National Robotics Week ’24

On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider.

National Robotics Week or “Robo Week” is officially here! If this event is new to you, I recommend checking out the “Follow Friday” post I shared last week (April 5th). I’ll be visiting a number of classrooms this week assisting staff with their introduction of this event and I encourage everyone to try to incorporate elements of robotics throughout the week. The following are some resources to get you started:

Where to Access Robotics for Your Classroom

• MVSD Tech Kits
  • These kits have been designed to allow students to explore a variety of digital literacy streams in a means that is accessible to staff.
  • They are loaned to schools, at no charge, through our PD Resource Centre, and delivered to your school via divisional mail.
  • Robotics options include:
    • Botley the Coding Robot
    • Code and Go Robot Mouse
    • Makey Makey
    • Raspberry Pi
    • Snap Circuits
    • Sphero Mini Robots
• MAETL Lending Library
  • This library is a curated collection of tools purchased by MAETL, available for loan to membership organizations, as a means of increasing technology access in Manitoba schools.
  • Robotics options include:
    • Sphero Robots
    • Parrot Drones

Classroom Activities

The following are a selection of resources to get you started in your robotics journey!

• National Robotics Week classroom resources
  • The official event website has a page dedicated to resources and lesson plans from kindergarten to post-secondary.
  • These activities include other library platforms, introductory resources, handouts, virtual programming, and unplugged options.
• iRobot Education learning library
  • A database of robotics resources that are searchable by grade level, subject area, language options, and available resources.
  • If this is brand new to you, I recommend their “No Robot” lesson plans
• Crash Course
  • This popular YouTube channel has a variety of robotics videos from the perspective of AI, computer science, and engineering

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How are you integrating National Robotics Week? Let us know in the comments so we can build up our resources.