Plenty of kids love playing and experimenting with anything that has a technology component. A great deal of them even enjoy tinkering with robotics. Lately, with the Maker Movement gaining so much steam and the fact that there is an increased interest in learning with technology, robotics and robotic technology have found a home in K-12 schools. It's popular, progressive and extremely pertinent—plus something that students authentically love to do.
Robotics in the Elementary Grades
If you think you’ve seen kids get excited about learning, you probably haven’t seen the full extent of excitement until you’ve seen robots make their way into the classroom. Teachers can discuss the ideas of learning with robotics with their students, but when it comes time to actually unleash their potential in the classroom, students will not be able to contain themselves. In many schools, teachers spend a whole school year getting comfortable with robotics themselves and warming children up to the idea that the following year they will actually be learning with them. This is especially true at the elementary level with the delay not so much being meant to build suspense and anticipation but to fully prepare students for a brand new approach to learning.
One of the reasons that elementary schools tend to jump at the opportunity to launch robotics programs is their simplicity. Kids can learn about robotics and other STEM concepts with tools that are no more complex than the smartphones they see every single day. There are also formal and informal competitions that students can participate in that help build a sense of community while they learn a variety of skills from getting hands-on with robotics. Among the skills they learn are the ability to work as a team and the ability to identify and locate different kinds of robotic systems. The competition aspect is especially beneficial for younger kids as administrators can foster the sense of community to launch programs kids can take part in for years to come. And, when implemented district wide, robotics programs give school systems a workable foundation to introduce kids to this discipline.
Robotics clubs are yet another way for schools to bolster their STEM initiatives in a meaningful way. Despite the simplicity of many robotics tools, kids are still exposed to core concepts and able to learn science in an interactive way, which we must say is quite popular. Unsurprisingly, kids get in the classroom and, as soon as they start working with robots, become inspired. Not only are their brains turning with ideas for classroom activities, but teachers will tell you that many students begin thinking of ways in which they can actually use these skills in the future. With robotics, every day is a new challenge, but, more importantly, they are challenges that kids do not want to miss. There is nothing wrong with a robotics curriculum in the early grades, due mostly to the fact that there are now robotics tools for everyone.
Valuable Failure Through Robotics
So much of education is experimenting with student preferences and the things that help them engage fully in the lessons and what meshes well with their individual personalities. Another big component of learning in the 21st century is failure. Yes, failure. Especially in robotics programs and clubs, failure is everywhere. To fail is no longer something that students should be afraid of. In fact, it’s now widely encouraged. Failing is just a student’s First Attempt In Learning. And, robotics is one popular area of STEM education in which hands-on learning is constant and failure is helpful.
The first time students stay after school and construct a maze for a cool little robot to navigate will, in all likelihood, not go as well as the fourth time…or the 12th time. The first time around, there will probably be a lot of crashing, stopping and starting, and even a bit of frustration among the kids involved. But, they’re learning. And, robotics tools help them learn from their mistakes. While they may not quite grasp exactly what they are supposed to do, they have learned a lot about where they need to improve and some specific things they should avoid doing as well. On top of that, many of the best educational robots involve beginner forms of programming—something that kids will need to learn and something else that’s valuable even in failure.
Could elementary education find a way to incorporate this valuable failure on more of a regular basis? Thanks to technology and robotics, in particular, it certainly can. The value of children possessing STEM skills is something we cannot quantitatively measure, but we know that they will be indispensible in the future. The future economy is hands-on. It’s solving problems, making quick decisions and using creativity to succeed. Robotics programs in elementary and middle school enable kids to develop these skills and learn core concepts that even align with educational standards. Whether it’s a couple of hours per week playing with a bite-sized bot or schools that make robotics a regular part of the curriculum, the students who take part will grow up prepared, responsible and grateful.
Robotics Helps Inspire Future Inventors
in the classroom and during the school day, an extra robotics class or two can be extremely beneficial for students who are looking to explore the area and have an interest in STEM education. After school, however, when there are fewer time and curriculum restraints, robotics may just have even greater potential. STEM companies have even helped launch these afterschool clubs, which are oftentimes exceptional at teaching kids important skills, like coding. One program in particular offered a $10,000 prize to the district that got the most students involved in their robotics club. With schools constantly in need of saving money but also in need of providing kids with real-world learning opportunities, these kinds of programs often allow schools some flexibility.
