Summer camps are a great way for students to continue to learn during their break from school. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many facilities had to close their doors last year. Lisa Concepcion-Elm, an Instructional Academic Coach, was thrilled to not only be able to teach Summer STEM camp this year, but also use Ozobots as part of her lesson plan.
We are excited that Lisa agreed to be our October Educator of the Month and answer some questions that we had for her about her experience!
As we’re halfway through a school year unlike any other, what’s a tool or resource you implemented this year that you’ll continue using for the remainder of the school year?
We will continue using the Ozobots and the lesson library. My plan is to also continue working with staff to implement programming and coding using the Ozobots.
Please describe one (or more) Ozobot project(s) from this school year, and the impact it had on your students.
We did a Spring and Summer STEM Camp that included the Ozobot lessons for 3rd to 8th grade students. We gave a survey to our students and most of them said the Ozobot lessons were the best part of the STEM Camp.
We used the lessons from the Ozobot camp and the library, and highlighted math and Pokemon lessons. We also taught the students how to use OzoBlockly to program and code. Some students also used their creativity to program their Ozobots to play music and do cool tricks.
You’re someone who’s passionate about making CS accessible for every student. How would you “grade” the current state of CS education in the state of WA? What do you see changing or hope to see changing in the coming years?
CS needs to be one of the priorities in education. There are many careers not being filled due to the lack of awareness and knowledge of CS skills. We are currently implementing more CS lessons in the elementary level with the use of one of our Department Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Grants focusing on Math Achievement and STEM Career Pathways.
https://youtu.be/CL6dSUhgfFA
I would like to thank Anthony Delos Santos and the Ozobot team for supporting us in implementing more programming and coding lessons in our STEM camps. I look forward to continuing this pathway with working with teachers to provide CS lessons starting at the elementary level.
Want to learn more about Lisa? Check out her Twitter page!
Coding is Creative!
Tech skills alone don’t spur big ideas—creative visions do. That’s why education at home and in the classroom should span science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM, not just STEM). Whether you see yourself as a future artist, astronaut, or entrepreneur, our goal at Ozobot is to kick start your creativity and coding skills with playtime that strengthens your whole mind.
