The fifth grade class at Thessaloniki Private Primary School decided to do an educational robotics course for the 2014-2015 school year. The teacher worked with a parent, Kevin Berkowitz, who provided the Lego Mindstorm robotics kits and training in educational robotics. They designed a year-long robotics course that meets both during and after school. The course uses the CLIL method to teach robotics concepts in English to help students develop language skills alongside technical skills like programming and problem solving. So far the course has engaged the students and they will present their work to the whole school in early June. The teacher thinks the robotics program should continue and expand to more grades to allow participating in competitions and hopes to continue

1. Thessaloniki Private Primary School
Fifth Grade Class 2014-2015
Educational Robotics
Educational RoboticsCourse –General Plan
Part One
Thisyear the fifthgrade classdecidedtoworkwithrobotics, as it was one of the topics they
proposed at the beginning of the year. I therefore contacted the father of one of the
students, Kevin Berkowitz, who had studied the relevant materials and devoted time to
informingme indetail abouteducational robotics. He offered to work with me to present a
roboticscourse and to provide the LegoMindstormeducational kit, which is expensive. We
designed a course as a school-year project, and, with the permission of the school council,
we are teaching it.
We alsoschedule class meetings outside school hours in order to accomplish course goals.
These take place at the workspace provided by the mother of one of the students, Fofi
Saltiel. Simultaneously, Mr. Berkowitz and I also attended a robotics/programming (MIT
Scratch/LegoWeDo) seminaratthe Universityof Macedoniapresentedbycomputerscience
Professor Nikos Faxantidis.
Our course uses the European teaching method CLIL (Content and Language Integrated
Learning) inwhicha subject(here,robotics) istaughtina foreignlanguage (here,English). In
thisway twoteachinggoalsare achieved,bothinlanguage andincontent.Alsothe students
develop, among other things, motivation, creative skills and flexible thinking skills.
So far the course is moving along smoothly and has attracted the students’ interest. At the
completion of the course the class will make a presentation to the whole school in early
June.
I thinkitis importanttocontinue the course intothe nextschool year, after having seen the
benefits of implementing it this year. Simultaneously Mr. Berkowitz and I think a more
comprehensive plan in upcoming school years should include lower grades, with a view to
participatinginconferencesandcompetitionswiththe students. Third-gradestudents could
beginwiththe MIT Scratch/LegoWeDo program, whichwe have beenstudyinginaseminar,
and fourth- andfifth-grade studentscouldbeginworkingwith the LegoMindstormprogram.
For these reasons I suggest regular cooperation with Mr. Kevin Berkowitz as an external
partner.We alsodiscussedthe possibilityof hiscreatingaregular robotics workshop or club
for all ages,outside school hours,ata regularmeeting-place such as the Jewish Community
youth club.

2. Part Two
Themes,objectives,teachingmethodsanddisciplinesinvolvedare detailedbelow.
Themes
 Historyof robotics
 Mechanicsof robotics
 Physicsof robotics
 Informationtechnologyof robotics
Goalsand Objectives
 Create a robot
 Teamwork
 Problemsolving(analysis,design,implementation,testingandexperimentation,
evaluation)
 Innovation
 Projectmanagement(timemanagement,projectandresource allocation)
 Programming
 Developingcommunicationskills
 Developingcognitive skills(analytical andsyntheticthinking,creativity,critical
thinking)
Methodology –cooperation
 CLIL
 Group cooperation
 Constructivism
 Designandconstruction
 Problemsolving
 Interdisciplinaryproject
 Cooperation withparents
Involved Disciplines
 Physics(studyof motion,friction,relationshipof forces,energytransfer)
 Mathematicsand Geometry(proportions,distance measurement,
understandingbasicgeometricpropertiessuchasperimeter)
 Engineering(construction,testingandevaluationof mechanical solutions)
 Technology(technological literacy)
 History (e.g. bybuildingArchimedes’catapult, childrenhave the opportunityto
learnaboutthe developmentof technologyfromancienttimesandaboutthe
life andworkof Archimedes)
 Information technology -- create simple software
 Combiningconceptsfromdifferent disciplines (technology,art,environment,
social sciences,mathematics,natural sciences)
Respectfully,
[Teachernameomitted for privacy reasons]
Fifth-grade teacher