Robots, Robots, Robots !!!
It's not all about getting out in the woods, or using 'traditional' tools or methods of play. Equipping today's children with the skills they need to be tomorrow's adults is a hugely important part of the working with children. Technology, then, is where it's at ! The kids of today, will be the data scientists of tomorrow, and we recognise now that huge numbers of people in the future will be employed in industries connected directly with technology. It's our job, then, to get them ready for tomorrow's world !
The Heart of the Matter
Coding
Writing code, and understanding some of the basics of 'coding' is something that, you may be surprised to learn, some children already know.
They may not be sitting writing code as such, but lots of games that are available on tablets and phones involve an element of logic and sequencing ... and that's all that coding, at it's most basic level, is.
Click the link below to access an interactive website called 'Blockly Games'. Working through the activities on this website will, very quickly, have you coding like the cool kids, and dreaming of running your own multinational technology corporation !
And so to Robots !
Having worked through the activities on the Blockly games website, you are now ready to start programming robots ! You will be provided with a 'modular' system called 'Fable' from Shape Robotics, and you will use a similar coding system to the one you used on the Blockly Games site to 'code' the robot. The modular system allows you to create combinations of moving parts, each of which can be controlled, using coding, independently of the other parts. This means that you can develop a very complex device, very quickly, and quite easily !
So ... we have a 'modular' robot, and a 'modular' form of coding ... in both cases we just 'click things together' ... and BOOM ! We have become robot scientists ! It's a peek into the realm of robotics and coding !
Click the links below to find out more about the Fable system.
