Elementary students across the district are learning basic coding as they simultaneously learn their core curriculum subjects with the District’s new Bee-Bots coding robots.

Each elementary campus has 12 full sets of the small programmable floor robots that look like a bee for teachers to check out to use in their classrooms. Teachers received training on how to incorporate the Bee-Bots into their curriculum.

“We have partnered with English-Language Arts, math, science, and social studies to create complimentary activities that integrate the Bee-Bots with the curriculum,” said Carrie Gooch, Coordinator of the K12 Coding Program. “We currently have over 100 activities that can be found in the UBDs (lesson plans), and we are continuing to write more. The aim is to provide teachers with a new tool for delivering their instruction and assessing student understanding that also gives the added benefits of learning computer science skills.”

Integrating coding into instruction allows students to have fun while applying high levels of computational thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, cooperation with others, and increased confidence. The Bee-Bot program gives students the opportunity to learn valuable skills that will benefit them in the future and provides an introduction to computer science and programming. 

“According to statistics from Code.org, computer science majors earn an average of 40% more than other college graduates,” Gooch said. “With the overwhelming demand for new technology, there is a huge shortage of people to fill computer science jobs. There are currently over 400,000 openings in the United States with no one with the skills to fill them. Coding with the Bee-Bots allows students to physically manipulate their code for better understanding. This can help lay a solid foundation for beginning coders.”

Teachers are excited about the opportunities the Bee-Bots provide. 

“My second graders were excited to learn about movement, motion, and directions while getting to know how the Bee-Bots work,” said Amanda Etheridge, Rainwater Elementary second grade teacher. “They did a wonderful job working cooperatively while using the Bee-Bots and can’t wait to use them while learning about how objects move in our motion unit in science.”

Interaction with the Bee-Bots is a simple, hands-on way to introduce coding to students in elementary school. 

“The Bee-Bots are so fun to use,” said Logan Linscomb, Rainwater fourth grader. “I loved being able to create code with them and make them move in different directions.”