More than your Standard Bug – Bee Bot

Bee Bot

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Bee Bot is an exciting an enjoyable digital technologies resource. It engages students in simple coding and equips them with the basic computing programming skills to attend to the early stages of the Digital curriculum. The Bee Bot resource provides multiple opportunities for cross curricular integration with the abilities to consolidate skills such as positional language, sequencing, and basic algorithms within your digital technologies teachings. Students engage with a Robot Bee and program it to move and rotate various times. Students can create simple coding algorithms before building on these skills to develop more complex algorithms.   I integrate Bee Bot to assist in teaching mapping skills, in particular positional language and grid references as you can engage students to manipulate the Bee Bot a certain amount of spaces in any direction to arrive at a particular reference.   Bee Bot supports the development of fine motor skills and also provide audio/visual support for student who may require this. There are many complementary resources that can accompany the Bee Bot resources including placement mats and tactile extension/ support command cards. Bee Bot also has an accompanying iPad application that allows students to transfer their knowledge of simple coding commands from the concrete physical, to the abstract digital.

For more Information on the Bee Bot resource, visit the website at: https://www.bee-bot.us/

An Example of a curriculum link to support this resources is :

Year 3

Process and Production Skills.
DIGITAL IMPLEMENTATION

Use visually represented sequenced steps (algorithms), including steps with decisions made by the user (branching) (ACTDIP011)

 

 

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4 thoughts on “More than your Standard Bug – Bee Bot

  1. I really like these, they look like a fantastic way to introduce and practise concrete to abstract coding skills. They seem to have a variety of uses, making them an engaging resource to use throughout all year levels and learning abilities.

  2. Bee Bots look like they could be an invaluable resource for teaching design and digital technologies in an early childhood setting! I feel as though the bee character would effectively work to engage the children and the nature of how it can be programmed to move would be a real point of interest for them.

    Using the Bee Bots to teach positional language and grid referencing is a great idea! I’m not sure which learning activities you use to facilitate this learning, but one way to do it would be to have students create an obstacle course, program the Bee Bot to move through it and describe this movement aloud.

    I think it is fantastic that the Bee Bot has command cards and an iPad application to support its use. Providing students with a tangible, concrete experience is crucial to supporting their computer literacy and digital coding abilities, a skill which they will need in the years to come.

    Thank you for sharing this resource.

  3. This is a great post. This is the first time I’ve heard/seen Bee Bots. It would be great to use for early childhood ( f-3). I found it interesting reading about it through your blog post. I also enjoyed how you mentioned right at the end how this would link well in the curriculum.

    Great blogging.

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