Inservice sheet prepared by Mrs H N Huata for New Zealand teachers on using technology in Maths and language.

Roamer is a discus shaped robot that is about 15cm tall and has a diameter of 30cm. It is a computer and puts into 'real' action the world of LOGO. LOGO is a computer language that uses direction and distance measurement.

Roamer is simple enough for junior school and sophisticated enough for secondary school computer language programming. ie procedures.

Students invent, build, programme and test results. Roamer empowers them to explore, discover and build. It provides the means to introduce children as willing participants to the world of geometry, maths, design, technology and measurement.

- Taken from 'Teaching Learning for use across the curriculum.' Valiant Technology, United Kingdom.

Curriculum suggestion:

'Trees in the environment' • Make Roamer a tui who visits various trees to drink nectar and collect berries. • Roamer can be a bee who visits various plants to collect nectar and incidentally transfers pollen. • Make Roamer a bird who is busy collecting nest-building materials. • Make Roamer a mythical tree fairy who travels through a dense forest trying to reach the spring of well-being. • He tangata rongoa a Roamer. Ka kohia e ia i nga rongoa i te ngahere. • E haere ana a Maui ki te ana o tana tupuna. E whai ana ia te mura, te wheua ranei.

Basic instructions:

# Press CM twice to clear Roamer's memory of all previous instructions.(Roamer remembers steps so your instructions stack on top of the last set.(Until you press CM twice.))

# Prepare your layout or floor plan before using this with class.

# Always press a blue direction key and then a/some yellow length keys. Roamer will give a low pitched beep if it doesn't understand you.

Contact the person who sold you the Roamer to access further Roamer capabilities. NZ Computers in schools has an excellent article on using Roamer.