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video and games

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Like many schools, Ladycross Infants in Derbyshire has long used the TTS Bee-Bot floor robot as a staple resource across the curriculum. The recently introduced Blue-Bot takes all of the advantages of this classroom favourite and adds some valuable features of its own to improve on what was already a great product.

The Blue-Bot is a small floor robot which can be easily controlled using a simple keypad on it's outer shell. Using four arrows and a Go button, children as young as four can program its movements and watch as their simple algorithm is put into action.

Used with a premade or custom grid, children can enjoy simple coding with independence, applying ad-hoc debugging skills as they go.

It is rechargeable and fits on to a six-place docking station. Alternatively you can charge the Blue-Bot via a short USB cable.

However, these are all features which were already available on the Blue-Bot's predecessor, Bee-Bot. Being the next generation of programmable floor robot, the true value of the Blue-Bot comes with the innovative new ways in which we can interact with it.

'A child engaged from the beginning is half the battle won'

First, the Blue-Bot has a clear outer shell, which means that the pupils can see the inner components of the robot and begin to discuss how it works. The flashing lights and moving parts instantly excite the children when they come into contact with Blue-Bot for the first time and having a child engaged from the beginning of a session is half the battle won!

The Blue-Bot comes into it's own when paired with its Blue-Bot control app, which is compatible with IOS and Android mobile devices and links to a Blue-Bot using Bluetooth technology. The Blue-Bot is then represented on the device screen by a small electronic version of itself.

The app even comes with the available TTS floor mats pre-installed so the pupils can match the mat they are using in the classroom with its virtual representation on screen. The connection between the physical object in the classroom and the digital version on their screen helps the pupils to make sense of the connection and reinforces their understanding of the power of programming.

The app allows the pupil to create an algorithm using the same controls as they are used to on the back of the 'bot', with a simple but key addition. Using the app the pupil can see the algorithm they have created appear in a bar down the left of the screen. This is absolutely brilliant for the teaching and learning of the new programming skills introduced into Key stage 1 especially.

Using the app, the pupils can now follow their algorithm as it is compiled, checking and debugging as they work simply by swiping off incorrect instructions or dragging new ones into the correct place. When they press Go, the Blue-Bot on the screen moves at the same time as a connected Blue-Bot on the floor.

The pupils are witnessing a concrete use for the programming process and can see their own digital coding skills being used to affect a physical object. The fact that the process happens without a physical connection to the Blue-Bot adds awe and wonder to the process, and this can be used by teachers and other adults to further the pupil's understanding of our digital world.

The app provides challenges which can be differentiated to scaffold or extend the pupil's coding skills, as well as their problem solving ability. It also comes with the option of customising your own mats for the Blue-Bot to move over on the screen.

By taking a photo of whatever flooring or school-made mat your physical Blue-Bot will be running on, you can create a virtual mat which matches: therefore the only limit to where your Blue-bot can be travelling is your imagination. The implications of this for the Blue-Bots use across the entire breadth of the curriculum are immense.

In addition, the Blue-Bot and app allow users to create repeats within their algorithms, as well as 45-degree turns, giving further flexibility and longevity to its practical uses.

'Practice coding and debugging skills in a practical context'

The Blue-Bot is a terrifically versatile resource for use with the new computing curriculum. The expectation that children should create simple algorithms and debug them was a cause for concern for many teachers. With the Blue-Bot and app however, this should not be a daunting prospect and we now relish the challenge of solving problems using or transparent friends.

Our pupils are excited by the Blue-Bots. Tthe fact that they can create simple algorithms which control a stand-alone object enthuses them greatly. It also allows practice of their coding and debugging skills in a practical context.

Teachers love the Blue-Bot and app combination as it allows them to easily teach the children simple coding. This learning can be easily differentiated and put to use in a limitless number of practical situations and so each classroom has a resource which can be used again and again.

At £389.65 for a class pack of six and charging dock, the Blue-Bot represents good value for money as it has the capability to handle most of a schools computing needs, as well as providing wonderful ways to deliver a variety of focuses across the curriculum.

Ratings (out of 5)
Fitness for purpose 5
Ease of use 4.5
Features 4.5
Quality 5
Value for money 5

Blue-Bot
Attractive, see-through floor robot, primarily used in the new 2014 computing curriculum to allow pupils to code, debug and simulate simple algorithms. Also has a variety of practical uses across the breadth of key stages 1 and 2, whether Blue-Bot is used to order events from history dressed as 'Ghandi bot', visit characters from a story in an English lesson or travel between answers to a problem in maths.
It can be controlled, via Bluetooth, with apps compatible with iOS (iPad3, iPhone 4s and later) and Android devices (check their app stores). Powered by internal rechargeable battery charged via USB cable or docking system (sold separately or in class pack).
Individual unit £69.95, pack of four £259.80, class set of six with docking station £389.65 (all prices ex VAT)
Blue-Bot produced by, and available from, TTS group.

