CASTALIA RELEASES THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE VERSION OF OZOBLOCKLY, OZOBOT’S BLOCK PROGRAMMING TOOL

HIRAGANA VERSION AVAILABLE FOR EARLY SCHOOL YEAR CHILDREN AND FOR EASY USE AT HOME AND EDUCATIONAL SCENES

 

Castalia Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Tokyo, Japan) created the Japanese language version of Ozoblockly, which is a block programming tool for Ozobot, a micro-robot optimized for programming education.  The Japanese language version is available in two subversions: 日本語 and にほんご (both pronounced “Nihongo”).  The にほんご subversion uses hiragana, a phonetic syllabary system of the Japanese language, so that Ozoblockly would be easy to use for early school children.  The Japanese language versions are available by selecting 日本語 or にほんご at the language setting section of the English Ozoblockly.

 

[Ozobot]

Ozobot is a micro-robot developed by Evollve Inc. (headquarters: California, U.S.A.) in 2014.  It has a “line tracing” function with which the robot automatically moves by tracing the lines drawn on paper or tablet devices. “Ozocodes”, which are combinations of colors, give commands to Ozobots to “turn right” or “pause” to read and execute.

Ozobot: https://www.ozobot.jp/

 

[Ozoblockly]

Ozoblockly, developed and offered by Evollve Inc., is a free-of-charge block programming tool compatible with Ozobot.  By sending the program created by Ozoblockly to Ozobot by way of VLC (visible light communication), you can make your Ozobot move in the way you wish even without the lines to trace.  Ozoblockly activates with browsers and could be used on PCs (Windows/Mac) and tablets (iPad/Android), and you don’t have to change the settings of your school PCs and tablets.

 

[Ozoblockly Japanese Language Version]

- Besides the regular 日本語 subversion, the hiragana にほんご version is also available for early school year children.

- Each subversion has four levels: Novice, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced so that Ozoblockly can be used in accordance with the user’s developmental stage.

- When the user clicks a block, the Auto-Help function in both subversions provides its description, which allows the user in any elementary school grade teach himself/herself what the block is about upon proceeding with the study.

 

Ozoblockly Japanese language versions

http://ozoblockly.com/editor?lang=ja