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Attention: Australian robotics teachers

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Australian robotics teachers - You are invited to participate in SmartBots!

SmartBots is an online robotics extension program for middle school students (aged 10 to 14 years).

This successful initiative ran for the first time in Tasmania in 2007, and was the result of collaboration between the federally funded SiMERR project (Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia) and CELO (The Tasmanian Department of Education’s Centre for Extended Learning Opportunities), and is now also supported by LEGO Education.

SmartBots provides teams of students with the opportunity to work through weekly lesson plans using LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics kits. The program provides an excellent demonstration of introducing a transformative Information and Communications Technology subject into rural & remote schools where local staff had little or no prior experience of this content.

Following the success of SmartBots in Tasmania, we're now keen to trial SmartBots clusters in other areas of Australia. If you are an enthusiatic teacher of robotics (you know who you are!), and are interested in helping other teachers in your region develop robotics programs, please let me know.

Rob
(Online Delivery Teacher, SmartBots Tasmania)

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