Bee-Bots teaching kids programming as part of early computer science education

MARION — Second-graders at Longfellow Elementary School in Marion programmed Bee-Bots — rechargeable robots with black and yellow stripes designed to look like bees — to put photos in sequential order to tell the fable of Paul Bunyan.

Bee-Bots use a six-inch grid system called a map to move. Students placed five photos on the 12-square grid and navigated the robot through the story about the lumberjack known for his strength, speed and pet, “Babe the Blue Ox.”

Students can program the Bee-Bot to go up, down, left, right and pause. They decompose — or breakdown — the steps into instructions they program into the Bee-Bot. If the Bee-Bot takes a wrong turn, kids “debug” by identifying and fixing errors in the algorithm and trying again.

  Buy Photo

This is a glimpse into how Iowa schools are implementing computer science instruction into the curriculum. In 2020, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law House File 2629, which required, for the first time, that K-12 schools provide computer science instruction.

Last fall, schools were required to offer at least one one-semester computer science course in high school. This year, the state requires middle schools to provide high-quality computer science in seventh or eighth grade and in at least one grade in elementary school.

Melissa Cahalan, a second grade teacher at Longfellow, said the Bee-Bots are a new way for students to explore the curriculum. On Thursday, while the students worked through the fable of Paul Bunyan, they were merging computer science standards with English language arts lessons, she said.

Earlier this week, the students also incorporated Bee-Bots into a math lesson.

Cahalan just recently learned how to use Bee-Bots over the summer in an 18-month cohort for computer science education at the University of Northern Iowa, funded by a National Science Foundation grant. She is one of about 90 teachers in the program.

As a part of the program, Cahalan received two “hives” of Bee-Bots — which cost around $680 per hive of six — to use in her classroom.

It was like being on “The Price is Right,” for teachers, Cahalan said, a televised game show where contestants guess the cost of everyday items and can win prizes.

Teachers in the cohort have a “wide range of backgrounds,” teaching students K-12 in every subject including math, social studies and art and teacher-librarians, said Ben Schafer, a professor in the department of computer science at the University of Northern Iowa and coordinator for the computer science education program.

It’s a big step, Schafer said.

  Buy Photo

“A lot of teachers are trying to become trained in a discipline they themselves aren’t trained in,” Schafer said. “I think computer science is a great subject for this. It’s OK to say to students, ‘I’m not sure I know the answer, but let’s figure it out together.’”

“That would be a very bad thing for a chemistry teacher to say — ‘What happens if we mix these? I don’t know, let’s find out.’” Schafer said with a chuckle.

Training teachers in computer science can be challenging because the field is “changing very quickly,” Schafer said. “Computing 10 years ago looked very different from what it looks like now and no doubt will look very different 10 years from now,” he said.

There also are not yet computer science requirements in Iowa colleges and universities for future teachers, Schafer said. “A part of the problem is if we’re going to ask every elementary teaching student to learn computer programming, what are they giving up to learn that subject?” he said.

While educators can pursue optional endorsements in computer science, this creates trouble with traction, education leaders say. If a teacher endorsed in computer science leaves their school, it can be hard to find a replacement also trained in computer science.

Like the University of Northern Iowa, NewBoCo also provides professional development to educators to get started in computer science, deepen their understanding and learn how to apply it in their classrooms.

  Buy Photo

Almost 2,000 educators from across the state have been trained in computer science since 2018 through NewBoCo, a nonprofit in Cedar Rapids that provides coaching and mentoring to educators, entrepreneurs and other support services to small business owners.

Samantha Dalby, NewBoCo’s K-12 education director, said Dahlby said some teachers are being “voluntold” to add computer science to their curriculum because of the new state requirements. “That doesn’t always breed excitement,” she said.

Educators learning computer science at NewBoCo are being empowered and shown “compassion, patience” and are showered “with support,” Dahlby said.

Iowa is seeing the smallest gap between small, medium and large schools when it comes to how computer science standards are implemented because of the state’s requirements, Dahlby said.

The next step would be requiring every student in Iowa to take a computer science course — instead of simply offering it — before high school graduation, Dahlby said. This would decrease the gaps in knowledge of computer science between gender, race and ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Without consistent computer science education for teachers, however, programs may dissolve if a teacher trained in computer science leaves, said Corey Rogers, a computer science consultant with the Grant Wood Area Education Agency.

“Especially our rural school districts realize they put a lot of time and energy into training one teacher and then that teacher leaves,” Rogers said.

The Grant Wood Area Education Agency provides educational services — including computer science training and resources — to local schools in the seven counties of Linn, Johnson, Jones, Benton, Cedar, Iowa and Washington.

For the last five years, Grant Wood AEA has encouraged school districts to use a planning rubric called SCRIPT — Strategic Computer science for all Resource and Implementation Planning Tool. This guides district administrators, school leaders and educators through collaborative visioning, assessment and goal-setting to create and expand computer science education for all students.

“It’s more than just one person. It’s a program that lives in the building,” Rogers said.

Computer science will continue to be integrated into each grade level to the point where students currently in kindergarten may experience integrated computer science every year they’re in school, Rogers said.

“It will be like using a calculator, a pencil or your Chromebook,” Rogers said.

School districts like Osage in Osage and Sergeant Bluff-Luton in Sergeant Bluff were early adopters of computer science standards — and it shows.

Julie Pomerenke, the middle and high school computer science teacher for the Sergeant Bluff-Luton school district teaches nine computer science courses, including cybersecurity, automation robotics and — starting next semester — drones.

The Osage Community School District began offering computer science classes in 2017 when three teachers were endorsed, Superintendent Barb Schwamman said.

  Buy Photo

Recently, Osage removed computer science as a stand alone class in elementary school and began to integrate it into reading, writing, math and science. Seven computer science courses are offered in high school and freshmen are required to take at least one computer science course.

This year, Osage received a grant to endorse eight more teachers in computer science, which they will be doing in-house, Schwamman said.

“We want our students to be creators of content, not just consumers of it. Every job from the medical field, education, manufacturing, construction and farming all involves technology,” she said.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com