Professional Learning Goals

Our TLC team is made up of teachers from the junior and intermediate panels, along with a multiple exceptionalities special education teacher. Our first goal was to develop a series of pre-lessons that have computational literacy as its focus. Teachers and students alike cannot successfully explore the world of robotics without first developing the cognitive computational framework needed to successfully break apart problems. These lessons were executed within the classroom, with co-teaching and observation opportunities throughout. The second goal was to build staff capacity through a number of professional development sessions that model hands-on robotics learning. Finally, the team considered how computational literacy can be integrated cross-curricularly across all panels.

Activities and Resources

This TLC targeted teachers who have had no previous experience with LEGO robotics or programming.

1. Teachers will build simple robots using the LEGO Technic building system and EV3s (see http://www.damienkee.com/lego-mindstorms/).
2. Teachers will collaboratively design a number of pre-lessons designed to explore:
   1. What is a robot?
   2. How are robots used in our world?
      1. Exploratory lesson
      2. Field trips to local businesses that make use of robots
         1. Gilmer farms: Robotic milking
         2. Police bomb squad robotic demonstration
         3. Local video production company that makes use of drones for filming
   3. What is input/output?
   4. What is flowcharting?
   5. Programming people-movement exercise.
3. Robotics movement challenges (see Resources section of this form).

Unexpected Challenges

One of the main lessons we learned was that if you want to integrate robotics into the classroom, don’t start with robots! Our first exploratory session of the robots was filled with confusion and frustration. It became evident that we would not achieve our goals without first recognizing that computational schema is needed before hitting the world of robotics. Not only did this require a shift in our own thinking and expectations, it challenged us to develop lessons that foster computational capacity, without any use of technology.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

With computational literacy as its starting point, students were given a lab book to document their learning process. After framing the learning process with the discovery methodology used by scientists, inventors and engineers, students were hooked. The discovery lessons were cross-curricular in nature, allowing teachers to integrate the content into many subject areas. Many of the tasks were open-ended, allowing for rich discussion and a multitude of solutions. Our lessons also made use of movement, as students programmed their human robots to run through an obstacle course, having tested their code through a series of trial and error attempts. This learning process was documented through their lab books and clearly show a deep level of understanding, when compared with pre-assessments given before the unit. With that learning in place, students and teachers alike were much more successful and efficient when working with the robots. Our approach successfully addressed many of the pitfalls observed when classes did not have computational literacy as its starting point.  Finally, students were challenged to think like engineers and scientists, making use of math and robotics vocabulary when solving open-ended problems as teams. This has lead to increased math confidence, growth mindset and renewed interest in applied math applications.

Sharing

The major drawbacks from all existing robotics program is the teacher training component. We feel that our approach eliminates many of the fears and stigmas that teachers have when considering robotics in the classroom. As teachers and students experience success with our computational literacy lessons, teachers will be more apt to transfer this learning to robotics tasks in the class. At this stage, our team members are at various stages of implementation and refinement of our lessons. Once completed, we will be sharing the outcomes to our colleagues, along with an invitation to attend our robotics-enabled classrooms. In the fall, we hope to bring this approach to the primary panel, in the hopes of creating a computational literacy continuum across the grade levels. Finally, support and training will be provided for teachers who are keen to integrate these learning approaches in their classroom.

Project Evaluation

As mentioned in previous sections, we feel that our project was a success. Participating teachers have an understanding of computational literacy that will allow for a smoother transition of robotics within their own classrooms. Teachers have more confidence with robotics in general and are more willing to find new and innovative ways of integrating robotics as a tool to further reinforce computational literacy among their students. Finally, student results point to high student engagement and an understanding of computational strategies when approaching open-ended problems and tasks. Many of the team look forward to extending their own learning.