Lesson Plan

Eastern Connecticut State University Lesson Plan Format 

Adopted from the Connecticut State Department of Education

Student Teacher: Lauren Beckstein      Grade Level: Pre-k and K         Date of lesson: 8/13/16

 Institution: ECSU Technology in the ECE Classroom        Length of lesson: 45 minutes

Content Standards:

·         1.c.-Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues

·         2.a.-Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media

·         4.c.-Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions

·         6.c.-Troubleshoot systems and applications.

Prior Knowledge/Connections:

                The two children who will be working on this activity are siblings. Both of their parents are math teachers, and so math as well as technology are familiar concepts to these children, particularly the Kindergartner. He frequently plays with science/math toys, such as circuit builders and small robotic toys. He is familiar with various technical devices, and understands the connection between pressing buttons, and corresponding actions or movements. I have seen him using robotic toys and video games in the past, and knew that he had experience in this area.

Student Learning Objective(s):

1.      Students will come to understand the basic functions of the Bee Bot (pressing arrows, and then ‘go’)

2.      Students will collaborate with peers and/or the instructor when questions arise

3.      Students will successfully move the Bee Bot from point A to point B two separate times, following two separate pathways

Vocabulary: Bee Bot, coding, arrows, left, right, pause, go, stop, on, off.

Assessment-Essential Key Question: 

            Have either of you ever used a robot before?

            Can you tell me what this is?

            How to Bumble Bees move in real life?

            What happened when I pressed the ‘on’ button?

            What do you think will happen when we press these arrow buttons?

            Can you make the Bee Bot (go in a circle, move to the desk, go around the corner, etc.)?

            Can you show me how to make the Bee Bot go?

            How many times will we have to press it to make it go there?

Materials/Resources: Household furniture (as destinations and pathways for the Bee Bot)

Technological resources: Bee Bot, Bee Bot Website (for my own instruction)

Learning Activities:

                 Instructional Strategies:

                                    The students will be shown a demonstration of how the Bee Bot moves before manipulating it themselves. Verbal scaffolding will occur when necessary, and the students (given their young age) will be allowed sufficient time to play and learn by playing and exploring the Bee Bot’s functions independently before the formal lesson begins.

             Grouping Strategies:

                                    The students will be working together (kindergartner and preschooler), taking turns and watching one another. They are siblings, and are thus quite comfortable with one another. They will be allowed to collaborate or work together, and enjoy using the Bee Bot in this small group setting.

Initiation:

                We will start out the activity just by becoming familiar with the Bee Bot. I will tell the children what it is called, and how it works. I will point out the various buttons and tell them that together we will try to get the Bee Bot to travel all over the room. I will demonstrate a few motions myself by pressing the arrow buttons so the children can make the connection that it is the arrows that make the Bee Bot move. They will watch it move across the floor and I will tell them that the Bee Bot travels only in the directions that we tell it to go. Then, I will hand the Bee Bot over to the kindergartner and/or preschooler, and allow him to play with it for a few minutes, or until he seems comfortable and confident using it. I will scaffold his language so that he understands fully what the Bee Bot is doing. I will make guiding questions and comments such as “Hmm, when you pressed the up arrow two times, the Bee Bot didn’t go as far,” or “I wonder what would happen if you pressed this button.” During this time I will be allowing the students to understand how the Bee Bot works, and to become engaged with the activity. I want them to be enjoying themselves and having fun.

Lesson Procedures:

                Once he or she (whomever is using the Bee Bot first) seems to be getting the basics of how the Bee Bot works, I will pick an object in the room that is straight in front of us, but a short distance away. I will say, “Alright, can you make the Bee go all the way to the counter?” I will record the results and the spontaneous language samples that occur both as he is working and after he does it. If he didn’t get it the first time, I will ask him to try again, and see if he compensates for the previous trial. After that, unless he explicitly asks to try a third time (assuming that he makes it over), I will see if he can get the Bee Bot to go somewhere in a different direction. For example, I will ask him to direct the Bee Bot forward a little bit, and then to the right or left to reach a desired item that is around the corner. The goal there would be to see if he can mentally calculate the proper directions. I will again record language samples and results, and how many trials he does until he either gets it, or is feeling done. I will encourage him the whole time and if he is struggling a lot I will make verbal suggestions. If he seems to be not getting it at all, I may direct the Bee Bot somewhere myself first, and say “wow, I had to press the button ten times to make it go all the way to the chair.” In this way, I will be scaffolding his learning and turning this activity into one in which I model the desired action. Throughout the activity, his three-year-old sister will be allowed to spend time with us, and try it out herself if she expresses interest. 

Closure:

             When we are finished, I will allow him to continue playing spontaneously for a while if he seems still interested. I will prompt him to talk about the activity, and record the differences in his expressed understanding from before the activity, to the end. I will ask him what he thought of trying to get the Bee Bot to go to the various items, and ask him if he thought it was hard or easy. I will close the lesson by telling the children that they did a great job working on the Bee Bot with me, and that I am glad they enjoyed themselves. I will ask them a few concluding questions such as “what did you think of moving the Bee Bot?” and “was it hard making him move around the room?”

Intervention:

            The children involved in this Lesson have no unique challenges and I will conduct the lesson as prescribed. Were I to conduct this lesson with students who did have unique challenges, I would pair them up with students who understood the activity and could help them move along. I would also spend more time on prior explanation, and perhaps expose the children to videos of the Bee Bot leading up the activity to prepare them. I might also do a more in depth demonstration on how to move the Bee Bot beforehand. 

Enrichment:.

            Were I to conduct this lesson in a formal classroom setting with a larger number of diverse students, I would use more than one Bee Bot. I would put the children in groups with prepared poster maps on the floor for them to use with the Bee Bot. The Bee Bot could follow the path on the map and in that way each group would be contained. Maybe we would also line up the Bee Bots and have races, or go out into the hallway with the Bee Bot. For students with unique challenges, I would put them in groups with high functioning students who could help span the gap. Before the lesson began, I might show them videos online of other students or professionals using the Bee Bot. This would also integrate in other technologies. I might also use the Blue Bee Bot, which would allow the faster paced students to control the device from a computer or tablet. The Blue Bee Bot also allows the students to see inside the Bee Bot, which might help students who are unfamiliar with technology have a small glimpse into what is happening inside the Bee Bot. At the same time, for children who love technology, this would be a great way to enhance their schemas.

Reflection:

            This lesson was successful in that the children involved had fun, and the learning objectives were met. Because I wasn’t sure how much the children were going to grasp, I didn’t bring  a prepared poster map with a track drawn onto it. In retrospect, this would have been a good idea. The kindergartner seemed to grow bored of the activity quicker than I anticipated, and more materials might have enhanced their play time. I also would have brought two Bee Bots. Because only one of them could control the Bee Bot at a time, there were moments of conflict when one of them had to pass it along for the next person’s turn. There were also moments were one of them had nothing to do and would wander off or become interested in something else. Two Bee Bots also would have meant this activity would not only have been cognitive, but more social as well. Although they were sitting next to each other, there wasn’t much collaboration. If I had brought two, they could have had races, or at least been both engaged at the same time. They also could have talked as they were each trying out different combinations of movements.