I recently integrated Ozobot into a Science classroom at the +William Davies Middle School. Mrs. Zaremba, a 7th Gr Science Teacher, and I worked together to integrate Ozobot, coding and the states of matter into her class. We wanted her students to use coding to make connections to what they were learning in class, the states of matter, which is about the movement of molecules to form a liquid, solid and gas.
The supplies needed for this activity were, a science worksheet, black, red, green, and blue markers, the pre-made rectangular board, Ozobot, and the static code sheet. as shown below.
Mrs. Zaremba used her creativity and wrote a story about Ozobot. It was titled, "A Day in the Life of Ozobot". It was a love story about Mr. Oz meeting the love of his life. This story was the science worksheet. In the story she included, 3 rectangles, to allow students to use the correct static code to represent the states of matter and to program Ozobot. A copy of the story is shown below.
Once they completed the static codes in the story, they transferred them on the pre-made rectangular boards, as shown below. The pre-made boards are available in the Ozobot lesson 1.
After they transferred the static codes to the board, they were ready to use and test Ozobot. For example, one of the static codes the students used was a slow static code. Mrs. Zaremba referenced a solid state in the story and they needed to code Ozobot to move slow on the board. In addition, Mrs. Zaremba referenced all of the states of matter and the students responded by using the correct static code to represent the molecules. Each time Ozobot read a particular code, it flashed, and it responded accordingly. The students were able to connect the states of matter to Ozobot's behavior.
This lesson was extremely successful. It demonstrated the use of Computer Science into the Science curriculum. In addition, students worked independently, however, they did collaborate together to figure out any technical issues with Ozobot, which promotes problem solving and critical thinking skills. More importantly, they were able to make connections in the story with the states of matter and coding. It was truly a great lesson and a great example of team work and collaboration between Mrs. Zaremba and I. I truly enjoyed working with her on this lesson and look forward to working with her and other staff soon.