Enriching the Curriculum through Robotics

Last fall, the West Shore Foundation awarded West Shore School District's Enrichment and Acceleration Specialist, Kristin Stahl, with a grant for her Enriching the Curriculum through Robotics program. Kristin gave us an update on her program and the many awesome activities and projects that she has been able to do with these robots at Fishing Creek, Newberry, Red Mill, and Washington Heights. She has been collaborating with classroom teachers and seeing the excitement from the students as they learn how to code the different robots. For example, 5th grade students at Washington Heights participated in a Sphero fraction bowling activity. Students had to code the Sphero robots to knock down the "pins" and then record their answer as a fraction. For each frame there was a guide that instructed them to use different types of code. After the students recorded their fraction, they then had to write an equivalent fraction for their score. In addition, 3rd grade students at Red Mill learned how to code Dash robots. Students are following the Puzzle Path as they read the directions, problem solve, and use the menu to code Dash to complete different tasks. Each puzzle gets progressively harder and introduces new blocks of code off of the menu. The kids love seeing Dash come to life through his movements, actions, and words. We are #WestShoreProud to support this innovative program that engages students with technology, coding, and problem-solving skills.