How to Integrate Ozobots with Math {Part 1}

Have you seen these tiny little robots that have been all over Facebook and Instagram?  I have shared about them a few times and I have had a ton of questions about them.  Well...these tiny robots are called ozobots and they are a great way to get your kids excited about coding.

I've been asked ... "How do you incorporate ozobots into your classroom schedule?"  I have found that ozobots are a great way to incorporate STEM challenges during my lessons.  I decided to start a blog series to show you a few different ways that you can integrate ozobots into your classroom.

Here is how I used ozobots in my math lesson to help my students learn and review different angles and measurement.

Ozobots can be programmed using markers and also by using ozoblockly, which is a block based coding language that is similar to that used in Scratch.

Since my students had never used ozobots before, I decided to start by giving them time to explore with them.  I shared how to calibrate them using the black dot and I also shared how to use the markers to draw a track for them.  I partnered the kids up and gave them a piece of white poster board (cut in 1/2) for them to draw a track on.  Then I let them go explore!

Some of my kids drew a track and some decided to create an ozobot race.  It was so much fun to see all of the different things that they created for the ozobots.  During the exploring time, I walked around and talked to the students to see what they were able to create.  It was very helpful to have time for them to explore on their own too.

After the exploration time and my math lesson on angles, I gave my students the rules for our STEM challenge.  I wrote down the rules on an anchor chart for them to refer back to.

I gave each table a big piece of white paper, markers, a protractor, and an ozobot to program. I encouraged my students to plan out their track first by using pencil and then to trace it with the markers. It worked really well. The students were able to create their angles and then they were able to connect the angles to make their track. Their favorite part was adding the color codes to make their track a little more interesting. Turbo and backwalk were their favorites!

This was a great lesson to help my kids review angles and also to program those angles for their ozobot to follow.  It also helped build teamwork, problem solving, and persistence.  My kids had a blast too.

I hope that you were able to find some useful tips and tricks on how to integrate ozobots into your math classroom. Make sure you check out the next blog post in this series. Feel free to leave any questions that you have in the comments below.

Also, I would love for you to join my all new Learning Chambers Code Club. I will be sending out emails about how I integrate both unplugged coding challenges and both block and written code in my classroom. I'll also be sharing tips, tricks, freebies, and much more! No worries, I promise to not spam your inbox :). I'm so super excited to have you join the new LC Code Club. You can join below.

Come Be a Part of the LC Code Club!