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Classroom Happenings: Programmed for Fun

The Steward School
Putting computer coding skills to the test 
What’s small and circular and can be programmed to do a variety of tasks? A Sphero! This colorfully lit robot, which connects to devices via Bluetooth, is a tool used to teach students how to write computer code. 
 
Pooling Their Resources
Middle Schoolers taught by Technology Facilitator Barbara Coates spent this semester learning how to program Spheros, and they recently gathered for a fun end-of-year project: testing water vehicles they’d made out of a variety of materials (popsicle sticks, bubble wrap, pipe cleaners, tennis balls, and foam board) and powered by Spheros. The goal of the Computer Science Sphero Challenge? To see if the Spheros, which can float, could ferry “freight” (pennies) across a kiddie pool. Teams competed for points in several categories: the fastest time (100 points), the ability to tow a “boat” (200 points), carrying freight (50 points for each penny), and carrying the most pennies (100 points). 

Seaworthy
Sarah Grace Groves ’27 enjoyed collaborating with teammates to build a Sphero-powered boat. 

“Teamwork is important,” she noted. “For example, my classmates had ideas that I didn’t have. One teammate had the idea to put rubber bands around the Sphero to connect it to our boat, and that worked best!”

Like all Spartans, Ms. Coates’ students explore the bounds of creativity through innovative, hands-on learning. Ms. Coates noted, “Although the project was a lighthearted way to end the year, it was also an opportunity for students to test their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.” She was impressed by her students’ enthusiasm, noting that two seventh-grade teams had Sphero builds that successfully ferried 78 pennies. 

Sphero at Steward
Sphero programming is taught in grades four through eight. Students begin 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.

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