Shelby Review

Utica Community Schools issued the following announcement on Feb 16.

Similar to Olympic athletes, Flickinger Elementary students have been training for the Robot Olympics for years.

“Students have been using code.org as a learning tool every year since Kindergarten,” Flickinger Media Specialist, Kathy Miskokomon, said.

“The Robot Olympics is a way for students to take what they’ve learned about coding and bring it to reality.”

Before the Robot Olympics began, Miskokomon taught the students about the Olympics and what events took place. She then invited students to simulate events themselves by having their robots ski the giant slalom, launch balls at a target like the biathlon or perform figure skating routines, just like we see on TV.

“I loved doing the robot experience,” 6th grader Allison Vavruska said. “It was fun to program our robot to swerve and move around all of the twists and turns of the course that we created.”

Students were able to code their robots to complete the challenge presented to them, and even if the robot didn’t win the head-to-head competition, students still had a positive experience with coding.

“The dash bots taught me to have fun with coding,” said 5th grade student, Harper J. Highfield. “I wish we could use them everyday in the media center!”

Funded through a grant, the Robot Olympics and similar activities are made possible from Coding Carts that rotate around the district.

“My favorite part of these activities is the excitement and enthusiasm the kids have when seeing how what they’ve learned online relates to real life,” Miskokoman said.

Teaching in Utica for 30 years, Miskokomon appreciates doing fun and engaging activities that inspire children to go home and talk about the media center class to their families.

“The glow on student faces and the cooperation of the students as they work together and problem solve lets me know that the students have been learning the coding and they are inspired to further their knowledge.”

Original source can be found here.

Source: Utica Community Schools