Teaching the teachers: A Discovery Group at Eagle Heights explores coding — and how to teach it to others

Learning a new skill can be challenging. Teaching someone else a new skill? That’s another skill in itself! Eagle Heights fifth graders got to experience this firsthand in May when a Discovery Group led by Kelsey Kelzer invited staff from around the building to learn about coding — straight from the students themselves.

Kelzer’s Discovery Group had been focused on technology, specifically “Kaibots,” small, cube-shaped robots that can be programmed to perform specific movements and tasks. Kaibots work by scanning cards that act as commands for the tiny robots, such as “turn in a circle” or “travel to a predetermined location,” and numbered cards could be added to direct the Kaibots to perform their tasks any number of times. “I was just a guide,” said Kelzer, looking out over the room of students teaching their teachers about Kaibots one Thursday after school. She had learned most of what she knew about the robots from her students, who had shown a strong, independent initiative to explore the new technology and understand how it worked. “They are teaching other teachers [today], but they are the ones who taught me, too. So it was truly a discovery class.”

At one table, Pathways Program Coordinator Ethan Dado sat and learned from a group of three students who had decided to demonstrate how the Kaibot could turn in a circle 88 times. One of the students, fifth grader Eli Fry, was scanning cards with the Kaibot. “Just have fun with it,” he said, describing what he’d learned that day about teaching. As Dado asked questions, the students jumped in to explain what they knew about the technology. On the table was a “Kaibot Teacher Training Outline” they could refer to, including suggestions like “greet participants and introduce yourselves,” “demonstrate basic movements” and “invite teachers to ask questions.” For the Discovery Group, the opportunity to teach a skill was just as significant to their learning as exploring the Kaibots. “It’s really fun teaching a teacher that’s taught you,” said fifth grader Jocelyn Wild.

For some of the fifth graders, this was an opportunity to prepare for the Inspired Journey Summit, a science fair-like celebration of learning which took place at Eden Prairie High School on May 22. There, the participating students would share Kaibots with other staff, students and community members, making the teach-the-teachers session all the more useful. Though Jocelyn wasn’t able to participate in the Summit, that Thursday afternoon in the Eagle Heights classroom was still extremely valuable. For half an hour, she passionately demonstrated the Kaibots to her teachers, speaking almost entirely in Spanish, which was not only a great way to practice the language but also an experience that taught her confidence and how to be a better communicator. “[It was] a fun learning opportunity for a lot of kids,” she said as the afternoon came to a close.

The day was both fun and productive. Teachers left the classroom with a new idea for future Discovery Groups, and students came full circle in their experience of exploring, and then teaching, a new skill. It was another example of Pathways programming inspiring real-world applications of classroom learning — and students embracing it.