I am the technology instructional assistant here at Fir Grove. For many of our students, learning how to write code and drive robots is something they will only ever be able to experience at school. As a Title 1 school, many of our learners only have exposure to technology at school. As such, being able to see coding come alive through the use of Spheros is something we desperately need.

These Spheros will be used for the month of January and February as a part of our Robotics unit in the STEAM Lab. The emphasis will be on learning how to code them and then drive them through an obstacle course. The impact of these will be in helping kids grow their coding knowledge while interacting with the robot to complete harder and more difficult coding challenges. The Sphero technology is loved by the kids and is truly impactful in helping their problem solving centers in their brains. At Fir Grove the only other coding technology that we own is the original version of the Lego WEDO robots. The kids have loved learning to Code with those as they get to build them. But the coding technology for the WEDO is not as advanced, nor does it grow with them to the level that the Spheros can.

If we have enough money, we will also purchase one 3D printer so that our students can truly see the engineering design process in action. The 3D printer can show the students the technology behind CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) including creating, innovating and then finally the physical fabrication of their designs. Due to the fact that 3D printers are pretty slow in their production, the goal of having only 1 printer is to purely be able to have it running when the children come in as a "look, learn and dream" center.

"Coding helps children with communication, creativity, math, writing and confidence."

-5 Reasons Why Coding is Important for Young Minds