Matatalab Case Study
GEMS Wellington International School
How many kids are there in a group?
30 Students
How was the Matatalab robot (s) used?
At GEMS Wellington International School, students in Year One and Two were partnered with student digital leaders from Year Nine and Ten to transform their understanding of on-screen coding into physical movement. Digital Leaders initially used the challenge booklets to build up the younger students’ understanding of how the variety of coding blocks actually works. Students then created their own challenges using the mats provided to tell a story of a character trying to find their way through the barriers to get from one place to another.
What skill did you develop?
- Computational Thinking
- Creating algorithms
- Debugging
- Repeat loops.
- Functions
What worked best and what was challenging?
Supporting our younger students with our Digital Leaders allowed a greater amount of collaboration, interaction and in-the-moment feedback for students. As students were working approximately 4 students to 1 Digital Leader, they were able to be challenged or supported where necessary. Students liked that it was easy to understand and get used to. they liked the drawing feature as it proved very accurate and the buttons were tactile. Some students found it challenging that the arrow keys were all the same color and it worked better with our Year 1 rather than our Year 2, as Year 2 found it less of a challenge.
How did students respond?
Students enjoyed how easy it was to set up, the challenges that were available in the booklets and the physical side of coding. They also enjoyed working on coding in teams. They liked the robot and that it had interchangeable figures. They loved the drawing and music functions as these were often not used with other robotics. They would have preferred a slightly more obvious forward face to see exactly where the robot was pointing from above.
What is the favorite function for the students?
Physically using the blocks and following their code happen physically and in real time.