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Volume II, Issue 2 ~ November 2023


Greetings!


Bee-Bot Buzz helps you make the most of the Bee-Bots, Blue‑Bots, and other related technology products for the young learners in your school. Learn how to engage students in curriculum concepts and problem-solving using these fun robots and find out how other educators use them.


In this issue:

  • Coding as a Playground: Research with Bee-Bots and Kinderlogo
  • New Online Emulator Features!
  • Calendar Fun
  • "52 Ideas for Kinderlogo" booklet ~ free download
  • Quick Links to Resources


Click to view archives of past Bee-Bot Buzz issues.

Coding as a Playground: Research with Bee-Bots and Kinderlogo

Coding as a Playground, by researcher Dr. Marina Umaschi Bers, delves into how young children (ages 7 and under) engage in computational thinking, a process that can increase both their cognitive and social-emotional skills. The book illustrates how coding can captivate children in a playful way.


This fascinating book includes many vignettes about how children explore coding using many products, including Bee-Bots and Kinderlogo. She has kindly given us permission to share those sections of her book with our readers.


Read the Bee-Bot vignette from the book.


Read the Kinderlogo vignette from the book.


The book, first published in 2018 and followed by a second edition in 2021, is published by Routledge. You can read more about it on the Routledge website.

Dr. Bers is from Argentina, where she did her undergraduate studies in Social Communication at Buenos Aires University. In 1994 she came to the United States, where she received an MA in Educational Media and Technology from Boston University and an MS and PhD from the MIT Media Laboratory working with Seymour Papert, who designed the Logo programming language with Wally Feurzeig and Cynthia Solomon in 1967.


Learn more about the work of Dr. Bers, currently a Professor of Education with a secondary appointment at the Department of Computer Science at Boston College.

New Online Emulator Features!


The popular (and free) Bee-Bot and Blue-Bot Online Emulators give children a chance to explore a variety of mats online. They can practice navigating the 'bot using the onscreen keypad, just like the floor versions.


We have recently added some new features to help children of all abilities program the robots and debug their code. Check them out in the Bee-Bot Online Emulator and the Blue-Bot Online Emulator.


Near the top of the mat is a Talk to me! checkbox. When this box is checked, the computer speaks the name of the mat. In curriculum products like Bee-Bot Lessons, the name of the mat contains the instructions for the students, so if they don't know what they are supposed to do, they can hear the instructions read aloud. When the box is checked, each command is also spoken when it is executed, which can provide valuable feedback.


Also at the top are Save and Load buttons. Click Save to store a file in your Downloads folder. It contains the mat name and current list of instructions. Prior instructions won't be saved. You can open a previously saved file using the Load button.


To edit and debug their code, students can click on a command to select it, then click the Delete Cmd button to remove it. They can also drag commands within the orange command list area to rearrange them. Adding a command places it at the end of the list, but now students can drag it to where it needs to go.



The next article, Calendar Fun, introduces additional new features that are available in some mats!

Calendar Fun


We have created calendar mats for your classroom. These mats use new commands—a circle and a square—that place a shape at the bot's location. A new simpler color picker lets student choose their favorite color.


At the beginning of each month, students could navigate Blue-Bot to fill in holidays and weekends with a square. Save the mat with the squares that mark "no school" days. Then, each day, they can load the mat and navigate Blue-Bot to place a circle on the current date.


You can do this as a whole class activity or have students do it independently. Have them plan a route (list of commands) to get to the date using pencil and paper or Command Cards. Then they can see if their instructions were correct when Blue-Bot follows them.


What a fun way to get started in your classroom each morning!

 

The calendar mats are designed for the Blue-Bot Online Emulator, which you can use even if you have Bee-Bots.


Check out the calendars for November and December.

Bookmark the main Calendar page to get back to it easily.


Let us know if you like these mats and we'll create more for upcoming months.

52 Ideas for Kinderlogo


Use these ideas to get started with Kinderlogo. They offer fun and educational ways to explore Kinderlogo with children ages 5–8. And they are free to use!


In this 120-page booklet are lessons and activities for each of the 52 ideas. One set of pages is designed for teachers and a simplified set of pages is perfect for students. Its activities cover all 5 Kinderlogo levels.


Read more about Kinderlogo.

Click to open "52 Ideas for Kinderlogo".


We'd love to know what your students are creating in Kinderlogo. Please send us your stories and their drawings!

Quick Links to Resources


Kinderlogo ~ A collection of Logo-based activities for K–3 learners to explore online. Preview it!


52 Ideas for Kinderlogo (free booklet)

A great way to get started using Kinderlogo.

(See the article above for more information.)


Bee-Bot Lessons ~ Explore 190 lessons and 580+ online activities for K–2 learners in all curriculum areas. Preview it!


Problem-Solving with Bee-Bot ~ 150 challenges to complete in the classroom or online. Preview it!


Pro-Bot Lessons ~ These guided explorations, videos, and tips help teachers learn about this fun 'bot. Students navigate Pro-Bot on the floor or online in dozens of activities. Preview it!

Bee-Bot Online Emulator (free) ~ Explore with Bee-Bot in your web browser using a variety of mats.


Blue-Bot Online Emulator (free) ~ Choose a skill level and expand learning by navigating Blue-Bot using both 45° and 90° angles and repeat loops.


We Want to Hear from You!


We love feedback about our products and suggestions for new content and features. Please send us your ideas!


Do you have photos or videos of students using Bee-Bots or Blue-Bots that you have permission to share? We'd love to feature them in a Bee-Bot Buzz or a Customer Story.

Terrapin | 955 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 365 | Cambridge, MA 02139 

800-774-LOGO (5646) | +1-508-487-8181 (international) | Fax 617-302-9778

terrapinlogo.com | facebook.com/BeeBot.us | instagram.com/terrapin.tools.for.thinking


Find our Turtle Tuesdays Logo coding challenges on Facebook and Instagram each week!

Visit the Turtle Tuesdays web page to see all the challenges and solutions.

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