Continue reading »]]> This week in STEM, the girls were given the challenge to design a map for their Ozobots that had 3 successful codes.  Last week we tried, but I learned that I was not calibrating the Ozobots correctly. It always helps to read the directions!  This past week the Ozobots worked beautifully!  The girls were very excited to try some “trickier” codes such as “zigzag” and “backwards walk”.

The first thing we did was gather around to talk about width.  The lines should be about 1/4 of an inch thick.  We tried to see what that looks like on a ruler.  We also talked about drawing the color dots first.

The girls loved creating their maps.  Many of them were successful with creating more than three codes.  Some of the girls were interested in becoming more artistic with their maps.  This helps put the “arts” into STEM.  I was proud of their tenacity over the last few weeks to learn how to work these robots.

Here are some videos of their success!

We are going to try to create a video to share at our assembly  next week!

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Today was the first Spring Session of Stem at Harley.  The girls are learning how to code with these unique robots called Ozobots. An Ozobot is a small robot that helps kids learn about simple coding language.  The girls were able to explore the idea of coding and controlling the tiny robots movements by color-coding lines. I love how this robot appeals to girls in particular that love to draw.  When technology and art combine, there is an increase in motivation for girls!  I thought they were perfect to try out in our STEM Club!  They had a blast and were so into figuring out how to make them work!

I love how it is not as easy as you would think to draw the lines.  The girls had to experiment with the thickness of the lines, the types of color hues they were using, and the size of the dot colors to get their robots to perform.  They were so proud of their successes and very persistent when they failed.  They can’t wait to work with them again next week.

Continue reading »]]> Finishing touches were made on the cars this past week.  The girls figured out how to get steering wheels to turn, head lights to work, and one even did a double motor with all wheel drive!  They were designing for two tasks- durability during the obstacle course and speed.  They had a blast driving their cars through the tough terrain and race track.  These kits were very cool!

Continue reading »]]> This week, the girls worked with Lego MIndstorm kits to design a car.  First they brainstormed and drew a plan, then they selected wheels, and finally they begin building.  What I loved about about it was how quickly the girls starting asking questions and trying out different connections to see if they could get their cars to do anything else besides drive forward.  Many of them had drivable cars by the end of class.  Next week, we will do any modifications to our designs and race them.  Hopefully we will have time to do an obstacle course, too!

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