Always on the lookout for computing techno
logy that is accessible and engaging to all my students I invested in 1 Ozobot. A small programmable robot. It is, I would say the simplest device I have bought to support our computing curriculum, In less than 5 minutes I had it running around the maze supplied with Ozobot. (image to the right). The visual impact of running over the different colours immediately obvious by the light on top.
Well I was sold but…. the real test is in the classroom. I devised a simple lesson involving drawing lines to different landmarks on a map of our local community. As you can see from the GIF below we have an immediate success on our hands, Ozobot keeps following the circuit with one change of colour
You can see the minimum of equipment needed to the left. You don’t actually need an iPad and we didnt use it for the lesson I just wanted to show off the dancing using the OZOGroove app
Thicker pens are much better for Ozobot to read and follow
So within one lesson we had moved on the adding the basic codes for speed up spin etc, these are available to download from the Ozobot website lessons section.
Now these codes can be drawn but we cheated and printed them out, cut them out then stuck them over the line to make the lesson less frustrating for our students who have fine motor skill problems. My class ran with these soon drawing their own tracks and circuits, adding codes here and there. This was incredibly engaging all students enjoying listening to the whirring noise, watching the movements and lights.
We only the scratched the surface of using the Ozobot, lots of opportunity for PECs use, interaction and collaboration. We will be buying some more for races challenges etc.
Looks really cool!
It’s great fun. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.