Lego WeDo Robotics in 4th grade!

     During my first year of teaching fourth grade, I was presented with the idea of leading a STEM club for our 4th and 5th grade students. I was told that I would be receiving an EV3 robot and attended a workshop because I had NO experience with Lego Robotics. At this workshop, middle school students attempted to teach my new STEM partner and I about this EV3 robot that we would eventually be getting. These students were AMAZING to say the least.  I instantly saw the value of robotics in the classroom.  If their robot didn't work, they fixed the problem. By themselves. Without a teacher to guide them. These middle school kids were wonderful problem-solvers and critical thinkers and that is what I needed in my fourth grade class.
   
     So here I was, so excited about getting this robot and introducing elementary kids to it. I was a little hesitant because I thought it may be a little advanced for them, but I was willing to try!

    But...I waited and waited and waited... and no robot came.

    So I took matters into my own hands! I had the opportunity of attending a Lego Education workshop with some wonderful people the same year and was introduced to the Lego WeDo robotics kit. I was blown away. These kits were SO much more geared to elementary students! I wrote a small grant and received four of these kits.

    I use these very often in my STEM Club. Students are guided to create their bot with step-by-step directions, then they can play around with coding to get the bot to behave like they want. One of the first projects we completed was playing a soccer game by building a goalie and a kicker. Each team had to code their bot to either kick the ball or defend the goal.

     It was amazing to see how very independent my students became when I took away the fear of failing and gave them an opportunity to use trial and error thinking. They instantly began to solve thier own problems and think critically about the coding they were using. Isn't that exactly what we want in our classroom? Students who can look at a problem, break it down into its parts, and solve it by thinking critically?

    This teacher is sold on robotics and coding. My advice to any teacher wanting to try Lego Robotics in their elementary classroom is to try the WeDo kits. Amazing.


By the way....I now have an EV3 and am looking forward to seeing the connections!