Last week, Grades 4 to 6 students had the opportunity to work with Maker Space gadgets during their library time. The SCSBC (Society of Christian Schools of British Columbia) were generous in lending our school a “tickle box” to tickle our interests for future purchases for our school.
Students were arranged into 3 groups and then rotated between stations as time permitted. Group 1 played with two robots from the Wonder Workshop named “Dot” and “Bella”. These robots were controlled using a tablet and commands that are similar to Scratch coding. Groups tried to adjust the strength of Dot’s launcher in order to knock down a tower of plastic cups. Students also experimented with different commands that included making Dot or Bella move different directions, speak, blink a series of lights, move towards a sound and others. For more information, visit makewonder.com.
Group 2 used markers to trace out a route and create a series of commands using different color codes on a sheet of paper. When their path was complete, they placed a light-sensing robot called “Ozobot” on the paper to follow. Ozobots would follow commands such as “snail dose”, “nitro boost”, “pause 3 sec”, “spin”, “tornado”, or “win/exit”. Students had fun drawing their codes using the color codes and pathway, and then testing to see if Ozobot would follow their commands. You can learn more about Ozobots by visiting ozobot.com.
Lastly, Group 3 played with a VR or virtual reality cube called “Merge Cube”. With a simple 3-dimensional black and white cube and downloaded app’s, students were able to view masterpieces from the Louvre and British Museum, look at organs from the human body, view planets in orbit around the sun, and dig or build on a Minecraft-like cube and rotate it in all directions. Each student was invited to take home a copy of their own Merge Cube and build it at home. Apps can be downloaded for free by searching “Merge Cube”.
Students and librarians, Valerie Gifford, Janice Gifford and Pansy Hwang, all learned something and had fun while doing it!
Written by: Pansy Hwang, Elementary Campus Librarian