Darren Hooley is deputy headteacher of Ladycross Infant School in Sandiacre, Derbyshire, and blogs at medium.com/@HooleyMr

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Like many schools, Ladycross Infants in Derbyshire has long used the TTS Bee-Bot floor robot as a staple resource across the curriculum. The recently introduced Blue-Bot takes all of the advantages of this classroom favourite and adds some valuable features of its own to improve on what was already a great product.

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I believe the easiest approach when it comes to using new technology is to incorporate it into a program you are already doing. Sometimes it feels too daunting to design an entire new program around some fancy new thing. Sometimes you don't have room on the schedule to add that new fancy program. Other times you ... Continue reading Robots in Storytime

A follow-up to the Bee-Bot Review: Yesterday on Twitter, my fellow robot enthusiast Sharon asked: "If you have a beebot, how are you using the cards? Feeling like they aren't needed. Showing vs. doing, doing wins, right?" I responded, "I think you could use them to set up a route, point A to point B, ... Continue reading Bee-Bot Command Cards: ideas for use

Robot Basics What is it? From the user guide, "Bee-Bot is an award-winning programmable floor robot with a simple, child-friendly layout which is a perfect starting point for teaching control, directional language and programming to young children." What's in the Box? The Bee-Bot includes, the Bee-but, a USB charging cable, a set of command cards, ... Continue reading Review: Bee-Bot

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I believe the easiest approach when it comes to using new technology is to incorporate it into a program you are already doing. Sometimes it feels too daunting to design an entire new program around some fancy new thing. Sometimes you don't have room on the schedule to add that new fancy program.

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An example project

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Making, Tinkering, and The Toy Store Project

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What happens when you give a young child a cardboard box? They turn it into a car, a robot, a doghouse, or a spaceship. Children are natural makers

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Circuits : a littleBits Project by jcastle

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An introductory lesson to using little bits

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littleBits School Chapter example challenge

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littleBits School Chapter example challenge

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Ghosty-bot and Pumpkin-bot: a littleBits Project by ISL STEAM

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These spooky wheely robots will sneak up on people and scare them! BOO!

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It would be difficult to argue that, along with many other facets of modern life, technology has become a common part of educational institutions around Australia, and indeed, many other parts of the world. Of course, the use of technology in schools - and its continued prevalence amongst the lives of young people - remains a much-debated topic, and it is one that teachers are forced to grapple with on a daily basis.

However, while the presence of technology has remained constant, the ways that schools are using it has changed considerably over the last few decades. This might have been brought about by the increasingly ubiquitous nature of computers and now mobile devices, but it also reflects a fundamental shift in the way that educators think about computers and the way they are used in schools and society. In the very early days of technology and schools, the emphasis was almost completely upon learning to interact with computers at the level of a programmer. Students (well, those whose schools were fortunate enough to have computer labs) would learn simple computer languages like BASIC and PASCAL, and perhaps even begin to understand concepts like Boolean logic. As computers became more affordable, and thus more widespread, the emphasis on learning to program computers shifted towards learning to use them as tools. Instead of learning computer languages, for example, students learnt to use applications, like Microsoft Word or Excel. Almost overnight, computer science was replaced by Information and Communications Technology, and with the exception of a few electives and senior subject selections, learning about programming disappeared from Australian schools.

With the advent of the Australian Curriculum, there is a renewed interest, in Australia and other countries like the UK and Korea, in developing skills in programming and writing code amongst school-aged students. The topic of programming might seem an abstract one. Why, a teacher might ask, does a student need to know how to program a computer? Often, the first thing that a student learns to do is to use word processing tools, but that student never has a chance to learn about the actual process of computing. While learning how to use applications on a computer is important, it doesn't obviate the need to understand what the computer is doing. In fact, the two goals are complementary, rather than opposing. Better understanding of computer science will lead to better results with applications. Nor is this the only reason to learn programming. In fact, there has been a lot of study into the benefits of learning to program. According to recent studies, teaching basic coding can increase problem solving skills. Golpin (2014) writes: being able to follow programming logic trains the mind to think in more analytical ways. I believe that debugging a program leads to better problem solving skills. I also believe these skills can be taught using programs like Scratch, Gamemaker, Kodu, and others, without emphasizing the need to learn "hard core " programming languages like C++ or PHP.

