Play Code Learn: Dinosaur Loops develops teachers and students understanding of computational thinking and digital technologies through practical activities and programming with augmented reality (AR).

Students deepen their learning journey by interacting with the unplugged kit, saving dinosaur eggs for the erupting volcano by instructing Explorer Ed the robot. Learners use a hands-on, play-based approach to grow their algorithmic thinking and understanding of computational thinking concepts. Once students have gained confidence writing efficient algorithms through repetitive commands and loops, they then use the ByteEd App to expand algorithmic thinking through programming (coding) and become creative with AR.

Key concepts covered in this kit

All the key concepts from Dinosaur Steps, plus…

Functions

Inputs / Outputs

Iteration

Efficiency

Pattern recognition

Prediction

Teaching Portal: Support for teachers

A range of resources have been created to support the teaching of this kits in the classroom, including:

Interactive Website

An interactive website with activities and resources explaining ‘how’ to teach computational thinking to your students and how to integrate use of the Dinosaur Kit series in both STEM subjects and other curriculum areas.

Challenge Activity Cards

Challenge activity cards: extension challenges that explore the main concepts of computational thinking for Dinosaur Loops, complete with answers explaining how each activity links to computational thinking.

Lesson Module

10-lesson unit of work (with 5 optional curriculum integrated extension lessons) to aid the teaching of computational thinking with students from age 4 to 8. Each lesson is supported with pre-prepared teaching slides and student handouts and resources.

Formative Assessment

Supporting printables for teachers and student assessment linked to curriculum.

Explorer Ed E-books

Downloadable ‘big readers’ for you to enjoy with your students. Can learners figure out where Explorer Ed will travel around the dinosaur land? Can Explorer Ed save the day?

3D Printing

Introduce the world of additive manufacture with these downloadable .stl files of the Loops dinosaurs and Explorer Ed! Comes with teaching slides, helpful hints for printing and teaching ideas with 3D models

3D Modelling Lesson

Would you like your students to learn how to create their own 3D CAD models for 3D printing? Follow a series of activities demonstrating how to use computational thinking to design and create creative 3D models.

Dino Fact Cards

Printable fact cards for the classroom – use as you wish – with a blank template for students to create their own fact card for a dinosaur of their choice.

Dinosaur Loops teacher testimonials

“The Dinosaur Loops kit is simple to use and very engaging for learners. It is easy for teachers to implement, with step by step, clear instructions, and you can feel confident no matter what your computational knowledge or experience is. The unplugged activities are a great way to develop learners’ curiosity and foundation knowledge into coding and the augmented reality aspect brings their creations to life and deepens their learning. It is an excellent kit, allowing learners to have creative, hands-on and meaningful learning experiences.”

Jessica Cooper

Year 5 & 6 Teacher, Shotover Primary School

“ByteEd’s Dinosaur Loops Kit is an exciting, engaging, educational tool that teaches ākonga [learners] the fundamentals of computational thinking and programming. The presentation of the resource with a mix of hands-on activities and Augmented Reality (AR) supports learning challenges where students have to problem solve, hypothesise, test and achieve success in both physical and digital formats. Have to confess I was hooked as much as the kids were!”

Sarah Graham

Principal, The Terrace School, Alexandra, New Zealand

“Quite a few students had been part of trialling ‘Dinosaur Steps’ [last year] and were excited to explore the more ‘grown up’ version of Dinosaur Loops. Students were working in small groups and it was fabulous to see the way they worked together and developed communication skills so that each could participate and contribute (Key Competencies right there!). Communicating ideas to each other and exploring ways to communicate through their interactions with the Dinosaur Loops resource was a key learning I noticed in this experience. Students needed to be agile in their thinking – changing, simplifying and reworking ideas and instructions as they found ways to reduce the ‘instructions’ in their ‘code’ through the use of loops and repeats. The Augmented Reality opportunity at the end was very exciting and was a fantastic way to finish the experience.

Lara Moss

Year 5 Team Leader, Remarkables Primary School, Queenstown, New Zealand

“We loved the Save the Dinosaurs game in our class. It is rare to have hands-on learning like this, that has students coding, but off their devices, communicating and problem solving with each other. The best learning came when I asked students who were familiar with the game to explain and lead students who were experiencing this for the first time. I found the use of correct vocab and giving clear instructions was of really good quality, and each student leader had different ways of using the game. Each group had a completely different experience. The app, with its animated features, is a great addition too!

Angela Thompson

Year 5 Classroom Teacher, Remarkables Primary School, Queenstown, New Zealand

Other kits in the Play Code Learn Dinosaur series

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