideas. They loved it. Some had the Beebot doing 360 degree turns to make George take longer –\u00a0 our debate then became\u00a0 – if it takes a longer time<\/strong> to get to the ice cream\u00a0does that mean the Beebot is travelling a longer distance<\/strong>? <\/em>Next time I would include a time challenge – Make George take 1 minute to get to the ice cream.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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