The Old Rochester Regional school district has a few new tools to teach science and technology to its youngest students in the three towns. The Joint School Committee had a chance on January 19 to experience them hands-on and see how exciting learning the new science, technology, computer literacy, and engineering curricula will be for Tri-Town preschoolers, kindergartners, and first-graders.
“Bee-Bots” and “littleBits,” says Assistant Superintendent Elise Frangos, are the district’s latest media for making entry-based computer science engaging and interesting, while introducing students to the new curriculum frameworks and, at the same time, addressing the social/emotional needs of the school district.
“One of the things we really know about where our kids are going is that they need to be able to use all of these rigorous standards, but also know how to work well together,” said Frangos.
School Committee members got to see how to operate the Bee-Bots, which are small bee-looking plastic robots that can fit in the palm of your hand, and the wide scope of subject matter that can be integrated into the Bee-Bot use.
Skills such as self-management, responsible decision making, and the building of social awareness through working with classmates to command the Bee-Bots to move across the learning mats can be fostered, as the committee members witnessed in their interactive session with the Bee-Bots.
Laughter followed a series of “beep beep beeps” as each group successfully ran their bot to complete the task.
Topics such as coding and computer science have been established into the junior and high school setting, which led Frangos to ask, “How do we bring [it] to the little kids in pre-school?”
The Bee-Bots can teach a number of things about coding and robots while assisting in the learning of other subjects, such as spelling, weather science, and community life with the use of respective learning mats on which the Bee-Bots travel.
“The television is going to be turned off because we learn so much more with play and risk taking,” Frangos said.
School Committee member Cheryl Hebert said she liked the bots.
“The integration of so many subject areas and using something that I think will appeal to the children greatly,” said Hebert, “…It’s the building blocks of coding, so I think it’s a great tool.”
The littleBits – connecting modules that snap together using magnets – allow students to experience the basics of robot design and engineering by the use of a tiny power source and various inputs that easily attach to each other with magnets. The committee members agreed that the use of this tool could greatly enhance the learning of the curriculum.
“I think this is incredible,” said School Committee member Heather Burke. “When my oldest son was … at Sippican, it was largely memorizing terms and reciting it back … but the material is so dry and boring that he got turned off from science at a very early age.” She continued, “[This] sparks imagination and engagement … all of it is so much more invigorating and innovating. It’s just amazing.”
The next meeting of the Joint School Committee is scheduled for March 23 at 6:30 pm in the ORRJHS media room.
By Jean Perry