The A in STEAM: The Art of the Sphero
There are many blogs, conversations, conferences etc relating to STEM subjects in education, STEAM is occasionally mentioned but Art and it’s ability to develop critical thinking and creative problem solving is often overlooked. My aim was to explore the possibilities that Sphero could provide my pupils and engage them with alternative approaches to Art.
As an Art and Photography teacher I am often looking for opportunities to develop new techniques and perspectives of my subject area . If you asked me 5 years ago during my PGCE year, what I thought I would be teaching in 5 years, it most certainly wouldn’t have been coding to create Art! I am lucky enough to be part of a faculty that encompasses, Art and Design & Technology; alongside my head of Faculty, Damian Parker (@CyresDT) and our current ITT student Ben Partridge (@BenPartridgeBTP) we have developed 2 after school coding clubs.
Coding with Sphero
I have a number of pupils within year 9 who are deeply interested in coding and when given the opportunity to try something new that involved coding and Art, they jumped at the opportunity! To introduce our pupils to the spheros, we used the drive function in order to create transient paintings.The pupils, immediately engaged with the Spheros and quickly understood the controls in order to achieve the optimum output. The tough, waterproof casing of the spheros allow for the pupils to easily create paintings; we initially placed paper on the floor, which lead to more paint on the floor than on paper, so we used batik frames to create a moveable canvas!
After this initial introduction, our pupils then moved on to coding shapes, we started by drawing out the shapes with masking tape on the floor, this allows the pupils to calculate the angles, speed and direction for their desired outcome.
Pupils chose everything from the letters of their name to a stick man. When they completed the coding element and had successfully coded the shapes, we used plastic cups and taped sharpies to them in order to create a tool that would be able to draw while the sphero was moving. We are considering the possibilities of using the 3D printer to design and make a device that will hold the pen more effectively and allow the sphero to move with ease.
Engagement
Not only have the pupils been developing code on a Wednesday and Thursday, they have been experimenting in their own time. One pupil in particular, David, used a code he found on the community element of Sphero for a ‘Hot Potato’ game, he amended the code to suit his needs and applied his own elements. I believe this shows the power of the Sphero and it’s ablity to engage learners. You can see the pure excitement in the video!
What next?
The next experimentation that pupils will be engaging with is the use of slow shutter speeds using DSLR cameras and painting with light using the Sphero. They will be using their codes to experiment between the different media, pen, paint and photography. Furthermore, they continue to work with Damian on a Thursday, where they are learning code from an engineering and design perspective and creating collaborative books using Book Creator to record their journey using the Spheros for Art and Design Technology. In addition to this we will be developing a transition day for 51 Year 6 pupils who will be joining us in September from a local primary school with Spheros being our focus. Pupils will be given an opportunity to create Art, Music and Design throughout the day, and will be supported by our Year 9 coding club.
