Tello Challenges from Italy with Mr. Torelli - Part 1

Hello, my name is Luigi Torelli, born in Milan, Italy, in 1950.

I have taught technology for more than 40 years during the digital revolution. Through many years of teaching and research, I have focused my work on computer coding, presenting it in a friendly way to develop problem solving skills and to help students gain a deep understanding of how programming functions.

My students have programmed with Logo to solve creative graphics problems, with spreadsheet and top down method to build algorithms and solve geometry problems, and with the code.org environment to play with their own intelligence. My favorite place, and the favorite of my students, has always been the computer lab.

After many years in the classroom I decided to transition only teaching coding and programming. I now continue to teach through collaboration with schools, companies and associations to create coding and droning courses.

I have proposed scratch courses and prepared paths that boys and girls have used to create digital games and simulations from the simplest to most complex of activities. I begin with guided methods until developing more and more autonomous projects to meet the needs of my learners.

What’s droning? During the last 3 years I have embarked upon a new activity that I have nicknamed "droning" (drone + coding)!

In “droning” I propose a given problem to boys and girls of all different ages, that declares to target a specific flight path or mission.

Navigators must use DroneBlocks or DroneBlocks Code to build their missions. These missions must command the drone to fly following the path and characteristics corresponding to the objective set within the given problem (such as when drawing up flight plans in airport control tower or in an aircraft cockpit).

Problems, objectives and missions advance, following one another along a progressive path in which the simplest skill progresses towards increasingly more complicated skills.