The
lesson I chose to conduct, was showing three siblings how to use the Bee Bot
educational technology tool. The lesson began with me introducing the Bee Bot
to the children. The kindergartner was there, along with this three-year-old
sister, and his one-and-a-half-year-old sister. All three of them seemed very
intrigued as to what exactly we would be doing. I introduced the Bee Bot to
them by telling them I had a fun robot I wanted to show them, and that I was
going to let them use on their own. We gathered in a quiet room that had part
carpet and part smooth hard floor. I showed the children the outside of the
box, and they laughed at the friendly looking bumble bee on the outside. I told
them what it was called; the kindergartner and the three-year-old both repeated
the name out loud. We took it out of the box, and I showed them the black cord,
telling them that this was what you used when the Bee Bot wasn't working and it
needed more energy. I flipped over the Bee Bot and showed them the two buttons
on the bottom of the bee. I told them one of the buttons turned it on, and the
other button turned on sound. When I just flipped the on off button, and the
children saw the eyes light up, the five-year-old requested I flip the sound
button as well. I explained that the Bee Bot would do whatever you told it to
do by pressing certain buttons in order. I demonstrated this by making the Bee
Bot move forward several spaces by pressing the forward button and then the
green 'go' button. I counted out loud and narrated what I was doing to help
them understand.
I
handed the Bee Bot over to the kindergartner who began pressing buttons at
random, playing with the Bee Bot and laughing as it bumped into furniture and
moved backwards. This would be a prime example of constructivism, where
children learn primarily by doing and playing. This child was learning how to
use the Bee Bot, something entirely unfamiliar to him, simply by trying it out
himself. He learned far more this way, than had I only showed him by
demonstration. Meanwhile, his three-year-old sister (who is very shy), sat
nearby watching and laughing. The baby came over and sat on my lap, watching
the bee very intently, and smiling. The Kindergartner proclaimed, motioning
towards his baby sister, she "can't do it." I told him I would let
her have a turn later. She was showing no interest at the time in using the Bee
Bot. She was learning socially, by watching her older siblings control the robot.
Once I could see that he was familiar with the basic mechanisms of the Bee Bot
(I could see this because he was pressing combinations of arrows confidently
and then pressing go quickly and watching it move with ease), I started the
more formal instruction. We placed the Bee Bot at the edge of the hard floor,
and I asked him if he could try and make the Bee Bot move all the way across
the floor to the opposite side where there was a desk. He pressed forward many
more times than was needed, pressed go, and we all watched it roll over to the
desk. It hit the desk, which they all loved, and he said, "After that,
let's try a different move." I showed them by pressing the arrows one at a
time that you could make the Bee Bot move in a circle. He said "I'll try
it now..." and after trying that (he didn't quite make it go in a circle,
but had it spin in place and go forward), he said "what else is
there?" I noticed that he seemed to repeatedly enjoy pressing the forward
button as many times as he could. I had to remind him that you only needed to
press it a couple of times to make it move forward to most of the objects in
the room, maybe 10 or 15 times at most.
At
this point in the lesson, we brought the Bee Bot over behind a bed that was in
the room. I asked him if he could make the Bee Bot travel to the end of the
bed, and around the corner. Here, I had to verbally, and with motions, explain
that to make the Bee Bot turn, you pressed the right arrow, and THEN the
forward arrows. This was a concept that seemed very difficult for him and his
sister to understand. They fully understood that you could make it turn, but
seeing that you needed to make it swivel to the right, and then go forward was
hard to convey. I tried to show this to them by manually turning the Bee Bot while
it was off and showing them the directions it would need to go in. I held it
facing forward, slowly turned it to the right, and prompted him to tell me what
it had to do next. As he was pressing buttons, I encouraged him to stop at
appropriate times when it seemed like he was going to press the buttons far too
many times. We hit the 'go' button, and watched as the Bee Bot rolled to the
end of the bed, turned right about 6 inches past the bed, and went forward out
of sight. We observed that while traveling on carpet, the Bee Bot seemed to
veer to one side, and didn't go very easily.
After
having completed the formal lesson, and having taken good data, we proceeded to
play with the Bee Bot. We took it around the house to different floor surfaces
and gave the Bee Bot instructions. I told them that this was called,
"coding." He said, while pressing the different directional buttons,
"I'm making it go in a circle." At this point, his sister expressed
more interest. When she took command over the Bee Bot, the kindergartner ran
off and became interested in other things. However, when the three-year-old
began playing with it, the baby expressed a lot of interest! I asked the three-year-old
some questions, but she just giggled in response and most of her attention was
going to making the Bee Bot move across the now tiled floor that we were
sitting on. I asked her which floor was easier for making the Bee Bot go, the
tile, or the carpet. She pointed at the tiles. We did a fun little game where
we said we were going to have the Bee Bot walk to the "edge of the road,
and look right, then left, and then go forward." First, we pressed the
forward buttons, then the left button, then right, then right again, then left,
and then forward." She greatly enjoyed watching this and tried it herself.
She did succeed in making the Bee Bot look in one direction before going
forward across the tiles. I asked her to make the Bee Bot go in a circle. She
pressed the back button and then the other arrows. The Bee Bot went backwards
towards us, and then turned more to the right. Then, she told us she wanted to
bring the Bee Bot, "into mama bear's room." We walked over to that
room. It was there that the baby began joining us and playing with the Bee Bot.
The five year old was around, and occasionally stopped his playing to watch,
but didn't seem interested anymore. Instead, he was playing "Star Wars
chess." At this point, I needed to facilitate turn taking between the
three year old and the baby. The baby loved the Bee Bot, she would press arrows,
and then the 'go' button, and smile and laugh as it moved. She snatched it from
her sister, and began to cry when she realized her turn was over. She clearly
understood the function and concept of the 'go' button, which surprised me. The
three year old seemed to really enjoy making the Bee Bot go forward and then
trying to stop it with her arm. I had to explain that that might hurt the Bee
Bot and that once we pressed go, we had to just watch with our eyes.
