Blog Post #4: Analyze technology-enabled learning models for use in classrooms and libraries
Sphero is a company that creates apps, tools, and robots that encourage teachers and students to learn through STEM ideals. The Sphero Mini is a ball that’s a robot!!!! These robots can be controlled through apps you can download on a variety of different devices to promote programming and coding to students in the classroom and at home.
I was introduced to Sphero during my time in the public library as a teen library assistant. Our teen patrons loved to play and learn more about robots. At the public library, we borrowed the sphero equipment from the South Carolina State Library. If you don’t know, the South Carolina State library, has over 100 circulating kits that can be borrowed by public librarians for their branch or for local schools.
At work, I recently discovered an Ozobot, so I decided to play for this assignment! Ozobots are not controlled like spheros using an app or controller. An ozobot is a small robot that reads different codes written in patterns using different colors. Both robots can be used in the classroom or in the school libraray. This is a picture of my husband and son (4) engaged in coding during our elearning day.
Back to the sphero, the website is a plethora of knowledge for all things concerning their technology. They promote how to use their robots, apps, and other tools as well as how to tie in their technology into the classrooms, the website organizes this information by subjects and or grade levels. Another great resource would be the blog Creative Kindergarten, where the writer Amanda educates her audience with this Sphero-specific post. Amanda writes 6 great tips for using sphero in the classroom with 5 and 6 year olds! How fun 🙂 She does a wonderful job showcasing how to teach the sphero to younger students and some activities she has tried in her classroom.
I chose to use the R.A.T assessment framework for understanding Sphero’s role in teaching in the classroom and in the library. The R.A.T model states digital technology will function as a replacement, an amplification, or a transformation in educational practice.
- Replacement. Let’s have the kindergarten students write the letter A. The sphero serves as a different (digital) means instead of using a paper and pencil. The instructional end, the standard and outcome remain the same and intact.
- Amplification: The kindergarten students write the letter A. The task stays the same but the sphero extends the students capabilities by letting the students explore the letter A and coding at the same time.
- Transformation: The Kindergarten teacher collaborates with the school librarian to teach the students how to learn through sphero, the new technology. We have transformed a ordinary task for students.
The R.A.T assessment framework is a great way to reflect using new technology in the classroom and school library space.
References
Amanda. (2018, February 1). Sphero Robot Toy in the Kindergarten Classroom. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://creativekindergartenblog.com/sphero-robotic-toy-in-the-kindergarten-classroom/.
Circulating kits. SC State Library. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/circulating-kits
Hughes, J. E. (2016, June 24). R.A.T. model. Dr. Joan E. Hughes | TechEdges | Technology Integration Research. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20190612101737/https://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/
Sphero. (n.d.). Activities. Sphero Edu. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://edu.sphero.com/cwists/category#minimum_grade=2&maximum_grade=4&order_by=partner_lead
This Librarian Reads 
3 responses to “ISCI 761: Blog #4”
test
LikeLike
Hi, Erin! Both the Sphero and the Ozobot sounds like a lot of fun and would certainly engage students. Thanks for introducing them. As for the use of the R.A.T. model to assess the Sphero in an education setting, I agree that using the Sphero as you describe (to write an A) would replace the traditional means of performing the same task (using pencil and paper), but I would argue, based on my understanding of the RAT model, that the same task would not qualify as amplification. Although students learn to code, the use of the Sphero to write an A does not increase the efficiency or effectiveness of that task. That is, by using the Sphero, students do not become better at writing an A (nor do they write an A more quickly) than they do through more traditional means.
LikeLike
I have used the Ozobot in my 6th grade ELA classroom. My students had to create a plot chart based on the book the were reading and have the Ozobot follow the plot chart like the main character. The kids loved it!
LikeLike