Programming Probot to draw shapes and patterns

St Thomas More College, St Joachim Primary School, Marsaskala

Other

Lampuka, Marsascala, Malta

A number of sessions will be carried during the next scholastic year to familiarise Primary School students (8 to 10 yr olds) with the world of coding by availing themselves of Probot. During the first lesson students will watch a video about coding to highlight the importance of giving very precise instructions. Afterwards they will engage in a simple unplugged game where they will verbally instruct each other using coding language (Fd, Bk, Rt, Lt) to walk and create shapes (they can use masking tape to mark their path). In the second lesson, students will familiarise themselves with Probot and from the experience gained in the previous lesson they will start to draw the shapes and patterns by entering the right code and let Probot draw the shapes. In the third and fourth lessons students will need to go through the challenge of programming Probot to draw more complex shapes. In the final session, students are divided in groups and they are given a number of challenges, including writing instructions for other groups to draw particular shapes and patterns using Probot. At the end, each group will share their experience and they will have to give feedback to their peers and receive feedback about their work.