Recently, I had the opportunity to spend an entire day with Kindergarten through 6th-grade students in the Bertha-Hewitt school district in Bertha, MN. I was there to help them with some new makerspace technologies that they had recently purchased for their district. I primarily helped with the Sphero Bolt’s they bought and was able to share some of the awesome things we’ve been doing in Alexandria, MN. It was an incredibly fun experience because students can learn so many skills while using Spheros. I hit on them more below, but a few include basic coding, problem-solving, fine motor skills (detail oriented), perseverance, angles/measurements, velocity, momentum, and more.
Once we broke the Spheros open and got down to work, the students were off and running. However, we all know that the hard part of using Spheros in the classroom is that some people only use them as fancy remote control cars… but that’s not where the real learning takes place. Therefore, I brought an example lesson plan to share with them so they could see how we use them educationally.
Students can get so much out of Spheros relating to math, science, and coding. That’s where the idea initially came from. I work with some pretty talented teachers and together we came up with a way to incorporate them into the math and science curriculum. Before the students arrived in the gym, I had multiple stations set up for them to work on. The stations are quick and simple to make, only requiring some masking tape and some floor space to work on. I made three lines on the floor, connecting the tape in a capital U shape with square corners at the edges. While using the Spheros, students had to keep track of the length of the tape lines and how long it took to travel the line (we used a Sphero speed of 90 so we had a constant). We then used these two measurements to calculate and teach velocity. It’s a difficult topic to teach to students and Spheros made it easier to do. For example, when we set up our tape lines initially, we set them at one meter and connected it to a two-meter line and then a three. When students figured out that it took 1.1 seconds to travel down a one-meter line, they automatically assumed it would take 2.2 seconds to travel down the two-meter line, but that’s not the case. Due to the momentum the Sphero picks up, it travels a farther distance. Afterward, we converted the meters per second into mph. And just like that, we were hitting some awesome science and math standards, along with a basic understanding of coding! You can easily make it more challenging by adding extra lines, making them uneven, etc.
We like to start the students off this way because it is simple, yet challenging. After I give the students a device and Sphero, I give them a two two-minute overview of how to use it, and we’re just about ready to go. The only direction I give is, “Set the Sphero on the line and code it so the Sphero follows the line the whole way around and ends up back at you. Be sure to make it start, stop, and turn on the line.” And away they go! It truly is incredible to watch them go to work. Students are so engaged and focused and don’t settle for mediocrity. Their attention to detail is inspiring. Even when I say, “That’s awesome! You got it!”. They say, “I’m not done yet, I missed the line on the turn and can make it better.” Even students who are normally disengaged get into these lessons and want to make it perfect before wrapping up.
Lukas Gotto is a Technology Integrationist for the Alexandria Public School district in Alexandria, MN. Graduating from Winona State University and in his 6th year of teaching, Lukas has his Masters in Learning Design and Technology. A Google Certified Trainer, Smart Certified Trainer, #edtech presenter Lukas is passionate about Google and all things EdTech. Check out his blog at Techie Tools for Teachers and follow him at @LukasGotto.
Many in the EdTech community have been exposed to various ways students and teachers can use Google Forms, Sites, Docs, Slides, and other platforms to create interactive branching logic “choose your own adventure” style activities. I’d like to take the conversation deeper to explore how this kind of technology can do more than create interactive narratives and how it can teach challenging science topics, how it can simplify complex math concepts, and how it can build empathy to broaden our students’ understanding of world cultures.
Using branching logic isn’t limited to creating interactive narratives. We can use branching logic to help organize and understand complex structures. Imagine you’re hiking down a trail and you notice an animal track. How would you go about identifying the source of that track without an expert zoologist at your side? Scientists categorize species of animals based on the kinds of tracks they make and by simply answering a series of questions based on observations, we can get closer to the species of that animal. Here is a prototype of an animal tracking app that could inspire your class to make more complex identifying applications with more choices and more data.
Kevin Brookhouser is a Google Apps Certified Trainer and a Google Certified Teacher based in Monterey, California. He has trained a wide variety of groups and individuals to use Google and other tools to save time, increase collaboration, and enjoy technology. Seriously. He is also a high school teacher at York School and helps teachers there use technology as the Director of Technology. Fancy title for a fancy man. Kevin also serves on the board of trustees for the International School of Monterey. Kevin is the author of The 20time Project: How Educators can Launch Google’s Formula for Future-Ready Innovation and Code In Every Class: How All Educators Can Teach Programming. Kevin is optimistic about the future because he believes many of the world’s most pressing problems can be solved by current students who have access to great teachers and breakthrough technology. 
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Katrina Brown (@katrinabtvdsb) has been a classroom teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board for the past 15 years. She has spent the majority of that time teaching Grades 7/8 but transitioned to the Junior Division in 2015. This is her first year teaching Grade 6. She has presented workshops with Jayna Basson (@JLBasson) on how to integrate technology into an inquiry-based classroom to help develop critical thinking skills and promote global citizenship. Her primary focus is using inquiry as a means to dig deeper into the curriculum—an inch wide and a mile deep, to be precise!—using EdTech tools to amplify student voice through purposeful, student-driven choice.
