St. Peter’s R.C. Primary School Visit: Shop-a-bot delivers
Children in Year 5 at St. Peter’s R.C. Primary School, Middleton, have been getting fully immersed in the ‘E’ of STEM by engaging with Engineering Educates: Robotics Challenge.
What is it?
Supported and sponsored by The UK-RAS Network - UK-RAS, Engineering Educates: Robotics Challenge is a non-competitive, inclusive campaign to inspire 7-14 year olds to think as engineers, finding solutions to real-world problems and challenges. Developed by educational specialists, the challenges are evidence informed and aligned to curriculum learning in Design & Technology, Science, Computing and Literacy.
Eight challenges, covering various aspects of robotics engineering, will be released over the next two years. Our first two challenges, Shop-a-bot and Motion in the Ocean, are available to download for free at Engineering Educates.
Incorporating it into the curriculum
Each challenge is made up of 3 sessions following the Engineering Design Cycle: ask, imagine and plan, and create. The challenges are not sequential and all eight don’t need to be completed - unless you want to! Simply select the ones that best fit your school’s needs and interests.
Staff at St Peter’s R.C Primary School chose to deliver the two introduction sessions during one afternoon, and then the following week, delivered all three sessions from Shop-a-bot, a challenge introducing learners to delivery robots, as part of a day of engineering. Learners began by discussing the differences between an object, a machine, a robot and a human before being introduced to the characteristics of a robot.
The robot profile of ‘Starship’, the autonomous delivery robot, was shared with learners and links were made to the 5Ds. Learners were then guided through how to make detailed annotated sketches, including ‘exploded diagrams.’
Having explained how delivery robots use GPS to manoeuvre, the learners then programmed BeeBots around a map as a simple model for this. Various obstacles were introduced to encourage problem solving.
“The “Shop-a-Bot” challenge from Engineering Educates was a great hit! The children thoroughly enjoyed the full-day session, diving into hands-on learning and creative problem-solving. I also reaped the benefits, as all the resources are provided, saving me precious time. Plus, the toolkit area of the website had features to help with my subject knowledge and CPD. The Challenge not only raised pupils’ aspirations in STEM, but also built their engineering capital, making it a rewarding experience for everyone involved.”
