MIT Challenge #2 in Primary – Self Driving Cars

In the second challenge of the year from MIT presented to our BSB students, the children are exploring self-driving cars.

During the Primary STEAM ASA, the students are completing a project in which they design an autonomous vehicle system for a model of a sustainable city – pulling together the students learning in STEAM and applying it to the UN Global Goals.

We began by looking at how self-driving cars can be applied to smaller situations like airports, parks, shopping malls and schools. The children applied the coding skills developed in their computing lessons to programme small robots called Ozobots. We thought about the decisions the robots would have to make in different situations. For example, how would the robot react when it came to a junction with another robot, or how it would react when approaching a pedestrian crossing with people?

We brainstormed ideas around making global cities more sustainable and agreed on ways in which to power our autonomous cars in a self-sustaining and environmentally friendly way.

Furthermore, the students have explored some of the safety and ethical issues around self-driving cars through creating curiosity webs and carrying out online research. Using Lego Mindstorms, the students even had a go at designing autonomous vehicles of their own.

Over the final few weeks of the term, the children will continue to work to complete their city design, which will be navigated autonomously by the robots the children have programmed.

Mr. Dan Smith

Deputy Head of Primary