A head teacher from a primary school in one of the Northern Grid partner LAs recently asked about teaching Control Technology and what equipment was needed. Susie Arnott, who has worked with Northern Grid regularly over the last few years, has produced this helpful guide.

For more information contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact Susie by email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it on Twitter @darktigerlily or via her website http://www.storywebs.co.uk

Teaching Control Technology in the Primary Curricuum

Teaching control technology starts in Early Years.

Many Early Years settings will have lots of role play toys such as microwave ovens etc. that have buttons to start timers, noises etc. Old “real’ items, such as old mobile phones also offer opportunities for important play and talk. Adults should draw attention to the “cause and effect” of pressing buttons etc., and also discuss the control switches, dials etc. on real-life machines and gadgets.

The most frequently seen “formal” equipment is the BeeBot which has a simple set of control buttons to make it move forwards, backwards, turn to right or left and make a sound. There are lots of accessories to add, such as additional shell tops to transform your BeeBot into a variety of different characters/colours, and play mats that encourage the planning of routes.

Play with BeeBots (and other programmable toys) begins in an experiential way. Structured, adult-supported activities are needed to supplement free play in order to develop the important sequencing strategies for making complicated actions in one go. With the addition of some support materials for planning or recording moves, children’s development in understanding of this technology can be extended greatly. This can be as simple as providing a set of teacher-made cards which match the buttons on the toy and setting them out in a sequence to show the buttons to press to complete a specific action.

Many schools also have ROAMER. This is more suitable for use with children in Y2 up – if they are to develop sequencing and programming skills they need to go beyond the one-move-at-a-time stage. In addition, Roamer can have procedures saved to memory to be called up later. Work with Roamer can be greatly extended by integrating it with RoamerWorld software – so Roamer can be programmed on a computer and the instructions downloaded to the toy for it to carry out the commands in the “real world”. Having the software on the network allows all children to work at programming, then turns can be taken to download their instructions to the robot. http://valiant-technology.com/uk/pages/roamer_rworld.php

The latest Roamers, RoamerToo can have additional activity behaviours installed (many are free downloads from Valiant) and the battery technology is vastly improved (this was a management issue with the original Roamers.) Valiant claim the RoamerToo is suitable for Early Years as well as older children because of these additional behaviours.

The Valiant website has an excellent research library section giving explanations of the pedagogy behind control technology – from Seymour Papert, the inventor of the Logo programming language, to topics on SEN etc.

There are other robots available, including Pippin (replaces PIP) and Pixie from Swallow Technologies, but BeeBots and Roamer are most likely to be in schools.

The next step in developing control technology is based on using versions of Logo on the computer.

There is no one de facto Logo standard, but schools can download free versions. Commercial companies produce versions too, usually with a range of scenarios included.

Examples:

• MicroWorlds
• 2Go from 2Simple
• BlackCat Logo etc

Logo could be integrated with Lego at one time, allowing children to control lights, motors and sensors, but since the development of Lego Mindstorms, Lego have opted for a different programming language. The NXT robot linked to Lego Mindstorms software (or the 2Simple 2NXT interface) is a powerful combination, allowing children to program both inputs and outputs, and to learn about the use of sensors to control events remotely. The computer interface uses drag-and-drop units of coding, so children do not have to type instructions, but rather create a sequence of “blocks” which contain the coding instructions. Children create the program on the computer and download it to the robot which then performs the instructions on the floor.

A free piece of software with similar coding blocks is Scratch from MIT. Children can create animations, games, music and art, it has its own education community and an area to showcase projects.

Coding for Kids has become the place to go for teachers wanting to develop this aspect of their teaching. http://codingforkids.org/wiki/Main_Page Also follow @codingforkids on Twitter.

Codecademy also used by some teachers – a free set of interactive coding tutorials.

Others are exploring Kodu, which is a free programming tool for the X Box, from Microsoft.

Having a go at writing simple html code to create web pages, even if these only live on the school network, is another rewarding activity for children, and again, gives some insight into the real world.

Following the adventures of space technology, such as the Mars Rovers, links control technology work into the curriculum very well.

A word of warning about “coding blocks” I have observed many children learn to program with Logo, and feel that learning to write commands is a powerful skill, giving real insight into what is being “controlled”. I worry slightly that sticking coding blocks together might lose a little of that powerful understanding. Lots of discussion about what is being created would help alleviate this.

Interestingly, it’s not always the brightest children who get to grips with writing commands – sometimes children who rush in thinking they’ve grasped all the concepts make lots of mistakes and get frustrated, while others taking a slower approach can achieve great results and achieve huge satisfaction from their “creations”.

So, with a small investment - some BeeBots, one or two Roamers plus RoamerWorld software, a version of LOGO, a Lego NXT robot (more if you can afford it) and some free software downloads, schools can be right up there in teaching control technology in the primary school.

Finally, the most important investment needs to be in CPD for teachers – without this the whole project will be blighted, because it is teachers who need to drive and support this with passion and enthusiasm as well as sound understanding of constructivist pedagogy and willingness to learn some programming themselves, even this happens alongside, or just ahead of the children.