The end of March marks the beginning of March Madness for NCAA men’s and women’s basketball teams across the nation – the tournament where teams compete in a win to advance style until a champion is determined in the sixth round of games.
Morgan Elementary media center teacher, Marc Mirovsky, found inspiration from the tournament for when classes are with him for their special.
Mirovsky printed basketball courts with Morgan’s poster printer and brought out the schools’ Spheros – an orb robot that can be moved by the students autonomously via computer coding. Students were then split into teams of two and switched off playing offense and defense.
“The goal of the project is to have the students problem solve around the obstacles in front of them, coding distances and speeds,” Mirovsky said.
“They love it – they’re fired up.”
The activity was created to engage students in coding while learning interpersonal skills like how to work with others and problem solving.
“I really like driving the little robot around,” Morgan 4th grader Katie Dean said. “You want to steer it around without having it touch the guards to get in the basket.”
Mirovsky’s tournament will crown one team from each class as this year’s Mini March Madness champion.
