A Taste of Coding with Ozobots

Yesterday we had a taste of the world of coding.  Noelle Pepin, a resource teacher from SD57 Prince George School District, presented on ‘ozobots in the classroom’ on September 24, 2019 to our Education-431 class.  Ozobots are a useful tool in classrooms to present the topic on coding to students. Coding is a topic that has been introduced in the past few years into the BC curriculum.  As an education student, I have had the opportunity to view this once before during my observational practicum in the fall of 2018.  The class was learning much of what we learned yesterday about how the colors that each individual chooses to put into the track tell the ozobot a command and the ozobot will complete the action that is commanded. Some of the commands include ‘speed up’, ‘line jump’, and ‘zig-zag’.  We also learned about calibrating the ozobots and how important it is to correctly code so that the ozobot is not confused by the commands.  A lot of what the students learned that day and how they interacted with the topic presented to them, mirrored our adult learner levelled class. It is exciting to realize that this activity is accessible to multiple levels of learning.

Noelle gave us the opportunity to explore some hands-on learning by testing the ozobots and creating our own coded tracks for the ozobots to follow along.  During this process I considered how ozobots are giving students practice in coding with a purpose: to direct their robot to follow instructions through coded commands.  Once we had finished the activity, we reflected on how the whole class was completely engaged for the full amount of time during the activity.  This was in line with the previous presentation that we had with Sandra McAulay and how technology can help all students access the learning.  For learning aids there were examples like coding charts, and empty papers to complete coding exercises.  Additionally, Noelle also gave us ideas for incorporating indigenous content by following along with the story Rainbow Crow written by David Bouchard on a previously generated ozobot track.  As a STEAM activity that can include indigenous content this is an exciting topic for myself as I enter the professional educational world.

I followed up the presentation by exploring https://ozobot.com/ and their blog gives additional ideas and resources for teachers.  The ozobot website also connects you with others who are learning and using ozobots currently.  Not only is the concept of ozobots fun and educational but it also opens students and educators to a whole new world of networking and learning.