Blue Bots are Elementary

This year Scarsdale elementary students are hearing a lot about robots in the classroom. It doesn't seem that long ago that the idea of a robot in our lives was limited to SciFi plotlines or expensive house servants. But today robots are more accessible to young learners than ever before.

At Jerry Crisci's annual district technology report, he overviewed the K-12 STEAM offerings, but showed how K-2 students in particular are learning to code using an online platform called Kodable and two robots -- Dash and Blue-Bots.

Blue-Bots, also known as Bee-Bots, provides our youngest students with an introduction to programming concepts in a manner that's concrete, hands-on, and so much fun! These robots can be operated using five main push-button commands on its back -- Forward, Backward, Left Turn, Right Turn, and GO, which will RUN the user's programmed sequence of instructions. With each forward or backward command, the BlueBot will roll 6 inches. With each press of the Left Turn arrow, the Blue-Bot will make a 90 degree turn to the left of the direction it is facing.

Seeing these instructions through the eyes of Blue-Bot is important. It teaches students to step outside themselves and see from the perspective of another being, whether it's a robot or a person. But let's face it. Kids treat them as more than just robots. The Blue-Bots are pretty cute and our primary grade students adore them. They shower them with cheerful praise as if they were a younger child or a puppy. But the level of engagement goes well beyond puppy love.

These 5-7 year olds are learning how to sequence, loop, and debug. Through robotics they are learning fundamental programming concepts. They are developing an understanding that their actions trigger an outcome and that if two don't match, then they need to walk back their steps, analyze their code, and patiently devise a plan to achieve their hoped for outcome. It's a mindset that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

Video: see BlueBot in action

Read more Edgewood technology stories in the Tech Blog.

Charlie Chaplin Comes to Edgewood

Final scene from City Lights

     Launching along side Edgewood University, the program of special interest courses that runs every Friday for six weeks (Jan 6 - Feb 10), is the Edgewood Film Festival. The Festival features conversations and clips from about a dozen Depression era movies. The purpose of these discussions is for students to understand how children coped with poverty during the Depression.
     One of the films featured in the Festival is Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931). It's a funny and touching love story in which the little guy and the little girl, despite the misfortunes slung at them, nurture hope long enough to find that one thing in life for which they most yearn.

Charlie Chaplin still makes
children laugh

     I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Chaplin's visual humor played to an audience of 7 year olds, more than 80 years after its first run. Here's a sample of what made them laugh. Watch this scene from City Lights in which Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character provides a visual commentary on a society of haves and have nots.
- Paul Tomizawa