Bee-Bot Pull Challenge
Snap Inc. Institute for Technology & Education (SITE)’s mission is to make high-quality, standards-aligned computer science an integral part of educational experiences for all K–12 students in the Los Angeles area. We center our work on the importance of joy as a foundational reason for engaging in Computer Science education. Click here to learn more about our work.
Recently, we worked with a local elementary school’s kindergarten team to plan a Computer Science (CS) activity day. This Title 1 school serves typically underrepresented students, and the kindergarten teachers were enthusiastic about exposing their students to CS. We met with the principal, and he was on board as long as ALL students were included, even those being provided with Special Education Services. The event took place in 2 phases: a planning phase and an implementation phase.
Planning
We met with the kindergarten team to discuss what they were currently working on in their curriculum. Our goal was to embed CS into the curriculum that they would already be covering. The team stated they were working on the “push and pull” standard within the science curriculum. From there, we went on to plan the event logistically and set 2 dates: one event for classrooms 1 & 2 and the other for classrooms 3 & 4. This allowed for smaller groups so that all students could fully participate. We began to recruit preservice (future) teacher volunteers from CSUDH (California State University, Dominguez Hills) to help facilitate the event.
Next, the SITE team conferred and designed three computer science activities for the event, one of which included Bee-Bots! We called this station “Bee-Bot Push & Pull Challenge.” The students were to be introduced to the word “algorithm” and their task was to determine steps the Bee-Bot needed to take to gather pollen from a flower and then bring it back to the hive to make honey! To help accomplish this task, we created a pull cart out of Legos for the Bee-Bots to pull, hence incorporating “push and pull.” (Click to enlarge the images below.)
What We Did
On each day of the event, we met with preservice teachers an hour before the event to allow them time to familiarize themselves with the Bee-Bots and try out the pull carts. We then set up the stations. The Bee-Bot station included two cones – one with a flower attached to it and another with a beehive attached. At each flower cone, we placed tiny Legos to serve as pollen for them to put in the cart and pull to the hive.
Each kindergarten class was divided into six groups of four. Each group had 3–5 facilitators. The kindergarten teachers and SITE staff observed and stepped in as needed while the preservice teachers led the event.
How It Went
The students absolutely enjoyed the event as evident in the photos below. Several students even asked if they could take a Bee-Bot home! We are looking forward to working with the team and the Bee-Bots again next year! Click here to learn more about our work with Bee-Bots!
Contact Information
| Name | Ashley Ruiz |
| Position | SITE Director of Partnerships & Grants |
| School | California State University, Dominguez Hills |
| Location | Carson, CA |
| aruiz99@csudh.edu | |
| Website | https://www.csudh.edu/coe/centers-partnerships/site/ |
| Tags | Bee-Bot, California, STEM/STEAM, Coding, Science, Teacher Training, Kindergarten, Professional Development |
| Age | Kindergarten |