The Poetry Robot
16th January 15
The Poetry Robot is one of many inventions of the great American poet and pedagogist Dave Morice (AKA Dr. Alphabet). The students built the robot from old spare boxes in the college and is therefore a great example of recycling. The building and design of the robot, in the initial stages of the task, involved kinaesthetic learning (learning taking place by doing a physical activity).
Abbey College Manchester students worked as a team to make decisions on what shape the robot should take. In the subsequent weeks of the creative writing enrichment course students learned a number of writing techniques which enabled them to write poems on topics of their own choice, many of which reflect issues around being human and technology. The shape of the robot also encouraged students to think about shapes of poems and other typographical concerns such as font sizes, types and colours.
