Bee Bots and Dash: Nashville Elementary students show off their robotics skills
NASHVILLE − First- and second-grade students at Nashville Elementary School gave a demonstration to the West Holmes school board about the fun they are having learning about robots and coding through the Bee Bots and Dash program.
The program was obtained through WOUB's school outreach program at Ohio University with the help of East Holmes District Library Media Specialist Lori Pringle, who gave a demonstration to teachers in the West Holmes District earlier this year.
First graders Raelynn Weaver and Maziah Swartz from Ashley Ogi's class and second graders Adilee Kurtz and Huxley Angle of Brooke Mast's class demonstrated various projects and techniques they have been working on this year coding and programing robots to perform various tasks.
Weaver handled the coding, which tells the robot what to do, and Swartz programmed the bot so it would follow the directions.
Ogi explained the students program the bot to go to a particular shape, for example, that has three sides and is blue, or to go to a round shape that is yellow.
The students created their own town and tell a story, beginning with school, then a trip to the fire station, a village bookstore and the bank.
"It combines pretty much every subject area the children are studying, along with some problem solving and computer programing," Ogi said. "It's really easy for them to use and the kids really enjoy it."
Mast said her second graders cruised through the Bee Bots program and then moved onto Dash.
Angle taught his bot how to play the xylophone with a song he wrote, while Kurtz programmed her bot to launch a ball at a target, which included programming the bot to drive closer to or farther away from its target and then launch the ball.
Mastering Bee Bots and Dash skills
Mast explained that when Pringle came in to demonstrate the program at the beginning of the year, the students were divided into groups. Those who excelled were able to work ahead on their own, while the other students who were advancing at a slower pace, got the extra help they needed.
"All of my kids mastered Bee Bots and then we jumped right into Dash robots," Mast said. "Some of the kids caught on quicker, like Huxley who flew through it, but most of them have caught on pretty quick."
Mast said she was shocked how quickly the kids picked up on what the program was all about, as it was new for everyone, even the teachers.
"It's teaching me things that I didn't know we could do with these Dash robots," she said. "The kids are learning quicker than me on most of these things, so it's kind of fun."
School board member Andy Jones appreciated the presentation provided by the students at Monday's meeting.
"It's amazing what these kids are learning, especially at that young age," Jones said. "It's incredible that the STEM program is extended all the way down to the kindergarten level.
"It's especially rewarding for me because I'm an engineer," he continued. "Watching them do stuff like that, even though it's on the computer side of things, it's building wonderful things ahead for them, and who knows what they are going to be inspired to do. Mrs. Ogi and Mrs. Mast have done a wonderful job with their classes."
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: West Holmes BOE gets a robotics lesson from Nashville School students
