LaGrange Elementary students take on robotics

Alex Hargrave
Posted 10/21/20

Fridays at LaGrange Elementary School are a scene no one would have expected 10 years ago.

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LaGrange Elementary students take on robotics

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LAGRANGE – Fridays at LaGrange Elementary School are a scene no one would have expected 10 years ago. 

Sometime in between reading, math, science and social studies lessons, students in kindergarten through sixth grade release the robots. The more experienced second through sixth graders rotate between three different stations with their various robots from Wonder Workshop in tow. 

The classroom has four robots: Dot, a stationery light blue robot is the simplest model, two mid-level Dash robots, nicknamed Snowflake and Destroyer that teach coding to beginners and Cue, a black robot designed for students aged 11 and older, helps transition students from beginner-level coding to text-based programming. 

Sixth-grader Abby Gift works with Cue, nicknamed Q-Tip. He sings and talks in a British accent, his typical “chatty” self, according to Gift.

She’s at the bowling station, where students use an Ipad to ram their robot into some pins with hopes of knocking them over. The goal is to control Q-Tip’s speed and direction. 

The program started last year with a parent, Brandy Evans, who volunteered during the 2019-20 school year to give educators an extra 30 minutes of planning time. Evans, a rancher and web designer, chose robots as a self-described “geek.”

Her children, Hudson, who is now in second grade and Hadley, a sixth-grader, use robots both at 4-H club and at home. Evans decided last year to bring robots Dot and Dash to school, and an anonymous donor eventually purchased additional devices for the students. 

Evans said programming and working with the robots encourages creativity, problem-solving skills and cooperative learning. Perhaps most importantly, it’s fun.

“Last year when I would go in, I’d have a scheduled time and they never wanted to quit and put the robots away,” she said.

Visitors are not permitted in school due to COVID-19, but the program lives on through teachers. Fifth and sixth grade teacher Katrina Gifford said the idea of working with robots was “intimidating” at first.

“I just had to dive in and say ‘okay, well, I can’t be intimidated by a little blue robot,’” she said.

Students not only learn programming but also practice other crucial skills in the process through various “quests.”

“It helps me with reading, it helps me read harder words,” Gift said. “The quests help me learn more math because some of them have math.”

One station helps students with multiplication, addition and subtraction as their robots land on playing cards. Teams compete against one another, trying to navigate their device to the highest cards that are totaled up at the end of the period. 

Another focuses on reading. The underside of a carpet has index cards with words listed on them. Whichever card their robot lands on, the student spells and uses the word in a sentence. 

Gifford and Adeline Walker, second and fourth grade teacher, preside over the students throughout their robot time, but there’s not much need for them to step in. Students practice Blockly coding, a kid-friendly programming language that represents coding concepts as interlocking blocks. As a more advanced robot, Cue allows users to see the backend code, JavaScript, according to Evans. With Blockly, they learn modules, loops and other coding mechanisms.

“I was impressed, I wish they had it when I was a kid,” Evans said. “I would’ve loved to have learned coding in that aspect versus how I learned it.”

For Gifford, the robots are not only a way to teach kids about technology, but they’re also a vehicle to teach traditional concepts. 

“They do reading and math all day long, but you put a different spin on it with technology,” she said. “Kids nowadays grow up with technology, so it helps hold their interest. 

The Wyoming Department of Education adopted computer science standards in February that will be required for all schools by the 2022-23 school year, according to Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools.

LaGrange Elementary’s robotics program meets eight Computer Science Teachers Association standards, according to a presentation put together by teacher Matt Daily. 

“I’m thankful the kids are getting that education, technology is so important in today’s world,” Evans said. “You can’t do anything without technology anymore. Hopefully, this is a base they can build off of if they ever need (programming) in the future.”