Saturday, February 8, 2020

Ozobots

Over the past two weeks, students in 1st through 4th grade have been working with OZOBOTS.

Many parents are searching Google and Amazon for the little plastic R2D2 type robots that read colors.

Well let me answer some questions then show you what we have been doing with these clever fun robots!

What is an Ozobot?  Here is the link to the corporate website: OZOBOT












Why Ozobots?  Well this is a long story...
I initially tried Ozobots several years ago through a monthly subscription company called Pley.  It did not seem to work or respond as advertised.  I went to several STEM trainings where I heard, Ozobots are so wonderful.  I was not so convinced. 

Fast forward to this year...I got grant money through the PA SMART GRANT.  I could finally try some of the items that were on my "wishlist" or "should have" in a STEAM class.
I bought them.  The large Amazon box arrived in the crazy back to school time.  I placed the box in a corner and promptly forgot about it.

In December, I was reviewing my purchases from the grant and found that I had ordered Ozobots.  I found the large box.  I took the small tote out and decided that January was a great time to try the new robots.  I took them home, read through the instruction manual with a fine tooth comb, scoured the internet for how to guides, and finally tried them again.  AND THEY WORKED 90% of the time!

I decided that 1st and 2nd grade would be my guinea pigs grades.  They were going to use their names as a starting point.  This is the lesson plan inspiration that I started with.  Write Your Name

These small robots are quite versatile and I still have to explore coding with the robots.  Problem solving, team work, and creative thinking are accomplished while working with the Ozobots.

Currently, I have a class set of 12.  The markers are great to start with but are running out of ink.

What can they do?
Ozobots read colored lines to perform actions from spins/tornadoes, turn left/right, go fast/slow, and more!
My second lesson with 1st and 2nd graders was to replicate the Earth movement around the sun.  First, they just did a revolution so that everyone felt success.  Then they tried the challenge to get the Ozobot "Earth" to rotate and revolve around the sun using the spin codes.  About 50 percent of the class could accomplish this task.  In addition, we watch a video on revolution and rotation.


In the future, I hope to try the blockly coding options soon.

Where can I buy an Ozobot and how much do they cost?
On the official site, the Evo is about $100.  The markers are extra.  You can use regular markers but a chisel tip is recommended for the correct line thickness.
Ozobot website
On Amazon, you can find an older generation of Ozobot for slightly less! The previous version was called the "Bit".  You can scour the internet for cheaper models, but I am not familiar with some of the websites!
Amazon

Here are few pictures of the students and their Ozobots!