Pirates Treasure

Details

Age group	Prep to Year 2 (ages 5 to 7)
Method	Individually or Small groups (2 children)
Participant to facilitator ratio	4:1
Duration	1 hour

Aim/Key Learning

Program a Beebot to navigate around a map to locate the treasure.

Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills

Introduction to procedural coding

Prediction skills

Teamwork skills

Preparation and Materials Required

Book Training space

Beebot per individual or group

Floor space of 4m x 4m

Print out map pieces or butchers paper for the map

Masking tape to stick down map pieces or butchers paper

Pens to mark out the treasure map (if using butchers paper)

Activity Steps

1. Construction of the Map

Time: 5 mins
Using either the printed version of the map or butchers paper, create the treasure map.
If you are drawing a map using butchers paper, keep in mind that the Beebot moves around 15cms for each forward or backward step.
To make it more challenging, some spaces can be marked as one way or the Beebot may need to first collect a coloured key to open a coloured door.

2. Introduction

Time: 10 mins
Introduce yourself, participants introduce themselves, cover any housekeeping. Cover basic group rules such as working together, being respectful and taking turns. Explain the aim of the workshop (above – 'Today we are going to program a Beebot to find the treasure chest on the map. However the Beebot is only small, is scared of water and cannot fly over things!').
Show the participants how to program the Beebot. Conduct a Brief demonstration of the Beebot navigating through the map (However don't complete it!)

3. Experiment and Explore

Time: 40 mins
Participants take turns to program the Beebot to navigate the map to get to the treasure chest using the shortest path possible. Remember that the Beebot cannot swim, nor climb mountains or other obstacles on the map. When the Beebot makes a wrong move or runs into something, the coordinator should clear the previous programming commands and place the Beebot at the start for the next participant.

4. Evaluation and Closing

Time: 5 mins
At the end of the session, ask for volunteers to share their learnings or how they found the session. Thank everyone for their participation and team work.

Loanable Kits

State Library has kits of this item available for loan to libraries within the Regional Libraries Queensland and Indigenous Knowledge Centres network. Libraries can place a reservation through the Aurora catalogue (availability is subject to existing reservations, loans and associated return dates).

The kits are for use by patrons within the library only, as part of supervised library programming. They will not be listed in the public online catalogue for personal reservation.

Please contact Access Services, or phone 07 3842 9014 with any queries.

Loanable Kits

State Library does not have kits of this item available for loan to libraries.