Seymour Papert (Schwarz, 1999), one of the bet known advocates for teaching computer science and programming in schools, sums this up well: 'anyone who has witnessed a toddler using a computer has probably experienced a sense of awe at that child's facility with what for adults can be an infinitely frustrating gadget. It's one thing for a child to play a computer game; it's another thing altogether for a child to build his or her own game. And this, according to Papert, is where the computer's true power as an educational medium lies -- in the ability to facilitate and extend children's awesome natural ability and drive to construct, hypothesize, explore, experiment, evaluate, draw conclusions -- in short to learn -- all by themselves. It is this very drive, Papert contends, that is squelched by our current educational system.'

There are benefits beyond logical thinking too. Brian Heese (2014) writes: 'when you learn computer programming you learn how to check your work for details, how to apply logic and how to persist at a task. You also learn how to ask a good question, often in written form. Finally you learn how to collaborate because much programming today is accomplished in teams. These timeless skills and learning behaviors will endure far longer than any programming language.' The benefit of teaching coding and programming are being recognised in Australia and around the world. In January 2012, the UK removed the old ICT syllabus and replaced it with a more computer-science based one, aimed at teaching all students the fundamentals of programming.

In the US, there is currently a lot of argument about the need to make teaching programming mandatory (Schmidt 2012). In Australia, the new Australian Curriculum specifically refers to programming skills and understandings (see inset). For teachers with no background in computer science, starting a course in programming might be a challenge. In reality, you don't need to be a computer expert to teach students how to program. The key is to start small, and then allow the students to drive the learning. One of the best places to start is with HTML and CSS. HTML and CSS are the languages that websites are written in. As such, they are not really programming languages (they are actually mark up languages) but they do provide a relatively simple way to begin. There's an added bonus of doing things this way, too: because HTML is quite simple, students will be able to see the results of their endeavours almost straight away. This means that they will be much more enthusiastic about continuing.

Once your class has a handle on HTML and CSS, then a natural next step would be JAVA. JAVA is a simple, easy-to-learn programming language (don't confuse it with JavaScript, which is something different) that uses the dominant object-oriented paradigm. This is worth encouraging students to learn about because the object oriented paradigm is one of the most popular ones used in languages today. Other object-oriented programs include C++, Objective-C, Perl, Python, Ruby and PHP.

What resources are out there for me?

1. Codecademy is a great place to start. It's a completely web-based environment that teaches students about programming in an interactive and fun way. Students need an email address to sign up, and can then work through a series of exercises designed to teach them the basics. As they do, they earn points and badges. Best of all, Codecademy is completely free.

2. While Codecademy is very good, Treehouse is, quite simply, brilliant. Much like Codecademy, Treehouse offers a series of courses on everything from web design to iOS application building. The courses take the form of interactive activities, quizzes, and, in an improvement on Codecademy, video tutorials. In addition, there are glossaries, challenges, podcasts and lots more. The thing that I like the most about Treehouse is that it also focuses on the 'soft' skills - like presentation and aesthetic design which are often overlooked in similar courses.

3. Stanford School of Engineering is a step above the other two examples. The Stanford School of Engineering has been filming a number of their courses over the course of the last couple of years, ranging from introductory programming to more serious courses like iOS development. In addition you can access all the course materials and environments for running your programs. The best way to access the material is through iTunes.

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Coded for Success: The Benefits of Learning to Program | Edutopia

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It would be difficult to argue that, along with many other facets of modern life, technology has become a common part of educational institutions around Australia, and indeed, many other parts of the world.

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Tinker /ˈtiNGkər/ n. to make small changes to something in order to improve or repair it (MacMillan Dictionary)

You may have noticed this quaint little word that's at the heart of my blog title, and today I'd like to talk a bit about tinkering. I have a fun tinkering challenge up my sleeve (come back for that next week!), so consider this my introduction!

What is Tinkering?

The definition above suggests that it's about improving something by making changes to it.

The Oxford Dictionaries says that to tinker is to "attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory (unfocused) way."

The Free Dictionary says that a tinkerer is "one who enjoys experimenting with and repairing machine parts."

These are all helpful starting points, but hardly conclusive. The kind of tinkering that I'm advocating for is not the kind that's unfocussed or lacking in purpose, although I can see how tinkering can appear unfocussed to someone who observes it in action. And it doesn't have to be limited to machine parts and hammers, although it certainly finds a good home amongst these tools.

