By: Katie Stanbrook, Katie Webb, Jade Dawson and Jasmine Taylor.
Plan for unplugged activity:
- A course will be set out in the hall consisting of obstacles that the children will need to climb over and duck under.
- The children will have to construct instructions for their partner to go round the course when blindfolded.
- In one session key terminology will be focused on: forward, turn, bend, sit, swivel ect. The children will write instructions (link to literacy) for their partner.
- Next session will consist of one child being blind folded and the other to instruct them, then swap roles.
- The idea of the instructions is the basics of programming: this will then progress to Bee Bots (plugged) and then Sat Nav activity (real life).
Example course layout and instructions.
Plugged activity
This activity follows on from the unplugged activity where children produce instructions away from the computer.
Using the Bee Bot robot allows children to program a robot to move around a pre-made course or a course that the children have made themselves.
The activity can link into English, as the children could write a set of instructions for the Bee Bot using time connectives. It also links nicely into Maths, as the children are using directions. The use of left, right, forward and backwards can be an introduction into north, south, east and west.
Real World Situation:
Sat Nav – this gives you the ‘code for your journey’ with miles/kilometres and the direction you are going in.
Children’s activity – warm up – to programme into the SatNav some listed places (or home – dependent on policies)
Activity – writing a programme of directions to get to a certain place from a set point. If it is a long distance, try and draw it on a map, then check it against a SatNav.
Plenary – either practise short journeys if within classroom or school, or give a child a set of directins for a short journey. Someone acts as the SatNav’s voice.