The students had a great introduction on October 7-10th with the STEM activities.
With the student groups, we had the Sphero Bolt going around the Moon! It was a just a Google Mini but a great representation of the moon!
During one of the sessions, the students measure out the distance based on the speed of the Sphero and had to project how many seconds based on the preset speed the bolt would need to go to send it around the Moon! This got them thinking/learning about measuring, the direction in degrees, speed in distance covered, and time savings. Once they completed the mission, they looped the program and had the ball going around the table and, in some instances, not running into any of the walls around the table. I then opened it up so they could add in sounds and led colors and graphics. They enjoyed adding in their flare to personalize how the Sphero functioned. Most of the students were impressed just how fast the Sphero can go, especially in the gym!
On other occasions, we utilized the Code to Go Mouse to work through a challenging maze and understand the logic behind what we enter changes how the mouse finds the cheese.
With another group, we worked with the snap circuits and developed light-based alarm sounds. Based on how much light the device detected the louder the alarm was.
Overall, the students found things that they could solve or work through weather they were by themselves or in a group. It was a great time to see how quickly they pick up and learn new technology and how quickly they can turn it into something awesome.
We all had a wonderful week!
Dave Olson