In the Rheindorf elementary school, students gain their first experience of programming robots.
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Children can practice robot programming at the Rheindorf elementary school.
Lustenau The twelve robotic bees from the Rheindorf elementary school park neatly in the charging station. The battery is full. They are again ready to be programmed by the children. “For the past eight weeks, we’ve been including programming in the lessons every week,” says Nadine Staubmann, class teacher of class 2a at the Rheindorf elementary school. In the beginning it was real Lego figures that were first assembled and then made to move, but now it’s robot bees that make their way through the classroom.
“All experts agree that it is never too early to start developing IT skills of any kind,” says director Markus Purin, explaining why programming begins at a young age at elementary school. In the past few weeks, the first and second graders have been able to gain experience with the robots. “Digitalization offers many advantages and is an important part of the future of this generation,” says Purin. Like the teaching staff, he sees the advantages that the children gain when dealing with the technology. “The children use it to train logical and abstract thinking,” says teacher Staubmann. With the robot bees, they have to look carefully at how many squares the bees should drive straight ahead and where they turn in which direction. “We did an introductory game in our class in which one blindfolded child had to guide another through the class. It quickly became clear that they needed a common language and clear instructions. Just like programming.”
In the adjoining children’s pavilion of the Rheindorf elementary school, the 1a graders are highly concentrated and busy assembling the Lego figures from the “Lego Education WeDo 2.0″ construction set. “We have already assembled the glowing snail and a fan. Today it’s Milo’s turn, the research probe,” explains class teacher Claudia Grabher proudly. After the research probe has been assembled exactly according to the instructions, it is a matter of getting it to drive. “The children are very clever. And they immediately understood how to program the robots using the tablet,” says Grabher. And so the first graders are happy to see their research probe driving around. In the second grades, one hears cheering children enjoying the moving robotic bees. vs
