KS2's Robotic Reel

Selected Song: The friendly robot by Lin Marsh

Lin Marsh's 'The friendly robot', technically a song for use with KS1 children, holds plenty of appeal for KS2 children when used as a vehicle for cross-curricular work.

Speaking and Listening

• Begin by brainstorming ‘robots’, recording ideas on large sheets of sugar paper. Use prompt cards if required, eg. What do robots look like? What are robots for? Where do robots come from? What are robots made of? What would it be like to be a robot? Do robots have feelings?
• Tweak the focus, or differentiate discussion work, according to ability/need, eg. Are robots intelligent? Are robots more or less intelligent than humans? Of course, children’s perceptions will initially be based on their own experiences; how robots are portrayed in films they have seen and books and comics they have read.
• Useful film clips to promote discussion can be found here (clips 5751,913, 6180 and 9998). After watching, add to and review children’s initial ideas.

English

• Use the song to inspire children to produce persuasive writing. Give them paper and felt tips and ask them in pairs or threes to draw and label their perfect toy robot. Prompt if necessary: What can it do? What special features does it have? What is its ‘mission’ or background story? After discussing examples of their work, show them some TV and print advertisements for toys, which you’ll be able to find online.
• Older children could examine ads aimed at different age groups. What techniques do the adverts use to persuade, eg. powerful vocabulary, alliteration, choices of colour? Allow time for children to revisit their robot pictures, adding in any new ideas that might have occurred after looking at the adverts. Depending on the age and ability of children, ask them to create their own magazine advert, or story board and script for a TV ad, for their toy robot. This type of work also makes great display material.

Design Technology/Science

• Children will enjoy designing and building robots using ‘found’ objects, 3D nets  and construction kits. This project could be an adaptation of relevant QCA D&Tunits* (3C: Moving monsters, 5C: Moving toys and 6D: Controllable vehicles).
• Use children’s existing scientific knowledge of the human body to discuss how they might create a humanoid robot. The simple skeleton template at bit.ly/makeskeletoncould be useful.
• Ask children to consider how they might integrate electrical components, such as lightbulbs, buzzers and switches, to add a real robotic feel. The more advanced could include motors, which move mechanical limbs.

*The QCA units have now been archived but are available online here.

ICT

• Make a stop-motion animation using toy robot figures or, if possible, some of the children’s own robots from the Design Technology/Science activity, above. There are many examples of this type of animation online – search for ‘Droid Dance’ in the gallery of the Zu3D website, mentioned below. They can be made very simply, using a digital camera (ideally on a tripod), a webcam or the built-in camera on a laptop. After planning a simple sequence, move your models by a small amount, taking individual stills. When placed one after the other, the effect will be of continuous (if somewhat jerky) robotic movement. You can do this using free software such as Windows Movie Maker, but you may wish to consider using commercial software such as Zu3D which can be trialled using the demo version prior to purchase and has a good tutorial. Children might like to record their own musical compositions (see the next activity) and add as a soundtrack.

Music

• Ask children to create robotic sounds using only voice and/or body percussion. They might like to add movement to illustrate their ideas. As a group, pick two to four sounds that would work well in a group composition. Create a graphic score or a repeating rhythm on a grid (see below). Once the whole class has performed, split children into groups of four to five and ask them to create their own robot compositions. This could be developed into a longer idea, using classroom percussion or ‘found’ sounds.

PE/Dance

• How do robots move? Can we simulate robotic movements? The younger or less experienced could work in groups, each child creating a single mechanical movement, such as repeated standing/crouching to simulate a piston. As more children are added, the robot gradually takes shape. Play suitable music or ask children to add a sound effect to illustrate what function their movement represents. It would be possible to link this activity with the music activity above. As children become more adept, give their robot a purpose, such as a robot to clean the classroom or teach a class!
• More experienced or older children (and perhaps staff) might like to try body-popping, a form of dance which includes the use of jerky, robotic movements. For inspiration, search for good examples online, for example here . And find an accessible online tutorial here

Maths/Geography

• Discuss how robots and probes have been used for exploring Mars, and how they would have to be programmed. Demonstrate how a robot can be programmed to carry out a task using grid coordinates and simple instructions. Children will enjoy engaging with the problem solving activity here.

History/Art

• Ask children to research Leonardo’s Robot, a mechanised knight, capable of walking, sitting and raising its arms, designed in the mid-1400s, when Leonardo da Vinci was about 12 years old. Leonardo’s plans remain highly influential, and have been used in the development of 21st-century robots.
• In the early 1900s, cartoonist Heath Robinson drew clever sketches of highly inventive but unworkable contraptions. You can start by having a look at The Professor’s invention for peeling potatoes here.
• Enjoy discussing the workings of the weird and wonderful mechanisms, and ask children what it is that makes them so amusing. Can children think of their own ideas for eccentric devices or robots – the more impractical and unusual the better? For example, a machine to sharpen all the pencils in the classroom – rather than having to make do with a simple pencil sharpener.

Citizenship

• What jobs would children programme robots to carry out? Jobs that are menial, repetitive, dangerous? What if the robots were androids (robots that are designed to look like humans, and display emotions)?What about cyborgs (living organisms with robotic parts)?

Andy Brooke is a teacher, songwriter and freelance writer on music education. He has taught music to all age ranges from nursery to sixth form. He now combines the role of primary school music coordinator with that of SENCO.