Sphero and geometry
Yesterday a fourth grader was working on using Lightning Lab to write an algorithm for Sphero and Long Expo app to create a candy cane. He runs his code and photographs it with the app and is disappointed with the result. His analysis is that his angle is wrong. He's got a straight line and a 45 degree turn and another straight line. We get into a discussion about the difference between a turn and straight line and a loop that creates a curve. A classmate jumps in and starts explaining how this is like the circumference of a circle and how there are 360 degrees in a circle so he needs to figure out how much of the circle he needs. They start drawing all over the white board figuring out how many degrees they need and how they will rewrite the code to fix the bug. It was great to see the students applying what they are learning about in math in such an authentic and organic way. I can't wait to see how they rewrite their code next week!