Nope, the tinkering I have in mind is full of focus and purpose, and succeeds at generating new ideas.

While we can easily imagine someone tinkering with a screw driver and an old toaster, let's also consider how we could tinker with paint and brushes, paper cups and glue, an irrigation system, a 3-D printer, photo editing software (who's spent hours editing a photo book or playing with Photoshop?), and ideas. This last one, ideas, is an extra fun one. Imagine a room full of creative thinkers with some sticky pads and Sharpies, and you get a clear picture of people tinkering with ways to make the world a better place.

When I think about a tinkerer, I envision a more expansive definition that looks like this:
Tinkerer: one who experiments with materials and ideas to fully understand their capacities, and who further iterates on their learning to find better solutions to current problems.
Tinkering is about hands-on experiences, learning from failures, and unstructured time to explore and invent. And through the processes of exploration and invention lies the potential for innovation.

To be continued next time...why tinkering is important.

And next week you'll want to stop back for DPS prompts, the Flower Creative Challenge (info on participating can be found here), and the new Tinkering Challenge. Woo-hoo!
What does "tinkering" mean to you? Do you make time for tinkering? Special thanks to Imagination Soup, Mama Smiles Blog, and Toddler Approved for sharing their tinkering images.

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Tinker /ˈtiNGkər/ n. to make small changes to something in order to improve or repair it (MacMillan Dictionary) You may have noticed this quaint little word that's at the heart of my blog title, and today I'd like to talk a bit about tinkering.

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International Education

LONDON - Estonia is teaching first graders how to create their own computer games and offering scholarships to entice more undergraduates into technology-driven disciplines. In England, an updated national curriculum will soon expose every child in the state school system to computer programming, starting at age five. The American "Hour of Code" effort says it has already persuaded 28 million people to give programming a try.

Around the world, students from elementary school to the Ph.D. level are increasingly getting acquainted with the basics of coding, as computer programming is also known. From Singapore to Tallinn, governments, educators and advocates from the tech industry argue that it has become crucial to hold at least a basic understanding of how the devices that play such a large role in modern life actually work.

Such knowledge, the advocates say, is important not only to individual students' future career prospects, but also for their countries' economic competitiveness and the technology industry's ability to find qualified workers.

Exposing students to coding from an early age helps to demystify an area that can be intimidating. It also breaks down stereotypes of computer scientists as boring geeks, supporters argue. Plus, they say, programming is highly creative: Studying it can help to develop problem-solving abilities, as well as equip students for a world transformed by technology.

"We don't teach music in school to make everyone a concert violinist," says Clive Beale, director of educational development at the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a nonprofit organization based near Cambridge, England that promotes computer studies in schools. "We're not trying to make everyone a computer scientist, but what we're saying is, 'this is how these things work, it's good for everyone to understand the basics of how these things work. And by the way, you might be really good at it."'

On top of that, the supporters say, children love it.

"Kids these days are all stuck to their phones, their tablets, and are constantly using technology, but very few of them are learning how to create it," said Roxanne Emadi, a strategist at Code.org, an advocacy group based in Seattle that is behind the Hour of Code effort. "Even if it's something simple, like a kid programming a maze or programming a robot, when you can see your work brought to life, that's where light bulbs go off."

Teachers "are using it like candy: 'If you finish your work, we can do 10 minutes of the computer science tutorials at the end of class as a treat,"' she said. "When you're teaching 8-year-olds, the stereotypes haven't set in yet."

In Estonia, widely regarded as one of Europe's technology-savvy societies, raising computer literacy even higher is a top national priority. Before becoming technology skills coordinator at the country's Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ave Lauringson led ProgeTiiger, a project training schoolteachers to engage pupils with programming and other high-tech areas.

The effort, she said, is continuing to grow, along with demand. "Parents are looking for after-school activities for their kids and asking 'Where can I put my kids to do coding?' Or 'Where is a robotics class?"'

A joint public-private effort called the IT Academy is concentrating on the university level, seeking to improve fields like software engineering and cybersecurity by hiring more professors, recruiting students from abroad and offering scholarships for graduate and undergraduate studies.

Kristiina Rahkema, studying for masters' degrees in software engineering and math at the University of Tartu, Estonia, said she relished the opportunities opened by computing skills.

"If I had a good idea, I could just start a company," she said. Anyone who can code, she said, "will never have trouble finding a job, all of the companies are searching for candidates."

