Teacher From Marymount School of New York Explains How the Ozobot is Changing the Classroom Game

Among the many recent classroom additions that are encouraging students to get involved in STEM activities, the Ozobot is a crucial one. It’s a pocket-sized robot that includes features to help with coding, creative thinking, and collaboration. Lesa Wang is a teacher from the Marymount School of New York who uses the Ozobot with her third grade students (it was even included in a fashion show!), and we tracked her down to learn why it’s been so successful.

SG: How does the Ozobot assist in teaching coding and creative thinking to school children?

Lesa: Ozobot offers our students a visual and untethered way to understand coding and programming. They also offer a fun entry into robotics. It is a favorite amongst our K-5 students.

SG: What academic and behavioral changes have you noticed in classrooms where the Ozobot is working alongside the students?

Lesa: Ozobots help to foster collaboration and creativity in the classroom. Our students love to create worlds for their bots. I’ve seen our Ozobots turned into horses, Mogli (from The Jungle Book), Harry Potter, and Elsa (from Frozen). A recent favorite was when one student created a cover for the Ozobots by 3D designing a platform with people on top, so when the bot moved, it looked like people were walking.

SG: With the fashion show that your third grade students put on, how did the Ozobot make a creative contribution?

Lesa: I like how our makers are instantly drawn to transforming the Ozobots into familiar characters. Being small and round, the girls come up with clever solutions for the skins. For the show, the makers were split into 4 different groups. One group was charged with creating costumes for the Ozobots. The 2nd group was in charge of designing the runway and the stage. The 3rd group worked on programming the Ozobots to walk the runway. The 4th group created a video documenting the whole process.

SG: What other ways can students be inspired to learn coding or other STEM skills?

Lesa: For the ages that I teach, I think off-screen learning is just as important as on-screen learning. Our K-2 students use iPads to program the Bots. For grades 3–5, we have the girls draw the code. I’ve seen coding taught in a variety of ways — through weaving, jewelry making and even cardboard vending machines.

Ultimately, my hope with Ozobots is to inspire students with a basic understanding of coding and programming that is fun and easy to understand. Teaching binary code and programming at this level should be done with hands-on activities and a playful spirit. Being able to rapidly prototype ideas with robots is a great way to get our girls into STEM/STEAM. Combining science and math with art and design is a great way to start. I would love to see the Ozobots programmed to move like cells or even atoms, or programmed to create a visual diagram of angles or a bar graph.

What intelligent device has influenced you in the classroom? Let us know via Twitter or in the comment section below.