Robots & Rockets

Just before the summer, I was asked by a school to provide some ideas for their "Inventions" topic. Two topics which leapt to mind were Rockets and Robots. Rockets because it links in with Space, which is a perennial favourite and has lots of practical work, and Robots because of the increased interest in programming i.e. controlling robots.

In the Rockets work, we covered their history from ancient China through fireworks to V2s and the Space Race. We used balloon rockets on string and had a good go with stomp rockets before using Rokit kits to investigate pressurized water rockets. All went down really well as they involved hands-on for the children. The only damp squib (firework reference) was the first go with Rokit kits when my old kit didn't cut it. Second time around though, job done.
There is so much can be gained from this topic in terms of Science, Maths, History and even Literacy.

Balloon rocket. A stomp rocket attached to a string was far more ffective.

Robots was more of a challenge for me but I was really pleased with the way things went. My presentation made the children compare humans and robots (Somerset Thinking Skills Course) and devise their own Laws of Robotics, after Isaac Asimov. The resources we used included remote-control toys (Daleks, dinosaurs), iPad apps and Lego.

IEEE Spectrum Robots app - free download, excellent.

Having just bought 5 sets of Lego WeDo, I had to get the children using them. They were a hit with both children and staff despite limitations of access to software as I only have a single user licence. We also had quite a successful go with Lego Mindstorms. 
I didn't get round to introducing the children and staff to Scratch but, hopefully, I'll have laid the groundwork for that in the future.

We also mentioned in passing Dr Who, Wall-E, Metropolis, I-Robot, K'nex and several other resources worthy of more detailed study.

Orpheus, Euridyce and The Wall

Anais Mitchell is an american folk/contemporary singer with a quirky voice. I have a CD of hers called Young Man in America (2012) and one with her and Jefferson Hamer (2013) singing some of the Child Ballads. So, when I saw Hadestown, with another of my favourite female singers, Ani DiFranco, I had to buy and try. I was not disappointed.

righteous babe records RBR070-DE (2010)

The CD is a "folk opera" based on the legend of Orpheus & Euridyce. It works well as a whole but what grabbed my attention was the track "Why we build the wall". I immediately saw the wall from the Pink Floyd cartoon being built and then started singing "I built the wall and I will be the one to knock it down" (REM). Finally, I regressed totally and started to sing "Out of the land of shadows and darkness, we were returning towards the morning light....", the introductory words to From the Underworld by The Herd (Peter Frampton's first group).
I can see a way of using these songs in PHSE as well as when teaching the Ancient Greeks. 
With regard to the latter, I then went back and found Marcia William's comic strip version of the story from "Greek Myths for Younger Children" (Walker Books).

"But then her living form faded and Eurydice became a ghost of the Underworld"

Virunga - join the campaign

WWF have a new high profile campaign to save the Virunga National Park.
Fabulous wildlife, scenery and volcanoes. The free wallpapers on their website illustrate this.

Join them.       virunga@wwfint.org

I've know about Virunga for quite a while not through its beauty but through an African band called Orchestre Virunga. Wish I'd delved deeper at the time.

There is only one Earth - let's stop destroying it.

Kinetic Creatures, Lego and Scratch

I was browsing Gizmodo on my Xoom and came across Kinetic Creatures and their creations -  a rhino, an elephant and a giraffe. They looked really good and I wanted at least one but am too tight to pay the asking price.

When I also saw that they could be powered by Lego motors and, therefore, programmed using Scratch, I was even more tempted to buy one.
Decisions, decisions.

Scratch INSET

I'm not an organiser but a doer. However, sometimes, I should be more proactive and I've just surprised myself by putting together an outline for some teacher INSET on Scratch.

Primary schools need to be looking at the introduction of programming for the 2014-15 academic year. Many teachers that I've spoken to are daunted by yet another skill to develop and use to support their pupils. I'd be daunted too.
As I have more time to think about and organise my thoughts than classroom teachers, I've put together a half-day INSET programme which will hopefully give them confidence and a start on addressing these needs. 

Draft poster for Scratch INSET

I hope we'll be able to form a self-help group with regular Scratch-Meets (like the very popular Teach-Meets). I also hope to follow it up with a further half day looking at Scratch and Lego WeDo.

I knew nothing about the Scratch conference in Barcelona in July. The online info makes it look really interesting. One thing I did pick up on, which is very dear to my heart, was the repeated call for resources to use in Scratch programming. Over the years, I've collected a vast bank of audio, images and video to support my work with children. Some organisations have tried to do the same for teachers e.g. National Education Network but wouldn't it be brilliant if there was a one-stop resource shop for the world's schools of copyright free materials to use.

Lego WeDo additional (1)

I walked past a modelling shop that was closing down and noticed they had 20% off Lego. The stuff they stocked was limited but I came across set 8293 which had a battery box, a motor, lights, a switch and various gears and a clutch.
When I got it home I used some of the parts and WeDo to create the Hungry Alligator with glowing eyes.

Screenshot from video of Hungry Alligator with eyes lit up

However, I couldn't get the lights, motor and sensor to all work at the same time. Not enough power from the USB connection? A big disappointment but I need to play more.

Lego WeDo

At great expense, I've bought Lego WeDo to learn about it. You don't get much for your money but having "played" with it and looked at the accompanying resources, I suppose I can understand.

Originally I wrote the following:-

Making the models was fun, even for someone of my advanced years. However, I took some time to get used to the support and programming. It isn't as simple for children as I expected but then do children need it that simple. I now think I've got an understanding of the package and just need to work out how to structure the teaching of it and integrate it into the curriculum.

Having spent one day a week for five weeks working with children, I still think it's great fun and am more enthusiastic about the programming side of things. Indeed, I must not prejudge things - the children had very little trouble with making the models or programming, although we didn't have time to explore the latter in great depth.

I also need to remove the following slide from my presentation:-



Children don't panic. I was putting the adult slant on to the work. Children take it in their stride. It's just the lesson.

In addition, the scope for imaginative modelling, programming and story-telling was obvious from the way children took to the tasks.

Week 4 (most able) ; Modified model, additional programming, original story

Week 5 : Make up your own model and programme it.

I am in the process of investigating how Lego WeDo can work with Scratch, a free text-based programming language. I think there is great scope here and feel I'm a year or two behind where I should be.

And if I could get access to cheap Lego Technics I thnk I'd be linking those models (and Bionicle figures) with the WeDo hardware and software. Could we cross toy boundaries and mix Lego and Knex even?

Off to catch up and maybe progress to Mindstorms EV3.