Classroom Happenings: Cracking the Code

Six Middle School students, under the guidance of Middle School Technology Facilitator Barbara Coates, recently gave an off-campus presentation on programming small, circular, colorfully lit robots called Spheros. The robots, which can roll, “laugh,” “cry,” and zip around at surprising speeds, connect via Bluetooth to a device (like an iPad or Chromebook) to be programmed. 

At Steward, students are continually engaged in ideas that encourage critical thought. Sphero programming is taught in grades four through eight. Students start by learning how to program using text blocks (words that direct the Sphero) as a way to understand computational thinking and computer science concepts. Students in grades seven and eight learn how to translate and read JavaScript, a programming language. 

Middle Schoolers Charlie Bernier ’28, Kayla Galpern ’28, Nate Herron ’28, Nora Iwashyna ’27, Elijah Kauffman ’28, and Emily Stefanick ’28 presented at the FIRST Robotics Competition Team 422 Mech Tech Dragons STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) outreach event, which was held at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an international organization whose mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators. 

As participants in the FIRST Robotics Competition, presenters were asked to do community outreach to encourage attendees (middle schoolers from throughout the Richmond area) to learn more about programming and robotics. 

Nora Iwashyna ’27 led students in a hands-on workshop for her project, “Emotional Rollercoaster,” in which attendees created a Sphero block program using loops (a repeated line of code) and conditionals (“if, then” logic statements) to measure the robot’s yaw (its tilt on the vertical axis) through a gyroscope sensor. Using matrix animation and sound blocks, the robot “laughed” if it was spinning and “cried” when it was still. 

“It was amazing to see the students’ faces light up when they did it,” said Nora enthusiastically. The most interesting part of learning to program, she noted, “is being able to take words that seem to have no meaning and put them in a certain order to make a robot respond to us. Experimenting with code that creates things you can interact with in the real world is awesome!”

Charlie Bernier ’28, Elijah Kauffman ’28, and Nate Herron ’28 helped attendees code a challenge called “Chase the Lion.” Using communication blocks with the robot’s infrared sender and receiver, one Sphero (the “lion”) was coded to run away from the other Spheros (the “chasers”). The “chaser” Spheros ran around the room after the “lion” Sphero. 

Kayla Galpern ’28 and Emily Stefanick ’28 demonstrated how to turn a Sphero into a tool that makes playing “Duck, Duck, Go” a little more interesting. Using loops and conditionals, and harnessing the power of picking random integers (whole numbers), Kayla and Emily programmed the Sphero to spin to select a player to be the “goose” to run around the circle. The program also uses a matrix animation to clarify which player is tagged “it.” 

“The students’ dedication, preparation, and hard work translated into a rewarding workshop for presenters and attendees alike,” said Ms. Coates.