Franklin Fifth Graders Crack the Code

October 4th, 2018 /
Madison Bliss /
Elementary School, Franklin, News, Provo STEM, Schools, Teaching and Learning

At Franklin Elementary, fifth graders in Grace Blair’s class take their coding skills to the next level as they practice on robot mice. While many students have mastered their online coding lessons, using the mice helps give them a more hands on application.

To begin, the class breaks up into five groups in order to utilize the five sets of coding mice. Once divided into groups, the students must work together to read and write simple code in order to make the mouse move towards the plastic cheese. They then attach square pieces to make a big board for the mouse to travel on. Next, they set up walls and tunnels as obstacles to navigate the mouse through. Once this is complete, the students get to do the fun part: coding.

The students count the number of spaces forward, left and right on the board, then click the corresponding buttons on the mouse’s back to accomplish the task. As the mouse begins to move, the fifth graders wait anxiously to see if their code is correct. Some are successful and their mouse sings a tune after reaching the cheese. Other groups must rework their code and fix their mistakes.

However, those who didn’t quite get it on their first try don’t worry because this has become a weekly Friday activity. Blair explains that working on this activity every week will help her students improve and come to realize the real life applications of this skill.