Robotics are a new team sport that provides kids with the chance to learn new skills and develop an appreciation for what it’s like to accomplish tasks as part of a team. More importantly, these kids, who are most likely just starting out, do not need to have any coding experience or knowledge of robotics in general. The learning comes from doing. Kids also create and become a part of a community of future innovators, something that the robotics world strongly encourages among children. These kinds of clubs promote active learning, problem solving and 21st century skills while rewarding creativity as students build meaningful relationships with peers and new technology tools. Most importantly, kids are able to have fun while they explore the areas of STEM that they need to know.
Going further down the list of the benefits of robotics clubs, we get to the age factor. You’ll be happy to know that there is absolutely no age restriction at all. Kids as young as six and as old as 18 can participate and learn something important in the process. They will learn how to work as part of a team and understand how coming together to achieve a goal works in the real world. By developing their own innovative ideas, students who participate in robotics clubs are mimicking the challenges they will soon be paid to solve. Robotics gives them the chance to practice some of the key things they will need to know, like coding, and helps them see how they will actually use it. By giving kids the option of joining a movement so influential rather than requiring it, teachers and schools can legitimately position them for some real-world success!
Kids Compete With Their Minds…And Robots
Robotics competitions help kids exercise their minds, flaunt their creativity and celebrate advancements in science, technology and more. Since these tools make learning fun, robotics education is often met with a larger-then-normal amount of enthusiasm from children because it’s exceptional at providing fun ways to learn. Teachers are often struggling to engage students in meaningful learning that’s both useful and aligned with the modern world. While there are benefits for kids playing with robots, the real advances come when they realize what they are doing and realize they can apply it in the real world.
Beyond engaging students in something that’s fun, robotics activities have educational significance as well. When teachers give students a problem to solve and a specific set of tools they can use, it tremendously tests their creativity. By building robots—a lot of the time—from scratch, kids are learning the process that goes into design instead of just how to use these tools. Robotics programs encourage and enable kids to develop solutions—a lot of which they are inventing themselves—to real-world problems. All kids want to compete and even in an area like robotics, it pushes them to use their skills to create something that’s innovative and usable.
When kids realize that they can push themselves intellectually and creatively with robotics and other technology tools, the appeal of them skyrockets. Perhaps for the first time, science is appealing to kids as much as sports. The competition aspect is definitely playing a role in attracting children to participate in something that’s fun now as well as beneficial now—and later. Robotic competitions also afford kids with the opportunities to work with mentors—perhaps even from STEM fields—to learn the value of having technology skills in modern society. The enjoyment kids get out of building robots is something that their teachers can clearly see, but it’s the beneath-the-surface skills that are much more useful in determining the success they will have in the future.
Robotics: Something that Truly Jumpstarts Learning
If you haven’t seen a modern robot lately, they’re pretty cool these days. They are programmable, they help kids learn coding, and they even find their own ways into classrooms—by walking. They are regularly inspiring student interest in science, technology, and even engineering with so many possibilities for learning. The things that robots can teach kids nowadays are astounding and keep increasing as students get older. Some incorporate hands-on building with tools like LEGOs and others incorporate computer programs to get kids programming and controlling movements. In both cases, we’re really just getting started.
Robots can certainly teach students important skills, but the latest idea is developing robots that students can actually teach themselves. While this notion is still very much in development, it’s exciting to think about the possibilities that lie ahead. For now, robots are being used to teach kids anything from design to coding. At this time, students can train robots to perform stunts and execute specific actions when they are prompted by external cues. Some even perform actions when they see and recognize students' faces. The technology is certainly there to start providing kids with an extremely beneficial education. Fortunately, a lot of teachers are catching on to the relevance of robotics, but knowing where to start is a battle for others.
Creating an effective robotics program for students can sometimes be a challenge, especially for educators who are unfamiliar with where to start and with what products to use. Fortunately, the tools are simple and widely available. Costs can be minimized and students can be attracted. More often than not, robotics programs are born when three or four students and a faculty member start them and word spreads. If you don’t believe us, we encourage you to give it a try in your school and see how long it takes those three of four students to grow into 30 or 40. It doesn’t even take very much to get students learning life lessons. The benefits can be astronomical.
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