“Sphero is a kind of spherical robot toy designed by Sphero, previously Orbotix. It is a white orb wrapped in polycarbonate plastic, capable of rolling around, and controlled by a smartphone or tablet. The company also makes the BB-8 toy robot based on the droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Thanks to Wikipedia for a definition that hardly inspires us to race out and find out more.
Luckily we have the opportunity to attend some Professional Learning led by Graham Wegner who is much more informative about the educational benefits of Sphero than Wikipedia will ever be.
So if you have a desire to be educated beyond Wikipedia book in for this Thursday, 26th November from 5:00pm – 7:00pm. You will need to head to Woodville Gardens School B-7 (Performing Arts Room & Gym), Ridley Grove, Woodville Gardens. Parking in the Ridley Grove staff car park.
You will be able to try Sphero for yourself at this workshop and see the possibilities for your students.
You will :
- see how the key apps move students through the stages of Connected Toy onto Programmable Robot.
- see how use of this robot can not only help cover the standards in the Digital Technologies curriculum but see some of the potential for cross curricular learning in Maths, Science, English and The Arts.
- spend quality time using a Sphero and get a taste of programming using the Tickle and Macrolab apps.
- get a chance to try out Sphero’s siblings – SPRK and Ollie – and see what they have to offer in the world of robot fuelled learning.
The workshop is largely hands on with some initial explanation around where Sphero can fit in the Digital Technologies Curriculum, and some basic starting points for the key apps used for both controlling and programming.
Intended Audience: Primary & Early Secondary Teachers
Cost: $20 Members, $40 Non-members
Don’t pass up the opportunity to take your knowledge to a level far beyond Wikipedia (and have fun while doing it)