She said she hoped to see girls in particular let go of preconceptions about programming as a boring grind: "It is a lot more fun than they think. You have an idea, you write some code and it actually works," she said. "That's a really good feeling."

Britain's education secretary, Michael Gove, seems to agree. He has pushed hard to rewrite a computing curriculum that he has said has bored youngsters with mundane instruction on how to operate outdated programs. The new curriculum, which comes into effect in September, will take a more rigorous approach. Starting at age five, all students in England will learn the basics of coding, and beginning at 11 they will be instructed in the use of at least two programming languages.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is offering lesson plans and other resources to teachers, especially those at the primary level who lack specialized training. Projects like setting up a camera by a bird feeder, and programming it to post photos online, can quickly help students see the potential uses of coding.

"Instead of passively using a tablet or a laptop, it's the first time they've made a computer do something," said Clive Beale, the foundation's director of educational development. "The end goal might be to send a camera into near space as part of a science project: It can be investigating math, it can be robotics and there's some fantastic art stuff," along with applications in music - and even gym class.

Singapore, too, is planning to introduce coding to schoolchildren. Even in such a technology-friendly society, the field's image is improving only slowly, said Min-Yen Kan, a computing professor and assistant dean at the National University of Singapore.

One big factor in a recent growth of interest is the availability of programming resources online, letting those new to coding try programs out in a web browser and see right away whether they work, he said.

Professors at the university are reaching out to students in fields like biology, engineering, chemistry and medicine with instruction in the programming languages that predominate in their fields, Mr. Kan said.

With the work world becoming ever more tech-focused, "we have to match that in the education sector," said David Rossiter, a professor of engineering education at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which recently introduced a requirement that all science and engineering undergraduates study programming in their first or second year.

Now, with demand also coming from students in other areas such as the humanities, "the queues are more than we can handle," Mr. Rossiter said. "I have to turn down 200 students this semester who are trying to take my course."

Undergraduate computer science enrollment has generally been cyclical, tracking the fortunes of the technology industry through its boom and bust years, said Peter Harsha, director of government affairs at the Computing Research Association, a group of North American university departments and other tech research institutes.

That now seems to be changing: In the 2011-2012 academic year, the number of computer science majors in the United States rose by 29 percent, and forthcoming figures seem likely to show a sixth consecutive annual increase, he said.

He hopes efforts like Code.org will get more young people interested. "When you see the sad state of K-12 computer science, you see that there's room to grow in a big way," he said, using a shorthand term for education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Code.org is pressing to get computer science into every American school, and it is working on teacher training with some of the country's biggest school districts, including New York, Chicago and Broward County in Florida. More than 35,000 teachers have signed up to use its tutorials in the classroom, Ms. Emadi said.

More work is crucial if technology is to continue to develop, said Mr. Beale: "If we run out of computer scientists and engineers, there will be no new devices."

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International Education LONDON - Estonia is teaching first graders how to create their own computer games and offering scholarships to entice more undergraduates into technology-driven disciplines. In England, an updated national curriculum will soon expose every child in the state school system to computer programming, starting at age five.

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Back when Grant Hosford's older daughter was in first grade, she signed up for an extracurricular class, building robots with a programmable Lego toy called Mindstorms. Hosford, a dot-com entrepreneur, came to visit the class and was startled to see that Naomi, who loves science and math, was both the only girl there and the youngest by a couple of years.

"My first reaction was not, 'Oh, I'm going to go build a coding company.' My first reaction was, 'What can I build for my daughter that will help her down this path?' "

Hosford did go on to be a co-founder of a company called codeSpark. Its gamelike software, The Foos, teaches basic computer programming skills - "the ABCs of coding"- with no reading necessary. It's aimed at children as young as 5, and it has been downloaded 700,000 times so far in 150 countries.

The Foos is part of a trend toward increasing emphasis on code as a fundamental literacy. You may have heard about the Hour of Code nonprofit initiative, which claims tens of millions of student participants; or New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio's recent announcement that he intends to require teaching of computer science in all grades for all students.

"A computer science education is literacy for the 21st century," the mayor said at the announcement.

Educators, researchers and entrepreneurs like Hosford are taking that analogy very seriously. They're arguing that the basic skills of coding, such as sequencing, pattern recognition and if/then conditional logic, should be introduced alongside or even before traditional reading, writing and math.
Programming Primer
To Hosford, this early introduction is key to broadening participation in STEM disciplines. "If we were teaching coding like reading and math, we would break it down into bite-size chunks, make it more fun with songs and stories, and give students two decades to reach mastery," Hosford says. "With coding we throw you in the deep end in high school or college and are surprised when most kids drown."

