Blog 4: Technology Integration Models - Dot, Dash, and R.A.T.

 Dot, Dash, and R.A.T. 

Images Courtesy of Product Website (https://www.makewonder.com/)

As educators, we are always on the lookout for new ideas to keep our students engaged and working as active participants in their learning.  Sometimes it can seem like it is always a push for us to use technology to accomplish this and sometimes it can feel like we are just using it for the sake of using it and not because it is actually helping teachers or students.  My goal is to help you find technology that really works for you and your students.  I want all of your classroom tech to fit the R.A.T. model!  

Please allow me to explain.  R.A.T. is a framework to help us assess how  we are using technology in learning and help us to make informed decisions on how we choose to integrate it into our instruction.  R.A.T. stands for Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation.  I have included a helpful graphic below.  

CC-BY Rat Artwork by user Paleo-Beast-Emperor  

Today I would like to share with you a piece of technology hardware that I hope your students will love and we will take a look at some ways we can use it that incorporate the R.A.T framework..I am so excited to introduce you to my friends, Dash and Dot.  Although they’re a little sassy at times, I hope that they will be new friends to you and your students very soon!  These two robots are so much fun that your students will not even realize that they are learning.  Dash and Dot are a great way to integrate STEM across the curriculum.  While they are recommended primarily for K-8 (which will be the focus of my post) I cannot imagine a high school class that wouldn’t have fun solving some of the puzzles. Sometimes it is easy to forget that the big kids are still kids and they like to play, too, even if they do not readily admit it.  Once the package is purchased, students can use the apps on their one to one device or a class set of Chromebooks, iPads, tablets, etc.

Dot and Dash ready to be programmed to play the Xylophone 

Texas State Library and Archives Commission from Austin, TX, United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Replacement 

You can easily use Dot and Dash to replace a worksheet / lecture with hands-on learning. When your school purchase the cross curricular package, there is a bank of standards aligned lessons by subject where you can replace what is traditionally taught in a low tech / no tech manner with hands-on, stem infused Dot and Dash programming.  Although this is behind a paywall, there are lots of demos out there on how to use Dot and Dash in different kinds of lessons. 

For example,  Wonder Workshop’s guest blogger Jasmine Saab shares some lessons she created to use Dot & Dash in the follow subjects / lessons that are not traditionally taught using technology.  Below I have listed the ways she uses Dot and Dash but I am also linking her column because she elaborates on each of these and also offers free PDF downloads of each lesson plan.  

Jasmine Saab's Guest Blog Post - How To Use Dot and Dash Across Curriculum

• Math - multiplication tables

• ELA - Point of View and Perspectives using The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka

• Science - Dash-Tronaut traveling through the solar system

• Social Studies - recreating the battle of bunker hill 

In each of the lessons, Saab uses Dot and Dash to replace what might be traditionally taught without technology.  By doing so, she engages the students and also infuses STEM and critical thinking skills.

Amplification

Dot and Dash could also meet the criteria of amplification because of the ease of modifying the assignments in the future (as described in the paper Assessing Technology Integration: The RAT – Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation - Framework by Dr. Joan Hughes, et. al.).  

Another way that Dot and Dash can help amplify instructional practices is the fact that Dot and Dash and the apps they work with, Wonder and Blockly, are all capable of changing to several languages besides English.  This allows us to amplify the instruction by making it more inclusive to our English Language Learners. 

I believe that by integrating multiple methods of instruction, including technology, we are being more effective because we are reaching more students.  Part of the criteria for amplification is increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.  In her blog, Ms. Saab provides lesson plans on how to use Dot and Dash to work on multiplication.  For some students, especially those with ADHD, having a hands-on way to reinforce the content might mean the difference between the student mastering the content and zoning out completely.

Transformation

As Dr. Hughes points out, the least often achieved component of the R.A.T. model is transformation. The transformation component involves changing learning, instruction, or curriculum by using technology (Hughes, 2006).  

I believe that Dot and Dash may be a way that teachers can use technology to transform learning in lots of different areas.  For example, let’s use Ms. Saab’s lesson of using Dot and Dash to re-enact the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Teachers have taught about this battle for as long as we have been teaching American History, but using robots as re-enactors?  That is something completely different and transforms the experience.  The standards and learning goal don’t change, but it is a completely new and different way to learn about the battle.  

Transformation can also mean new opportunities for learning through problem solving.  By using Dot and Dash to infuse coding and STEM into subjects such as ELA and History, students are presented with opportunities to problem solve in such a way that wouldn’t normally be incorporated into that subject using traditional curriculum.

Final Thoughts:

I strongly believe that Dot and Dash will allow you to incorporate technology more effectively and can be used to meet criteria under all three areas of R.A.T. framework.  I have included some resources below to help you get started using Dot and Dash in your classroom. 

Blogs and Website Tutorials:

Jasmine Saab's Guest Blog Post - How To Use Dot and Dash Across Curriculum

Make Wonder Website

Modern Teaching Blog: Dot and Dash in the Classroom

Lakehead University - Getting Started with Dot and Dash and Dot and Dash in the Classroom

Best Robots for Elementary Schools

Video Tutorials 

Getting Started with Dot and Dash 

Dash Robot Discovery Kit Tutorial 

Dot and Dash Robotics Training: Setting Up The Classroom 

Do you plan to use Dot and Dash?  Are there other robotics sets you like better for K-12 integration?  Let me know in the comments! 

References: 

Hughes, J. (2006). Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation: The R.A.T. Model. Retrieved from Tech Edges: https://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/

Hughes, J., Thomas, R., & Scharber, C. (2006). Assessing Technology Integration: The RAT – Replacement, Amplification, and Transformation - Framework. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education - SITE, (pp. 1616-1620). Orlando. Retrieved from http://techedges.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Hughes_ScharberSITE2006.pdf

Saab, J. (2020, February 5). Guest Post - Using Dash, Dot and Cue Across All Curricular Areas. Retrieved from Wonder Workshop : https://www.makewonder.com/blog/guest-post-using-dash-dot-and-cue-across-all-curricular-areas/