Junior Botball

My colleague and I are in our second year of offering Junior Botball after school for students. Last year, we received a grant through the Idaho STEM Action Center that provided training and robots. We started working with students back in September. We have several 3rd grade students, one 5th grade, and two 6th grade. We have only four girls out of the 16 students participating.

This year, we had students stay for two hours after school on one day rather than doing two days a week for an hour after school.  It makes for long days for the teachers and students, but the students are able to complete more programming with less setup and cleanup time. 

We will wrap up the learning process on December 4 with a culminating challenge. Emmett Middle School will be joining us with their students who are participating in Junior Botball. We will have pizza and water for attendees and celebrate all the students' hard work.

In late January or early February, we will start up again with students that are ready to commit to making plans for GCER in the summer of 2018. We will work to further develop students' programming skills and begin fund raising to help with the cost of the trip.

I would recommend Junior Botball for any student. It is amazing what students can do while coding in C++. They really begin to understand the importance of spelling, formatting, critical thinking, and problem solving. It is so much fun to be a part of and watch the growth.

Global Conference on Educational Robotics

It was a busy summer with professional opportunities. So busy, that it has taken almost three months to have time to share. The first two weeks of the new school year are behind me. As usual, I will be making changes based on the new information on instructional practices I have learned throughout the summer. One big change is moving my robotics instructions for fourth and fifth grade students, as well as my after school groups, towards the Junior Botball robot (https://www.juniorbotballchallenge.org/).

I have tried and used various robotics platforms during elementary engineering instruction, after school groups, and makerspace. LEGO robotics, WeDo and Mindstorms, have been the predominant robotics used. These are fantastic because they come with a variety of curriculum and are easy to start using whether experienced with robotics or not. Other robotics formats include Cubit and Edison. All of these platforms have pros and cons. The Cubit robot is a platform that allows students to see the inner components of the robot and demystifies the hardware components. Edison robots are easy to use and do not require any formal programming since the robot can scan programmed bar-codes to program the robot for specific tasks. In fact, these robots were used to hold a school-wide sumobot challenge because students of all ages could program the robots either using the bar-codes or drag and drop. In fact, all of the robots, LEGO, Cubit, and Edison, use a drag and drop programming platform. Junior Botball is the first robotics platform I have experienced that is designed for students from kindergarten through high school and requires the students to program in C++ or Python.

Junior Botball does not use a drag and drop interface but instead teaches the students a programming language. I was able to see students as young as first grade programming at the Global Conference on Educational Robotics (GCER). The competition portion of GCER (http://new.gcer.net/) had different divisions including elementary, middle school/high school, and adult. In addition to the competition, GCER held various sessions for coaches and students. The sessions included how to implement Junior Botball, programming and engineering instruction, and much more. The overall feel of GCER was that of a learning experience. This was one of the best aspects of competing in the Junior Botball division at GCER. The students worked to complete individual challenges rather than competing against another team. This approach helped to build friendships between the different teams and allow students to work towards their personal bests. So, not only were elementary students' fingers flying over the keyboards programming in C++ or Python, but participants were also placed in a low stress situation of learning that could be as competitive as students wanted. This was a refreshing experience compared to other student competitions I have participated in as a coach. I look forward to growing my Junior Botball group and school and seeing students walk away from the program with an actual programming language in their tool kit rather than just a drag and drop experience.