Robots take over at P.E.I. school as students learn to code

The room atEnglewoodSchool inCrapaud, P.E.I., is abuzz quite literally with moving Lego robots controlled by computer code written by students.

Thecoding club, led byteacherSharnaReynard, isworking with robotics kits on loan through P.E.I.'s Home and School Federation.

The federationapplied and was approvedfor funding for the project in 2014.

Federation president Cory Thomas explained that thereare now 14 robotics kits and 14 Raspberry Pi a small computer processor for learning programming kits, which schools and local Home and School associations across the province can requestthrough the Home and School Federation.

"I think that you need to foster whether it be robotics or art or what have you I think that is all important parts of learning and a lot of learning can take place kinaestheticallythrough hands-on activities," said Thomas."I think it is all good stuff."

Sacrificing recess for robotics

The club has been meeting during some recesses since the winter holidays. Through coding programs on laptops they have been able to get their creations to move.

"You put commands intothe computer and it does it, but it's a bit more complicated than that," explained student Owen Connolly.

"You get to see what you canmake it do. You make it chomp and others,you, can make it move and theneventually it would be cool to get on to bigger stuff," added SkylerCampbell.

Teaching logic, troubleshooting

The kits can teach the students a number of valuable skills, said Reynard.

"As the studentswork their way through it, if they'retrying to troubleshoot and find problems, it's a good way todevelop their logical thinking skills as well," she said.

"You have to set it up right, so if it breaks, you justput it back together and you try again and try again," explainedMakayleaShaw.

'Machines are the future'

The students also feel their new skills will serve them well.

"Machines are the future so I think it's very important," said Connolly.

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