The day the robots came to school!

by Blocky Bots
published 1 February 2023

The structure of a BLOCKYBOTS workshop:

There's nothing like a warm-up before launching into a new task. Al (one of our robots) loves movement to music and gets the children stretching before the hard work starts!
Once the challenge is introduced, children work in pairs with their own set of LEGO WeDo 2.0 and an iPad. They construct their robot device and then get to control it through coding on the LEGO app. The level of coding builds gradually throughout the workshop with every child experimenting and challenging themselves.
There really is no limit to the level of challenge the pairs can (and do) set themselves. This can be a real eye-opener for teachers; There are the obvious individuals who you know will want to set a high bar (based on their ability or because they love coding or indeed anything STEM-based), but in almost every class, there will be an individual or pair that will really surprise you with their achievements!

How we deliver your BLOCKYBOTS day:

We require a hall/gym/studio/large classroom for delivery of our workshops. It takes around an hour to risk assess and set up the space. If it is used for other activities during the day, we can largely work alongside them, but extra time may need to be factored in for this. If the space is exclusively ours, we might be able to add extra valuable minutes to each session, or a robot demonstration to some of the younger children in your school.
We recommend 90 minutes for a workshop (with 5-10 minutes between each session for iPad/LEGO maintenance), but there is some flexibility in order to best fit your school day.

What we cover in your BLOCKYBOTS workshop:

Our workshops are great for covering elements of the Computing (controlling devices) National Curriculum: that you don't have the facilities or expertise in school to deliver yourself, or to consolidate learning in just about the most fun way possible!
The key points we cover are: algorithms, writing code (including developing and debugging), sequencing, variables, estimating and predicting, system outputs and inputs.