Introduction
What is this about?
Robots or AI-supported devices can only work if a human has taught them to „think“. Robots do not think on their own, but follow instructions.
Through the activities in this toolbox, children should understand how a robot or AI-powered device works and how it can act autonomously to achieve certain goals and get the expected results.
The creation of certain templates, sequences and algorithms is necessary for the robot to act according to human instructions. So it‘s all about programming and coding.
When introducing children to programming, it is important to start with simple things that children are familiar with, such as physical, spatial movement games or clever logic games.
Children‘s point of view
Questions from children
What we know
Children generally have different abilities. While some already have basic technical skills in kindergarten that they can and should use and improve later in school, some children‘s skills are not yet sufficiently developed.
It is important to find out what the children already know about creating algorithms/sequences, whether they are able to name the directions of movement correctly and how they apply this knowledge when playing and participating in educational activities.
They should also find out what they know about how the robot works and what needs to be done to make the robot perform the actions in the intended sequence and achieve a certain result.
Goals
Pedagogical professionals
Understand the importance of programming and coding for the future of children.
Recognise the importance and role of humans behind robots and AI-controlled devices.
Create games and educational activities to learn the principle of programming and coding.
Children
Learn the basic principles of programming and coding.
Recognise differences between commands I give as a programmer and commands I give as a human.
Exercises
#4 Experimental approach Level 1
Materials
- Paper, paints, scissors
- Pictures of the bewitched castle
- Pictures with directional arrows
- Gloves
Preparation
Ensure that children have a glove and cards for different directions.
Implementation
The child „programmer“ programs the five fingers of the child „robot“ so that the child „robot“ moves in space by naming directions.
Variation
The children learn the basics of algorithms by doing activities without a computer, e.g. acting out a story based on their own drawings or photos, acting it out with movements.
Reflection
How did the use of five fingers went?
#4 Experimental approach Level 2
Materials
- Pictures of the bewitched castle
- Paper and paints
- Self-made glove
Preparation
Children must have participated in level 1 activities.
Implementation
A child invents a path to an enchanted castle. Writes the path with arrows. Then „blows up“ the robot child. The robot has to follow the commands and reach the castle. The child-robot then writes the code for its path. Later, the children compare what they wrote before and after the action.
Variation
Children swap roles, trying their hand at being a „programmer“ and a „robot“.
Reflection
Why is it important for the „programmer“ and the „robot“ to follow the rules/guidelines?
What if the desired result is not achieved - to go in the direction indicated?
About this Toolbox
Toolbox #04 was created in 2022 by Renata Bernotienė, Ieva Pažusienė, Birutė Vitytė from the project partners.
The project "I'm not a Robot: working with artificial intelligence in early childhood education" is co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. The European Commission´s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflect views only of the authors. The commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International