Why Lego WeDo 2.0?
So you are considering several systems to use in a workshop to teach robotics. It is possible to find many alternatives on the market, and you do not know if Lego WeDo 2.0 is a suitable option for you. In this post, I will try to shed light on this matter.
The first factor to have in mind is the age of the participants. Lego WeDo 2.0 was designed for ages 7 and up. The suggested projects are specifically targeted for grades 2-4. For children between 7-10 years old, the suggested projects will be challenging but not too difficult. For older kids, it is possible to use this tool in a successful way, but the teacher will need to find new challenges, customising the projects and increasing the difficulty level. If your kids are teenagers probably WeDo would not be the best choice for you.
The second factor is your budget. This solution is not cheap. Unless you already have the equipment that meets the system requirements, you will have to spend money not only on the Lego kits but also on devices with certain operative systems. And do not forget about the spare parts. Do your maths carefully. There are less expensive options.
Lastly, you must think about what you want to teach. Robotics is a set of disciplines. where hardware and software design are combined to achieve one goal. With Lego, your models can be built in little time, the different pieces allow you to design a good variety of systems and you can learn a lot about engineering. However, the software provided by Lego to program the models is not very versatile. It is possible to teach the foundations of computational thinking, but you will probably realise that the software is probably the weakness of the system. Perhaps combining Lego with Scratch could be a solution, but that topic will be discussed in another post.
In my case, I chose WeDo 2.0 because it has everything I needed. The product is very attractive, children love to experiment with it. They find it easy to build and the results are almost immediate. A child can build and program the first robot in half an hour.
The tool is versatile. The suggested models set the grounds for building more complex robots, and creative children will have many ideas that can be implemented.
In addition, the models do not need a physical connection to a computer, they can move freely around the room. Kids love this feature since it allows races, fights, and all sorts of scenes they can imagine.
But above all, the community fans that support the system will give you more and more ideas to bring to the classroom, so you are not tied to what the manufacturer or your creativity provide.
The mentioned reasons made me choose WeDo 2.0. Now it is your turn to decide whether it is for you or not. For further information, I recommend reading Lego WeDo 2.0 FAQs.
The first factor to have in mind is the age of the participants. Lego WeDo 2.0 was designed for ages 7 and up. The suggested projects are specifically targeted for grades 2-4. For children between 7-10 years old, the suggested projects will be challenging but not too difficult. For older kids, it is possible to use this tool in a successful way, but the teacher will need to find new challenges, customising the projects and increasing the difficulty level. If your kids are teenagers probably WeDo would not be the best choice for you.
The second factor is your budget. This solution is not cheap. Unless you already have the equipment that meets the system requirements, you will have to spend money not only on the Lego kits but also on devices with certain operative systems. And do not forget about the spare parts. Do your maths carefully. There are less expensive options.
Lastly, you must think about what you want to teach. Robotics is a set of disciplines. where hardware and software design are combined to achieve one goal. With Lego, your models can be built in little time, the different pieces allow you to design a good variety of systems and you can learn a lot about engineering. However, the software provided by Lego to program the models is not very versatile. It is possible to teach the foundations of computational thinking, but you will probably realise that the software is probably the weakness of the system. Perhaps combining Lego with Scratch could be a solution, but that topic will be discussed in another post.
In my case, I chose WeDo 2.0 because it has everything I needed. The product is very attractive, children love to experiment with it. They find it easy to build and the results are almost immediate. A child can build and program the first robot in half an hour.
The tool is versatile. The suggested models set the grounds for building more complex robots, and creative children will have many ideas that can be implemented.
In addition, the models do not need a physical connection to a computer, they can move freely around the room. Kids love this feature since it allows races, fights, and all sorts of scenes they can imagine.
But above all, the community fans that support the system will give you more and more ideas to bring to the classroom, so you are not tied to what the manufacturer or your creativity provide.
The mentioned reasons made me choose WeDo 2.0. Now it is your turn to decide whether it is for you or not. For further information, I recommend reading Lego WeDo 2.0 FAQs.
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