Ozobots!

Ozobots! Ozobots! Ozobots!! First off, I just have to say, the Ozobots were such a fun lesson involving collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, STEAM, and best of all enjoyment. I love the quote:

“what we learn with pleasure, we never forget!” (Mercier).

I truly believe that learning can be fun. Which is what happened here! 

After we were shown how to power them up, calibrate, and a little bit of practice with the codes, we engaged in a challenge. Where we were to pair up and create a circuit for our little bot to go on. The only rule was that the Ozobot was to not stop moving. Then we were to do a gallery walk to check out other peoples designs and expand our learning even further by opening our perspective on how to achieve the perfect continuous circuit! 

Personally I struggle with technology and this introduction to “Coding” was nerve racking. But, as I learn every time that I try something regardless of my fears and nerves, I can do it and it is not as bad or hard as I thought it would be. This particular lesson further confirmed the idea that learning can be and is fun. I loved the critical and creative thinking in this lesson while creating a continuous road map. By challenging ourselves even more we decided to not do a circle or a continuous line, instead we utilized the codes to get the bot to turn around and go again when it reached the end of the line. I am so excited to utilize the Ozobots and other take aways from this lesson in the classroom one day! 

7 Principles and Ozobots 

• The Ozobots were engaging and challenged us in experimental learning, principle 1. 
• By pairing up with a partner and collaborating on the roadmap and codes with them we achieved principle 2 and 4! 
• Principle 3 is about emotions and how they are integral to learning. In the Ozobot challenge, I experienced frustration when I didn’t make the codes readable for the bot. I experienced excitement and happiness when our Ozobot completed the circuit! Aswell as an overall sense of achievement when both my peer and I completed the circuit and finished our first introduction to coding!
• As mentioned above, technology is challenging for me as it was for my partner. So learning how the Ozobots functioned was difficult for the both of us, achieving principle 5
• By doing the gallery walk and seeing the different ways that my peers created their roadmaps and the codes they used, opened my mind to different views and perspectives. (Principle 6).
• Lastly principle 7, this introduction to coding was the ice breaker for what is to come in the teaching profession in terms of coding down the road. 

“When you learn to read, you can then read to learn. Its the same thing with coding. If you learn to code, you can code to learn” – Dr. Mitch Resnick

(Dodge, 2017).