According to this thinking, the skill sets required for coding and the three Rs will all reinforce each other. And the engaging nature of many gamelike tech tools will help draw in young learners who may not be as inspired by traditional lessons. And there is some evidence for both of these claims.

Sam Patterson is a technology integration specialist at a private school in Silicon Valley. He's also the author of a forthcoming book on programming in the early grades. "The focus is on inspiring teachers to design digital lessons that use programming as a mode of expression, similar to what we would do with writing," Patterson says.

Along with The Foos, Patterson often uses Kodable, another app that doesn't require reading, as well as two more programs called Tynker and ScratchJr, to teach programming to young children. In a typical lesson, students might write a story and direct animated characters to act it out. Or they could use the program to build an animated model, say, of an ocean habitat.

"In ScratchJr, with first-graders you can ask them to create a moving model of something," Patterson says. "Say they're studying a coral reef: You can teach them about loops and ask them to create a model for a reef using fish and sharks. They swim back and forth, talk to each other, maybe one eats another one."

In the old days, this kind of project might have been done with crayons or a shoebox diorama. "We may have had students draw a picture," Patterson says. "Now we're upping the ante and giving them a more cognitively complex task to do, in addition" to the science content of the lesson.

The benefits, says Patterson, are manifold. "It's super high-engaging because the kids love programming and robots. We can get more learning objectives out of it." The students are practicing sequencing, putting ideas in a given order; and syntax, matching abstract symbols with ideas; both skills crucial for regular reading, writing and arithmetic.

The lure of software can help motivate reluctant readers and English-language learners, Patterson claims. "Up until second grade, I'm using programming to build literacy, and from the middle of second grade on, they're developing literacy to do better at coding," for example by reading the instructions within a game.
Skills In Sequence
Marina Umaschi Bers is a professor of both child and human development and computer science at Tufts University. She studies technology and early learning. She's also the co-developer of ScratchJr and a commercially available robotics kit called Kibo.

She has published small initial research studies in the past few years showing that working with a programming tool improved young children's skills on traditional sequencing tests and related tests of executive functioning. For example, before going through a robotics and programming curriculum, when asked to describe the process of brushing their teeth, children gave just three or four steps. Afterwards, they were able to break down the process into 20 or more steps.

"If you get better at sequencing, it has a measurable positive effect on reading comprehension," she says. "A parent can have their kid engage in coding with the knowledge that a lot of kids won't become programmers, but there is this broad-based benefit."

The idea of introducing software widely in kindergarten or even preschool is not without controversy. Victoria Dunckley is a child psychiatrist in Los Angeles who has just published a book called Reset Your Child's Brain, about the dangers of technology use. She has prescribed total abstinence from screens to hundreds of patients, to cut back on the symptoms of a wide range of childhood mental ailments, from ADHD to OCD.

"Even educational screen time can cause a lot of issues," Dunckley says. "A lot of these kids can't tolerate any kind of screen time at all. I used to be able to just write a note for the kid to take to school to say, don't have any computer time. But that's changed with iPads and the Common Core."

She would prefer holding off introducing screens in classrooms until middle or even high school. "I am horrified by the flipped classroom," she said.

Bers and Patterson actually agree, to a point. They believe that in the early childhood years especially, long periods spent passively in front of a two-dimensional screen would be developmentally inappropriate.

"Working with tangible objects is fundamental for young kids," Bers says. That's why her Kibo robot kit can be programmed by physically rearranging wooden blocks, a system called CHERP. Similar to alphabet blocks, each one represents an instruction, such as "forward," "back" and "spin." They snap together to complete a "story" for the robot to act out.

It's important to "be able to move between on-screen and on-floor activities," Patterson agrees. His solution is robots. He often introduces programmable toys like Sphero, Ollie, Dash and Dot, which roll around and carry out simple instructions; remote-controlled airplanes; and LED lights that can be programmed to flash in colorful patterns.

"I've got first-graders who have the basic skills to program a smart house," he says. In addition, he usually has at least two students work together on each device, to help develop their social skills while they learn.

Besides fears about safety, and a lack of resources for devices and software, the third biggest obstacle to wider introduction of coding in kindergarten is probably a lack of knowledge and confidence on the part of teachers and parents. But Bers stresses that engaging kids in the expressive use of technology can start simply, with equipment you probably already have in schools or at home.

