(Check out my student Maddy's account of the day! Click Here. )
My students did in an hour what took me about three or four hours to complete. I had three girls come in after school and explained to them what was going down. We were going to use Sphero to paint pictures essentially. They were quick to name the test subject Greg, and brainstorm what they were going to try to program. Before anything however, I had them experiment and get a feel for how Sphero worked. I had them control him using the drive aspect of the app--playing around with speed, directions, and colors. They also learned how to aim him. (Later they will comment on the importance of aiming Greg so he doesn't roll in the opposite direction and make a big mess!)
They decided to make a rectangle! They were then exposed to the first time, the Lightning Lab App. I showed them the three modes of using the app, and then let them go. All three of them had been previously exposed to Scratch so they knew how the drag-and-drop interface worked. They started going, and problem solving!
They went out in the hall to test their programs several times before we finally started using the paint. Today was mainly focused on learning the programing platform and the particularities that come with using Sphero.
For example, they noticed that he slid rather than stopped before performing the next action in their program. They decided to add stops to their program because of this. They also noticed that he (Greg) was harder to control if he was moving faster, but if he moved too slow he would wobble.
Today was a great learning curve day. The girls were laughing, and smiling but they were also having to problem solve, learn a completely new system, and thing critically and intentionally about what they wanted to happen and how to achieve that. (Check out the pictures and videos below that document the day!)
The students are testing out their program here!
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| Rolling Greg in the paint. |
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| The final product! |
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| The student's program. |
Next, I hope to experiment more with textures, and colors. The girls got the programing stuff down pat for the most part. But now, I want them to be able to explore the art aspect of this project. How can we make meaningful art with colors and textures? I have a few ideas on how to manipulate the trail that Sphero leaves, but I will have to see what the girls think too!
We also have an event coming up called Science Saturday. I hope the girls will be able to come and show off what they have learned and done. I am thinking they might be able to set something up where other students come up, and are able to create a stroke on the painting, sign it, and then we will donate it to the schools in the district.
We will see what happens! Check out my student Maddy's account of the day! Click Here.
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