22 February 2011
Secondary school pupils to teach younger peers how to make a robot dance
Photo opportunities - Wednesday February 23rd
1:45pm - Grey Lodge Settlement, Dundee
2 to 3 pm - Our Lady’s Primary School, Dundee.
Pupils from Braeview Academy in Dundee will be using their recently learnt skills to teach primary school pupils in the city how to get University of Dundee robots moving on the dance floor.
The secondary school pupils will be passing on their robot controlling expertise to younger children at Our Lady’s Primary. The Braeview children have been taking part in the ‘How can you teach a robot to dance’ project being run at the University's School of Computing.
The Scottish Government-funded `How can you teach a robot to dance’ project has already proved very popular with audiences at both Dundee and Orkney Science Festivals. It is aimed at getting children, and their parents, interested in computer programming.
The secondary pupils are all members of Grey Lodge Settlement’s successful 4xAAAA's programme, which sees them get out of the classroom to try new things and gain confidence in different learning situations.
The secondary pupils have received training and already made their robots dance and navigate mazes using ultrasound. On Wednesday they will showcase their new skills when they mentor their younger counterparts.
Jackie McFie, the co-ordinator of the 4xAAAA's programme, has been extremely impressed with the teaching and content of the Robot Dance workshop.
She said, 'Both the staff and the young people on the 4xAAAA's project have loved being involved in the project and we would like to thank Jon Urch and Chris Martin at the University for giving us the opportunity to get involved in such a fun learning experience.
'The young people feel a sense of achievement of what they have accomplished during the workshops. It has been a great working partnership and we hope to take part in future workshops.'
Chris Martin, the co-ordinator of the project from University of Dundee’s School of Computing, praised the contribution of the young people working with the project.
'Not only have we been able to teach the older children the basics of computer programming using robots as a teaching tool but they now have the confidence to enable them to show younger children how computing can be fun,' said Chris.
More details on the Robot Dance workshop are available at www.dundee.ac.uk/revealingresearch/newsandevents/robotdance/.
For more information on the event, please contact Jon Urch by emailing j.urch@dundee.ac.uk or calling 01382 386669.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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