CEDARVILLE — Students at Cedarville Elementary School have spent several weeks studying coding and on Thursday they showed off what they learned.
Under the guidance of teacher Justin Richardson, the second, third, and fourth graders competed for grade-level championships by using an app to program robots to perform various challenges. They began with classroom work and practice in the hallways before competing for class championships, and ultimately Thursday’s grand finale in the elementary school gym.
“With each round, the challenge course has been much more complex, ending with the championship course which was the largest and most complex,” Richardson said. “In the first two challenges the winners were determined by the team that completed all the tasks while staying within the boundaries. The championship challenge was a little different in that the team that made it the farthest and finished with the fastest time was the winner. They were penalized and had time added to their final time by running into cones or not completing tasks.”
The students enjoyed the challenge of learning to maneuver the robots and the friendly rivalries that came with it.
“I didn’t really know any of it,” said fourth grader Catherine Mossing. “It was fun to try it out, have a little fun with it. I kind of liked the competition of it.”
Mossing also liked how the challenges changed each round.
“We didn’t have to do the same thing,” she said.
Fourth grader Magnus Rodgers had some experience with coding, but working as part of a team was something new.
“I have a robot at home that I play with but you don’t use a tablet, you use a watch,” he said. “It was challenging but also fun at the same time because you have to work together as a team. It’s fun to let other people do things as well.”
The fourth grade champions were Hudson Hardy, Addie Pyles, Kaitlyn Curry, and Brady Reed from Ashley Fisher’s class. The second place team consisted of Joe Arrigo, Cam Durst, Isabella Cook, and Tait Franz from Sheryl Zaage’s class.
Third grade champions were Anna Koning, Drenna Goins, Avery Walker, and Jaxson Lohr from Roxy Huck’s class. In second place were Emma Collins, Elias Foerch, Miles Becknell, and Ally Hawkins from Kelsey Heck’s class.
The second grade champions were Delaney Spracklen, Katie Stevenson, and Julia Wonders, and Remmington Barr from Liz Zappe’s class. Finishing second were Mason Gillough, Harper Smith, and Cooper Howard from Brian DeHoff’s class.
