Secondary school educator and Solutions Expert at Olive for Education, Roisin Beaver, shares her memories of first becoming involved with STEM and discovering a new way to encourage student collaboration in the classroom.
Arriving back to school after the summer holidays to find coding and robotics on my timetable was a very new experience for me. The school had decided to introduce coding as part of wellbeing in Junior Cycle and a robotics module as part of TY. Being an English teacher with an interest in computers – but without a formal qualification in them – meant I was *perfectly* suited to teaching these classes – really – I was!
What initially I viewed as a huge burden turned into the classes I looked forward to most each week. I consulted with some friends who had dabbled with coding and got a few pointers. I began with some problem-solving tasks which tested the students’ skills and collaboration abilities. They had lots of fun figuring out how to build the tallest tower using nothing but twenty sheets of paper and some paper clips. Then we moved on to the basics of programming and learning how stupid computers are – unless you tell them exactly and specifically what you want them to do.
Students had to write a set of instructions for a robot on how to make a cup of tea. I asked one student to be the robot and to do only what the instructions said. Needless to say, it was very funny – the students found their instructions were lacking in detail and the poor robot was flummoxed – but it conveyed the point perfectly. How code must be written clearly and have planned sequential steps.
We then moved on to using a number of platforms and tools in our coding journey. We used MakeCode and some microbits and built small vehicles and traffic lights. We used Spheros and designed ramps and obstacle courses and had to programme the Spheros to navigate (no cheating and using the steer function!). We also used ‘Swift Playgrounds’ on the iPad too. I allowed the students to choose what they were most interested in. The students loved the variety within the coding classes so much so that when I offered to hold an after-school code club once a week there was huge interest.
I applied for funding and was awarded a grant from SAP through the Community Foundation Programme. We purchased the Lego Spike Prime and the Spike Prime expansion kit. The students got to work building lots of creations and trialing their ideas. Then, we heard there was a competition called ‘First Lego Leagues’ and we decided to enter. The students absolutely loved it, and it brought a fresh and new focus to what was happening in the after-school code club – which was taken over by the huge mat supplied by the competition and the associated challenges.
The TYs at this stage had been doing a robotics module which we had been asked to pilot. Eight weeks of working with the LegoEV and following step-by-step instructions had the students looking forward to the classes each week. Even students who may not have been keen on the coding aspect felt very much part of the team effort as they were busy building the robots with the Lego. I thought it was a fabulous initiative and would strongly recommend any school to roll out a robotics module using their excellent kit and resources. As a teacher I was very much observing and offering the odd piece of advice. There is something very satisfying about watching sixteen-year-olds being excited to work with Lego – once there’s a robot involved!
The TY’s learned about the after-school programme and some started to come along to it. The following year we had a large group entering the FIRST® LEGO® League Ireland, a hands-on STEAM robotics programme run throughout Ireland for ages 4-16, and they built on their successes of the previous year. Once again, as a teacher, I felt I was surplus to requirements as the students had taken ownership of the tasks to be done and were distributing them amongst themselves. I offered the odd piece of input, but the students were very efficient in working things out.
So, if you, like me, think that coding isn’t for you, just step outside your comfort zone and see where it can bring you. You never know, it might lead you to having a lot of fun – and learning a few things too along the way!
Olive for Education can now supply a range of STEM products including LEGO, Sphero, Minecraft and much more.
To chat with Roisin and learn more about how you can incorporate STEM into your classrooms visit oliveforeducation.ie/stem/
