Bee-Bots at Work in the Neighborhood

Bee-Bots (mini robots that look like bees) offer younger students hands-on experience with coding. Add the opportunity for students to learn across disciplines, think logically, problem solve and enhance their service learning project and these little robots are welcome additions to the first grade curriculum.

Rather than typing a complicated code into a computer, Bee-Bots take direction with just the press of a few simple buttons and programmers see the results of their coding in a tangible form.

The exciting and challenging part of using a Bee-Bot is once a student enters a function and hits 'Go' the robot will do as it's told, so success is immediate and a wrong turn is remedied by simply re-tracing the route for adjustments to set it on the right path.

For our first graders, the right path might be a “bee-line” to In-N-Out, a stop at the Post Office or Trader Joe's and even afternoon carpool at Mayfield Junior School (yes all of these destinations and more exist in the mini community created by the class). Students use and build upon their skills to initiate direction and simulate life in a community or neighborhood as if taking the role of their parents, checking one thing off their list at a time as they complete "errands" and figure out the best route to each location. The Bee-Bots are happy to oblige. As the first grade study community and what it means to be good neighbors, a little technology can go along way.