Happy Mother’s Day! Without moms, there wouldn’t be any future-ready kids poised to take on the world thanks to an all-encompassing STEM education. Just like mothers help them in life, EdTech helps kids grow in school and shapes them to be the learners that mom knows they can!
Robot Mom Builds Evolving Baby Bots
Since robots seem to be able to do everything else that we can, it should come as no surprise to those in the STEM education field that researchers have now programmed some robots to reproduce. While they’re not going out, getting married and exactly starting families of their own (yet), there have been strides made that have resulted in robots creating their own children. This kind of artificial evolution demonstrates just how far the robotics field has come and doesn’t exactly hint at any signs of it slowing down. The mothers are so smart (shocker) that, once they create their first generation of children, they can evaluate their offspring and select the best traits for their baby bots to live with.
Despite the relative infancy of this concept, mother robots have made great strides in further “populating” their robot communities. They’re able to build other robots by gluing together pieces, some of which are equipped with motors or other technologies. The mother robot then quickly determines how fast the resulting children could move, keeps its best designs and disassembles the rest on its own. As if that is not impressive enough, the mother robot is then able to apply what it has learned to the next design, creating a “baby” that will survive and thrive in the “wild.” It does this either by mutating the successful designs from the original model or integrating them into the less successful ones. Pretty cool, right?
Researchers are still learning themselves, but have offered a basic explanation for the reasons that robots are able to do this. Essentially, it amounts to natural selection being a cycle of reproduction, assessment and so on. That’s basically all that the robot is doing in this case and we can watch the improvements and modifications unfold right before our eyes. According to the scientists, it really works too. After the creations of a few generations, the robot children were running twice as fast as their “ancestors,” illustrating the finer principles of evolution truly going to work. Using real robots is the ideal way for scientists to show that this theory actually works and the implications for STEM education, technology careers and robotics in general are nothing if they are not completely fascinating.
Powerful Women in STEM
Think of the most powerful women you have known throughout your life. She is probably your mother—or at least a mother of someone. Most children won’t hesitate to answer when asked if they think their mother is powerful, but, recently, more and more women are making the shift to the science fields and displaying their strength in more ways than one. In fact, on Forbes’ latest list of the World’s Most Powerful Women, 18 of the Top 100 were women in STEM fields with the highest appearance coming in at No. 8!
It doesn’t say for sure, but we can assume that these powerful women (and mothers) didn’t get to where they are now by reading textbooks in school every day. They probably got up, went out and learned through experiences. Experiential learning is key to building the 21st century skills that kids need in order to thrive in this world and maybe someday see their own name on Forbes list. Especially for girls, it’s imperative that they engage in hands-on learning early and often and participate in afterschool and maker clubs to help refine these skills. As unfortunate as it is, there continues to be a gender bias in the most cutting-edge of STEM fields, so developing girls that are problem solvers who know how to make use of all available resources will go a long way in helping them chase their dreams of becoming influential members of the STEM world.
These women represent a variety of industries, but seem to share the common thread of being engrained in STEM fields. Since much of the world runs on and through technology, this should come as no surprise. With the proper background in early education and lots of support and encouragement from their moms, girls in school today have a lot going for them when it comes to achieving this kind of success of their own. The STEM fields are very much within their reach—they just may need a little bit of a push or an occasional dose of reassurance. So, kids, listen to your mom the next time she tells you to put away the video games—you could be making them instead.
How Parents Can Encourage Creativity Through Tech
Mothers are there to offer support, words of wisdom and tons and tons of experience-based advice whenever and wherever their kids need it. Whether it’s in sports, dance class or in school, they always seem to know just what to say to boost the spirits of their children. Can they encourage kids to be creative, though? It’s long been assumed that nobody can truly teach creativity—it can only be learned. Parents, like teachers, should allow students to exercise and develop their natural creativity every chance they can and maybe this will result in mothers imparting some of their creative genius onto their kids. If anyone can do it, it’s moms.
