Worcester Prep Lower School Fifth Graders Taught To Design, Construct And Code Interactive Robotic Animals

For the past couple years, Lower School computer teacher Mandy Lynch has taught her fifth graders to design, construct and code interactive robotic animals using components from Hummingbird Duo Kits and Snap!, an educational graphical programming language. The challenge stressed the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM). Each animal robot featured movement, sounds and lights. Lynch shared the educational class presentations on YouTube, which caught the attention of Old Dominion University Professor Dr. Jennifer Kidd. She was fascinated by what the WPS students were capable of and contacted Lynch to learn how she implemented the project. The two classes then video-conferenced to ask questions about each other’s projects. Left, front from left, are Isabella Metz, Briar Parsons, Lillian Doran and Jackson Fernley; and, back, Ben McGovern, Gavin Riddle, James Haley, Ryan Mann, Jack Lynch, Lynch, Jayden Scopp, Emaan Ehtasham, Jennifer Kimbrew and Aleksey Klimins. Right, Sydney Tingle and Rania Khan showed ODU students how they lit up their tiger robot’s eyes.