Floor Robots
It all started with this friend. He's was one of the first big successes within schools. I can vividly remember one ICT lesson being given the opportunity to guide this floor bot around the library.
Roamer was brilliant- you could stick a pencil in it and it would draw where it travelled.
What is the point of Floor Robots?
- They teach directional language
- They are teach spatial awareness
- They can be used for measurement and prediction
- And they can be used in a range of curriculum areas such as ICT, Mathematics, Literacy and D&T
The New Generations
Within most primary schools Beebot can be found. He is very much like Roamer however he cannot take as many instructions. Beebot is geared towards Foundation Stage and Key Stage 2. Children can input forwards, backwards left and right sequences. I used Beebot whilst on GPP and you can find out more here
The advancement of Beebot is Probot and this is much more suited to Key Stage 2.
It has a numerical keypad which enables much more complex sequences alongside sequences being stored and saved for future use. The car makes turns using the numerical key pad which means that it can turn at angles other than 90 degrees (one limitation of Beebot).
It has a numerical keypad which enables much more complex sequences alongside sequences being stored and saved for future use. The car makes turns using the numerical key pad which means that it can turn at angles other than 90 degrees (one limitation of Beebot).
Floor Robots are fantastic for children to learn through play. Set them a challenge and it is their imagination and determination to get the robot to move to the destination which drives their learning. A limitation to the robots are that they can be an isolating acitivity as often the school only had 2/3. However they are great to use with groups as it acts as a team building exercise and encourages good speaking and listening. As mentioned I used Beebot on GPP and if my FPP placement has ProBots then I will certainly use them.