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Aim
Applying Pixie programming skills to the Geography
topic 'Buildings in the Environment'
Developing pre-mapping skills
Literacy link: reading labels and expressing simple instructions
Resources
Fully-charged Pixie
Board with wipe-clean mat
'People' made with pipe cleaners
Instruction cards - see below
'Arrow' cards with Pixie commands
The children were asked to name six different buildings
which are important to our community. We established the need for houses,
a school, a church, shops, doctors, and a petrol station. These were
located on the board and named. The Pixie was moved from one named place
to another on the board following the road layout. All instructions
at this point were given verbally, first by the teacher then from peer
to peer.
The Pixie was then used to transport pipe cleaner
'people'. Children followed instructions such as 'take the children
from home to school', 'take mum to the shops', 'go and get some petrol'.
Graded instruction cards were introduced so that the children could
work in a controlled, independent way.
Some children used small flash cards with directional
arrows to record what their peers were programming. From the outset,
we aimed to match the cards exactly, ensuring that the arrows depicting
a turn were correct, and that they were in the right order.
Lesson evaluation
Some children demonstrated an excellent ability to write and read programs
using the arrow cards. All but a few children could independently read
the labels, either in their entirety or by the initial sounds. However,
some had difficulty with the instructions cards. It may be necessary to
group more able readers with less able readers, until words become more
familiar. Alternatively, an adult may support the children.
We discussed how, when we ask a computer to do something,
it has to be in computer language, and that we can write a program for
the Pixie. The children enjoyed their new role as 'programmers'.
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