The reasons surrounding the need for creativity have certainly changed over time, but the perception of creativity among those in society is pretty much the same as it always has been. Those changes include a bit of a shift in the make-up of creative tools from crayons and paint brushes to robots and circuitry kits. Technology opens up many more possibilities for creativity than did the artistic tools of the past and parents have started to take notice. In a recent survey, most of the parents asked, however, admitted that they would not immediately think of incorporating technology into projects that were designed to showcase their child’s creativity. That’s funny—because kids are all about learning with tech through play.
Only about one in five parents responded that they would turn to technology to inspire and assist in their child’s creativity. Of those same parents, 42 percent knew the importance of their child’s science education, however, so that’s a good sign! If there’s one thing that moms (and all parents for that matter) continually agree on it’s that school curricula are becoming increasingly outdated and ineffective teaching methods are not adequately preparing their kids for the future. Moms do know best. For any tech-savvy mothers still looking for some awesome technology to help bring your child’s creativity to life, we invite you to check out Eduporium and explore the wonders of developing and tapping into that creativity you’re so proud your child has always had.
A Mother’s Role in 21st Century Learning
Parents are often called upon to make sure that their children are getting the most out of their education. Mothers, especially, are extremely capable of identifying the areas of their child’s education that are legitimately beneficial as well as those spots that could use some quick improvement. Since, for many students, parents are the key to inspiring and supporting lifelong learning, they need to be familiar with 21st century learning trends and technologies, like project-based learning, blended learning and maker education. As our world continues to become more complex, kids will always be able to turn to their mothers for guidance and that little boost of extra support.
All mothers want the best opportunities for their kids and, while they are in early elementary school, the best learning opportunities center on a well-rounded, hands-on, experiential STEM education. As children grow up, excel through high school and college and enter the real world, they will undoubtedly lean on the skills they began developing way back in elementary school. And, their mothers will proudly remind them that they were right about coding and programming skills being vital to their future success. In fact, oftentimes, preparing for the future involves doing more than just going to school. Kids need to develop “life” skills, like teamwork, curiosity and collaboration—things you can’t necessarily learn in a classroom.
If you can’t learn important skills from a textbook, how, then, are they taught? The best learners today learn from experience—and not just classroom experience. Real-world experience is key to developing future-ready children much earlier than is typical. Observing the actions of parents is one way to further the cause and shape 21st century citizens. While mothers may not be able to teach their kids every little thing about being globally aware, consuming content and being digitally savvy, they can exemplify the proper attitudes and creative curiosity that kids will need to thrive. You’d be wrong to think that kids don’t pick up on their parents’ small but significant daily actions. Remembering that they will need to be proficient at communicating, collaborating, creating and thinking critically is important and if children see their mothers doing all of these things—and doing them effectively—well, then they’re more future ready than they think.
Mother Knows Best
According to a recent article, many parents—led by passionate moms of course—believe that there is too much textbook learning going on in schools these days and not enough of the hands-on stuff. Basically, they are confirming a lot of the things that we already know. For instance, STEM subjects, specifically science, should be the focal point of modern-day education and there should be a lot more opportunities for kids to engage in experiential learning rather than reacting to paragraphs in a textbook. The best part is that, by and large, teachers generally agree with these progressive parents.
Parents, overall, have noticed and accepted much of the efforts that have been made in recent years to enhance STEM education through tech adoption programs and the addition of project-based curricula to their kids. Most parents are more than willing to contribute to the quest of establishing hands-on learning both at home and in school. Almost 90 percent of them even said that they would love to help their children with projects at home so long as they had access to the tools and resources needed to constitute a true 21st century learning experience.
That’s where it gets exciting—they do have access! Eduporium is home to academic discounts on hundreds of innovative technology products that extend, rather than impede, student creativity while consequentially building technical know-how. We know that seeking a modern education can be a tough financial burden sometimes. That’s why parents, teachers and students all qualify for academic discounts on EdTech tools. Moms, you definitely do know best—make sure to get the kids the tools they need to succeed in our tech-heavy world and, most importantly, have a safe and happy Mother’s Day!
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