The
baby and the three-year old's attention was held for so long by the Bee Bot.
While I felt the kindergartner got bored rather quickly, and mastered it
quicker, the three-year-old could've played with it and watched it for hours.
The baby almost couldn't handle how exciting it was. I did conclude however,
that even the kindergartner had a difficult time understanding that what you
were pressing now was connected with the future movements of the Bee Bot.
That's not to say that he didn't understand that pressing buttons made it go
forward. But it seemed like it was hard for him to calculate precisely ahead of
time which way he would be making it go. I think repeated practice would have
helped. Fewer distractions also might have helped. Both his parents, and his
two siblings as well as one other adult were in the room talking. There were
other toys around as well. I think more opportunities for trial and error as
well as reminders to slow down would have helped him were this lesson to be
repeated. One of the major problems we encountered was as soon as he got a hold
of the Bee Bot, he would just press the forward button as many times as he
could, which I felt limited what he was doing. That seemed to be very
captivating for him, and I wanted to allow him to explore it on his own, just
occasionally reminding him to slow down or prompting him to try something
else. He interacted very little verbally
with his sisters, but focused on talking to me and looking at the Bee Bot.
Throughout
the lesson, the ISTE standards were met successfully. The children did use simulations to figure
out how to use the Bee Bot (1.C.). They both interacted with peers and adults
throughout the lesson and play time as they used this new piece of technology.
I scaffolded the language throughout and helped them accomplish the tasks.
(2.A.). The kindergartner in particular was forced to use different
perspectives to try and complete the desired outcomes. By this I mean that when
he didn't initially succeed in making the Bee Bot do what he was aiming for, he
had to try a different combination of buttons. (4.C.). And finally, it was
clear that he had to "troubleshoot systems and applications," (6.C.)
in order to learn how to use this new piece of technology. This piece of
educational technology was new to him.
There were many theories of learning as applied to educational technology that were exemplified in this lesson. Constructivism was evident in that the children involved in the activity learned primarily through "direct encounters with the environment," (taken from ECE 512 handout, Theories of Learning as Applied to Educational Technology) and were able to work somewhat independently in the context I provided for them. Vygotsky's Socio-cultural Theory was also manifested here, when the children, who held lower zones of proximal development, were able to understand the material more quickly through the instructor's scaffolding. Socio-cognitive theories were demonstrated here, as conflicts of ideas arose between the siblings who had come to understand the technology wanted to perform different tasks with it at the same time. Social Learning by Bandura was evident here as well, saw the children first watched the instructor move the Bee Bot, remembered the steps, and then tried it out themselves. When what they tried worked out successfully, they were motivated to try it again.
There were many theories of learning as applied to educational technology that were exemplified in this lesson. Constructivism was evident in that the children involved in the activity learned primarily through "direct encounters with the environment," (taken from ECE 512 handout, Theories of Learning as Applied to Educational Technology) and were able to work somewhat independently in the context I provided for them. Vygotsky's Socio-cultural Theory was also manifested here, when the children, who held lower zones of proximal development, were able to understand the material more quickly through the instructor's scaffolding. Socio-cognitive theories were demonstrated here, as conflicts of ideas arose between the siblings who had come to understand the technology wanted to perform different tasks with it at the same time. Social Learning by Bandura was evident here as well, saw the children first watched the instructor move the Bee Bot, remembered the steps, and then tried it out themselves. When what they tried worked out successfully, they were motivated to try it again.
This
technology, used within the classroom, has the potential to be an excellent way
to teach children about basic coding techniques and technological robotic
movements. We concluded during the lesson that the Bee Bot couldn't truly
travel in a circle, because his movements were too straight. This would be an
excellent classroom tool in the early childhood classroom. It is one that would
not only help children become familiar with the connection between buttons and
movements, but it would also help them learn to look ahead to what was coming
rather than only focus on current actions. It requires the children to make
predictions and try a variety of different button combinations. It is also fun
for children. The appearance of the Bee Bot is friendly, brightly colored, and
familiar. Most if not all children are familiar with bumble bees, and enjoy
happy looking animal toys. In this way, it is a subject that is on their level,
and appealing to their senses. There are many opportunities for the adults in
the room to span the zone of proximal development and help the children
understand more about the Bee Bot than they would by themselves. The adults can
show them the various buttons, show them that the "x" button erases
their work, and the pause button makes the Bee Bot stop what he is doing
temporarily. Older children, say first or second grade children, would probably
be able to get the Bee Bot to do an even greater amount of movements,
especially with their more developed cognitive skills and ability to read, as
well as their higher level of exposure to educational technology.
Overall,
I felt this lesson went well, and the children not only learned, but had a lot
of fun playing. Upon reflection with the Early Childhood Education Technology Evaluation Took Kit, this lesson scored a 93. There was a focus on learning, the children enjoyed the lesson which was age appropriate, and the content standards were met. Because play time is one of the most crucial ways in which
children learn, I was happy to provide them with mostly play time versus formal
instruction. I was able to observe the content standards being met by a variety
of ages. At one point, a ten-year-old came into the room, and I could see that
he was far beyond the age during which this activity would be difficult. He
easily commanded it to move around my binder and grasped the concept at once
without any of my formal explanation. I thought the lesson taught me a lot
about how to teach technology in the early childhood classroom, but I'm sure
there's a lot more for me to learn. Technology is a very important educational
tool that teachers must take advantage of.
