Location

Belgium

How many kids are in a group

20

How was the Matatalab robot(s) used?

I received the Tale-Bot Pro in January, but because of health problems of my father I had to interrupt my teaching for a few months. So I started working with the Tale-Bot Pro in May. I don’t have any experience with children of 5 years old, so I learned my colleagues from kindergarden how to work with the Tale-Bot Pro. The two teachers used the Tale-Bot Pro in their class (2 classes in total) and were very enthusiastic about it. First they introduced the bot to the children and let them experiment with it to get used to it. Then they had to think about left and right. They had to consider that the robot only turns on spot, so it doesn’t advance at that moment. The children had to send the robot from a starting point to an end point the teacher chose. If they succeeded there also came an obstacle they had to avoid. And finally they did a lesson about fairytales and the children had to send the robot to the picture that corresponded with that fairytale. They used it for 3 weeks and when they gave it back to me, they asked me if they could have it again next year.

What skills did it develop?

Computational thinking, sense of direction (left, right, forward, backward), spatial awareness.

What worked best and what was challenging?

It worked quite well, except the fact that the robot doesn’t advance when the left or right button is pushed. It only turns. When the robot had to go 3 places to the right, they pushed 3 times on the right button, but that didn’t work. It was also hard to figure out what direction the robot had to go when it was coming back in their direction (upside down, so right becomes left and vice versa).

How did students respond?

They absolutely loved it. And so did the teachers. They really claimed it already for next year.