For the past nine months, our team at the ICT Learning Innovation Centre have been undertaking research and trials with the Bee-Bot programmable floor robots. We've found that these little bots are simply irresistable to teachers and Early Phase learners and have discovered heaps of ways that the bots can be made integral to learning. We invite you to explore this section to learn more about the Bee-Bots.
Don't forget to check out and utilise the resources in this section of our website. The section contains our Official Bee-Bot Guide, activity and mat templates you can print and photos and recounts that share what happened when we released a swarm of over 100 Bee-Bots into Early Phase classrooms in schools throughout Queensland.
What are Bee-Bots?
Bee-Bots are programmable floor robots that have been purpose-built for use with Early Phase and Primary students. Their features include:
Sounds and flashing eyes that let students know that their instructions have been entered;
The ability to remember up to 40 instructions / steps entered by students;
The ability to move accurately in 15cm steps and to turn in 90° increments;
Bright buttons for the students to use to input instructions;
A friendly and happy design that appeals to young learners (and teachers!).
Focus On Bee-Bot Software
In addition to the Bee-Bot robots, there is the Focus on Bee-Bot software that provides a virtual version of the hands-on Bee-Bot experience. This software is very intuitive and can be used in conjunction with a data projector or interactive white boards. This software has enormous potential for use during whole class focus lessons or by students during rotational activities. A free 14 day trial of the Focus on Bee-Bot software can be downloaded from http://www.bee-bot.co.uk/.
Our ICT Learning Innovation Centre Official Bee-Bot Guide
To help teachers make the Bee-Bots integral to learning in Early Phase Classrooms, we've created a guide that provides a complete overview of Bee-Bots and heaps of ideas and activities.
This guide may be downloaded and printed for planning and classroom use. To download the guide, select the link below.
Bee-Bot Resources
The following resources have been made available to enable teachers using our guide to create their own versions of suggested activities and games. Please note that a number of additional resources will be added in the next few weeks.
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We would like to thank Educational Experience for their sponsorship of our 2007 and 2008 Interactive Learning in the Early Phase Conference. With their support, we were able to show all of our delegates the Bee-Bots and help Bee-Bots buzz their way into over 100 classrooms throughout Queensland.
Educational Experience are the sole Australian supplier of Bee-Bots.
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Stay tuned for even more resources and photos developed as part of our
2008 Interactive Learning in the Early Phase Conference.
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