Developing Early Literacy and Numeracy through Tangible Programming

Grade Level

EARLY LEARNING

Subjects

STEAM

COMPUTER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Product

MTINY

Lesson duration

45MINS

product description

mTiny Discover is an educational robot suitable for learning social-emotional skills, linguistics, mathematics and much more. Students will practice their logical thinking and problem-solving skills through interactive, screen-free lessons developed to meet the specific needs of young learners.

Content overview

This course has been developed for Makeblock’s first screen-free robot, mTiny. This lesson plan has been designed to help educators learn, plan, and implement joyful robotics activities in early years settings.
These lessons is suitable for educators with or without experience of programming or computer science. It is adaptable, flexible, and easy to use. The guide not only explains some of the basic programming concepts but also offers example learning activities to facilitate your learning and teaching.

Lessons overview

Section	Description
Educational Values and Pedagogy	-Theoretical Underpinning -Connection to Child Development
An Introduction to mTiny	-Tangible Programming at a Glance -Classroom Activity Preparation
Curriculum and Activity Plans	-Outline and Activity Description -Examples of Learning Activities
Lesson	Description
What Is a Robot?	Children will understand the concept of robots by reading picture book stories about robots that mimic animals.
Red Light, Green Light	Chindren will explore the use of mTiny the robot and its Joystick Control mode ,and understand the relations between mTiny and the Tap Pen controller.
Captain’s Order	Children will explore the hidden effects found within the map blocks with an object by making mTiny reach those map blocks.
Forest Party	Building on the hands-on understanding of the interaction between the robot and the map blocks with an object, children will role-play help find favorite foods.
What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?	This activity aims to introduce the use of the Forward Card and the Tap-to-Code Control mode. Children need to compare the twocontrol modes during the game.
Zig-zag Bridge	Children will explore the Turn Leftand the Turn Right Cards. This activity sets challenges related to spatial thinking as children need to make decisions and recognize mTiny’s right-left orientation.
Number Puzzle	Building on the understanding of the use of the Action Cards, children will sharpen their coding skills by making mTiny move on the Number Puzzle in sequence. This activity consolidates children’s existing numeracy skills.
Where’s My Bamboo?	Children will explore the use of two kinds of triggering programming blocks: the Input Card and the Go! Card. Children can cause mTiny to execute a set of commands continuously by using them.
Little Road Mender	This activity aims to introduce the Road-and-Wall Mechanism in A Journey to the Town. Children need to compare the two maps in the robot kit with a focus on the different effects of the border.
Ring Road Itinerary	The ring road is used as a representation of the concept of loops. Children need to understand the use of ring roads in daily life. By assembling different shapes of Road Map Blocks,children will recognize the pattern and make mTiny move through a circuit back to the departure point.
Little Bus Driver	In this activity, children will continue the ring road itinerary with mTiny in a more complex Ring Road Map. Children need to act as a driver to pick up passengers in different places multiple times.
Help Me, Please!	There are two kinds of the Role-playing Map Blocks in the robot kit: the Hospital Map Blocks–the A Passer-by Hits His Head Map Block, and the Police Station Map Blocks–the Thief Map Block. The departure point will determine which the role-play of mTiny will engage in. The robot should stop on the map block that corresponds with the scene.
mTiny’s Weekend	Children will help mTiny plan its weekend activities. Children will create a scenario and direct mTiny to visit the map blocks with an object.
Patrol Officer	Children and the robots will play the role of the patrol officer. Based on the four assigned scenes, children will help mTiny plan the route with the shortest time.

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Curriculum