Students Program Robots at Satz Middle School

HOLMDEL, NJ - Students in the Technology Education classes at Satz middle school in Holmdel are working with robots this month. The kids are working with Ozobots, tiny robots that students are able to program to respond to basic commands.

Ozobots include sensors that allow them to detect lines and colors on a page or a tablet screen; the little electronic figures can interact with those lines using different combinations of actions. A tablet application gives students the opportunity to “freehand” a path for the robots while inserting various color combinations allows them to elicit specific reactions from the robots.

Students can also use programming to construct much more elaborate directions for the robot. This interface provides students with several different levels of complexity, from dragging-and-dropping icon blocks to arranging a variety of actions and tasks on the screen. This interface also allows students to view the Java script behind the directions they have create, giving them some insight into how their selections on the programming interface translate into computer code.

“One student programmed it to look both ways at the intersection before it continued on,” said Technology Education teacher Christen McCafferty.

Soon, ten more of these robots will arrive, thanks to a grant from the Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence for which Mrs. McCafferty applied. Working with tools like the Ozobots helps all students learn real-world skills and introduce them to applied STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) concepts.

As a K-12 Supervisor, Mrs. MacConnell is currently working on a plan to bring coding instruction to students in grades K-6.