Y4 - Robot Day

Loved ‘Robot Day’ with my Year 4 pupils at Lanchester EP today. Linked to their current ‘Mighty Metals’ topic I took in a wide range of different coding robots and the pupils became ‘robot testers’. They investigated features such as speed, strength, how it is controlled, different accessories available and how it is powered and charged. There was some excellent discussion throughout the day and some brilliant vocabulary used. Will provide and excellent stimulus now for the remainder of the topic. The Computing National Curriculum states that pupils should ‘use computational thinking and creativity’ to understand and change the world. Was really interesting today that pupils were discussing things such as how a portable and small robot might benefit the medical profession and one child said that their robot would have a fridge in its stomach. I was expecting them to say that this was for keeping fizzy drinks cold etc, but no, it was to keep Covid vaccinations at the correct temperature. It shows that even at 8 and 9 years of age that children are aware of the world problems and are trying to compose solutions. In the past year we have been so thankful for the amazing work of scientists. So important that we give children these opportunities. The future will be safe if we do!!!