"Start with what the child wants to do, not with what the technology can do," she advises. "Make a card for Grandmother's birthday or a slideshow of your last vacation. Sometimes using Word can be very powerful."

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Coding Class, Then Naptime: Computer Science For The Kindergarten Set

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Back when Grant Hosford's older daughter was in first grade, she signed up for an extracurricular class, building robots with a programmable Lego toy called Mindstorms. Hosford, a dot-com entrepreneur, came to visit the class and was startled to see that Naomi, who loves science and math, was both the only girl there and the youngest by a couple of years.

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great beginning game. try it with little ones for the 'hour of code'!

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Today we're talking coding and I had one goal in mind. Help kids learn to code with no expensive equipment. No computer, no tablet, no apps, just their bodies and their mind. So we're starting with one of the most basic parts of computer programming, the If Then statement and turning it into a fun and active game. It's an If-Then Backyard Coding Game for Kids. This post contains affiliate links.

The If-Then Statement

If Then is what's called a conditional statement in programming. The program queries if one condition exists, then it commands it to do something. It can be as basic as a True or False question and answer or it can prompt an action.

If-Then Coding Game Rules

For every round, there is one Programmer and everyone else is a Computer. The Programmer stands in front of the Computers and gives them his command. If I ____ (fill in the blank), then you _____ (fill in the blank). For example, the Programmer below gave the command " If I turn in a circle, Then you turn in a circle."

You can set up your rounds however works best for your group of kids. We did three rounds per Programmer and then switched. Because you know kids love giving commands to other kids so everyone wants a turn as a Programmer!!!

A Game for All Ages

In order to test out (and photograph!) the If-Then Game, I invited The Babe's preschool crew to come and join me at the park. And they brought some of their older siblings, too. So first, thank you to everyone for coming to play (you know who you are)!! But what was really interesting for this mama of an only child, was seeing how kids ages 3-8 could play this game to their best abilities at varying levels of difficulty. So here are some variations, depending upon the developmental age of your kiddos.
Difficulty Level 1 - If I Do This, Then You Do This
This one's perfect for the preschoolers. It's basically just monkey see, monkey do with some coding language thrown in. The Programmer commands the Computers to do the same thing she does and to stop when she stops.
Difficulty Level 2 - If I Do This, Then You Do That
Now for the kindergartners, you can add the twist that the Computers should do something different than the Programmer, but still start and stop when they do. This one works the brain because they'll hear something different than they are seeing.
Difficulty Level 3 - If I Do This, Then You Do That, Else You Do Something Else
Moving on up the grade levels, you can move on up the coding complexity too with If-Then-Else statements. For example, the Programmer commands "If I raise my right arm, Then you raise your left arm, Else raise your right foot." So if he just stands there and does nothing, the Computers should all be raising their right foot. This gets pretty funny, pretty fast.
Difficulty Level 4 - If-Then-Else Speed Round with Eliminations
Want to make it really challenging? Have the Computers "break" and sit down when they don't follow commands correctly. The last Computer standing wins.

P.S.: So many thanks to my programmer husband for fact checking this activity and for being my biggest blog supporter, tech, promotional, emotional and otherwise :)

If-Then, Check. What's Next?

So your kiddos are interested in computers. There are so many ways for them to explore!

For the older kids (or younger ones with your help), check out Scratch. Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. It's a project from the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab and is free. Need a little help getting started with Scratch? There's a great guide on Amazon {affiliate}...

Also, I just filled up my STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) Pinterest board full of Coding for Kids resources. Follow me and take a look!

Follow Anne @ Left Brain Craft Brain's board STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Activities on Pinterest.

Giving Kids the Power to Create

This post is week 4 in a 5 week series with some of my favorite bloggers who all love STEAM. Because learning with Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math gives kids the power to do almost anything they can dream up. Like make a train move or colors change. This week is all about ways to Compute.

PVC Pipe Xylophone // Frugal Fun for Boys

Secret Code Activity // What Do We Do All Day?

Spring Garden Glyph // Meri Cherry

Easy Math Trick for Kids // All For the Boys

Patterned Multiplication Circles // Lemon Lime Adventures

Paper Toys: Flextangles // Babble Dabble Do

Did you see last week's Spring Play or the rest of the Harness posts? Or Maybe you caught my Color Changing Chemistry Clock. Or the week before where we all learned to Fly. Be sure to follow along for our final week while we Grow, all with the power of STEAM.

Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math Fun for Kids

Looking for some more STEAM inspiration that use can use right now? Instant gratification style? Check out STEAM Kids: 50+ Hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Math Hands-On Projects for Kids ebook! It's packed full of a year's worth fun learning activities that will wow the boredom right out of your kids.

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If-Then Backyard Coding Game for Kids - Left Brain Craft Brain

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Today we're talking coding and I had one goal in mind. Help kids learn to code with no expensive equipment. No computer, no tablet, no apps, just their bodies and their mind. So we're starting with one of the most basic parts of computer programming, the If Then statement and turning it into a fun and active game.

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tinkering and experiments

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I have something very special for you today. One of the coolest science experiments we have ever done... Color Changing Lemonade. Made with a deliciously natural, beautifully floral ingredient that turns a frosty glass of lemonade from yellow to purple to pink. And makes it taste extra delicious too. And I have another special something for you! A very special giveaway brought to you by the author and illustrator of Ada Twist, Scientist.

This post contains affiliate links.

Ada Twist, Scientist

We got inspired to do a little science when Andrea Beatty, the author of Rosie Revere, Engineer and Iggy Peck, Architect sent me her latest book, Ada Twist, Scientist. It's the story of little Ada. Like her classmates, builder Iggy and inventor Rosie, scientist Ada, has a boundless imagination and has always been hopelessly curious. Why are there pointy things stuck to a rose? Why are there hairs growing inside your nose? When her house fills with a horrific, toe-curling smell, Ada knows it's up to her to find the source. Not afraid of failure, Ada embarks on a fact-finding mission and conducts scientific experiments, all in the name of discovery. But, this time, her experiments lead to even more stink and get her into trouble! Learn more about the book here.

Illustrator David Robert's drawings always capture that wonder of kids trying things for the first time. And persevering through challenges. And really got us thinking about those yucky smells. So we decided to do a much sweeter smelling project. Lemonade.

And because we love color changing science, we added a really cool feature to that sweet and sour lemonade. A really cool color changing affect. So go whip up a glass and then we'll talk science.

Color Changing Lemonade Recipe

Makes 4 servings

1. Heat water to near boiling, add tea bag and let steep for 3-4 minutes or until tea is a deep blue color. Chill.

2. Fill four glasses with ice. Top with one cup lemonade each.

3. Serve with a small shot glass or beaker filled with 1/4 cup butterfly pea flower tea and a straw for stirring.

4. Add the tea and watch the color change!

What's the Science Behind the Color Change?

There's a very special ingredient in this lemonade. Butterfly pea flowers. Butterfly pea flowers contain a vivid blue pigment called anthocyanin. Anthocyanin has a unique capability to act as an indicator. Meaning it changes color as the pH changes. It appears bright blue at high (basic) pH's and transitions to a vivid pink at low (acidic) pH's. This is why you can turn your lemonade from yellow to purple to pink as you stir your butterfly tea into the drink. The flowers and tea are a more common ingredient in countries like Thailand where they like to serve the tea with honey and lemon.

While you're sipping on your lemonade, have a little fun with the leftover tea. We played around with a lemon, the tea and some baking soda. You can keep changing the color back and forth as you make it acidic with the lemon and basic with the baking soda.

Love Ada? Meet Rosie and Iggy too!

And once you stir up a glass of Ada's Color Changing Lemonade, be sure to check out the Tinkering Station for Young Engineers inspired by Rosie Revere, Engineer. Or print out a free list of 100 Invitations to Build inspired by Iggy Peck, Architect.

Win Ada Twist!

We're celebrating the launch of Ada Twist, Scientist today with a giveaway!! Andrea Beaty and David Roberts, the author and illustrator of Ada Twist, Scientist sent me an extra copy of the book and a signed illustration, perfect for hanging in your kiddo's room or your classroom. To enter to win, simply sign up for the Left Brain Craft Brain newsletter. You'll get fun, hands-on STE(A)M projects in your inbox a couple times a month. And lots of ways to play and learn with your food, too.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And while you're at it, pick up a few more science activities to go along with Ada in my new book STEAM Kids! It's packed with 50+ hands-on science, technology, engineering, art and math activities that will wow the boredom right out of your kids. Pick up the PDF e-book version or a print copy on Amazon.

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Ada Twist's Color Changing Lemonade Lab - Left Brain Craft Brain

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I have something very special for you today. One of the coolest science experiments we have ever done... Color Changing Lemonade. Made with a deliciously natural, beautifully floral ingredient that turns a frosty glass of lemonade from yellow to purple to pink. And makes it taste extra delicious too.