While many think of high school students engaged in mechanical engineering or robotics competitions when they hear the word “robotics,” the subject naturally lends itself to learners of all ages—including very young students.

In this episode of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan, you’ll hear from Jason Innes, Director of Curriculum, Training and Product Management at KinderLab Robotics, Inc., discuss why robotics is an excellent way to introduce young learners to coding, computational thinking, and design principles.

Engineering is a critical part of STEM education, and engineers play a role in creating, improving, and maintaining some of today’s most valued and essential things, from smartphones and airplanes to zippers and roller coasters.

This year, Engineers Week celebrates “Creating the Future,” and it emphasizes the vital role engineers play in creating innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems and biggest challenges. Highlighting engineering also encourages students to pursue engineering classes and, potentially, engineering career paths.

When students become interested in STEM at a young age, their critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills have a chance to thrive. Sustaining that interest is important, too, particularly because girls and underrepresented minority groups quickly lose interest in STEM learning–and never regain motivation to pursue it.

Because STEM is not a standalone, core academic subject, it’s implemented differently all over the country. Ultimately, through STEM learning, students should have the opportunity authentically apply their learning to solve real-world problems.

STEM is often introduced in middle and high schools, but by that time, many students have already avoided it, said Jason McKenna, director of Global Educational Strategy at VEX Robotics and author of What STEM Can Do for Your Classroom: Improving Student Problem Solving, Collaboration, and Engagement, Grades K–6.

Early STEM exposure–and successes or failures in STEM learning–can often make or break a child’s willingness to participate in STEM learning. Educational robotics can turn this downward trend around by incorporating all aspects of STEM in an engaging way that helps students reach success in problem-based learning challenges early on. This motivates students to tackle more difficult challenges.

“Students as young as 6 and 7 form an opinion about their proficiency in STEM subjects, and once that opinion is formed, it becomes very difficult to change,” he said. “Our job is to arm teachers with tools so they can introduce young students to authentic, engaging, fun activities. Now students can see themselves as someone in a STEM field–now they have the capability to do one of these STEM subjects.”

Amid the havoc that the pandemic wreaked on our lives, there were important lessons to be learned. It proved that people skilled with technology could navigate and succeed, and that many of the potential problems of the future could be solved by technology.

Many institutions and people who embraced technology survived–and in some cases, thrived.  But for those without digital skills or access to a computer and an internet connection, it was a very different story.

During the pandemic, the term ‘homework gap’ was used to describe children without reliable or any access to the internet and appropriate digital devices and who were unable to complete their assignments. At the beginning of the pandemic, an estimated 15 million public school students in the US lacked the connectivity needed for online learning. This gap was especially pronounced in low-income, Black, and Hispanic households. As nearly every school adopted some form of online learning, students without computers and connectivity suffered. Schools worked hard to address this situation, but for others, they could only watch their students struggle and fall behind.

In an increasingly digital world, not having technology skills can drastically reduce your options in life. Computer science has the potential to level this playing field and prepare students for the future.  While the easiest entry point for schools is offering programming classes, the subject encompasses a wide range of areas. We use Computer science to visualize and analyze data, design, and develop complex, yet intuitive, visual interfaces for digital tools. Ultimately, we approach the problems and ideas of life with a mind honed for computational thought; decomposing ideas into smaller steps, thinking about the problem in both specific and general forms, looking for and simplifying patterns, and ultimately creating a dynamic solution.

It seems incredible that in this context, teachers like me are still having to fight to teach computer science in their schools. It remains a subject that only half of high schools teach and just 5 percent of students study.

There are complex reasons for this. Because computer science is not mandatory in the vast majority of US states (required in only five), it demands teachers who are already passionate and educated in the subject to advocate that coding classes be taught. Not all teachers are comfortable teaching computer science if they don’t have the skills themselves. Finally, affordability is a major barrier. Between software licences and acquiring the proper hardware, teaching computer science can be very expensive. 

These challenges are real, but they are not insurmountable. Indeed, our education system has no choice but to adapt. I often tell my students, “I’m not preparing you to solve the opportunities of today, I’m helping you prepare to solve the unimaginable opportunities of your tomorrow.” If we want to build the technically skilled workforce that the future demands and prepare young people to succeed, technology skills must be a top priority.

In my local Connecticut, schools are answering the call.  Today, the Connecticut Computer Science Dashboard states 92 percent of Connecticut students have access to computer science courses or curricular learning opportunities and 88 percent of Connecticut districts are offering some form of computer science course.

Despite the availability of courses, only 12 percent of Connecticut students are taking them. We needed to make computer science accessible and appealing for everyone.

Teaching through game design

Like other CSTA chapters, CSTA Connecticut was established as a local computer science community. We work to connect computer science teachers, provide professional development, and share the latest best practices in K-12 computer science education.

To entice students into trying computer science, we worked with our schools to widen the range of courses available. Being a lifelong player of games, both board and electronic, I wanted to create a video game class. We now run two courses: ‘Introduction to game design’ and ‘Advanced game design.’ The first one is decidedly a ‘platformer’ course, where every student is required to figure out how to build a traditional ‘platform’ game in Construct 3. The advanced course, however, is organized like a real-world game studio. Each student chooses a role such as coder, artist, musician, game designer and producer. The game teams then work together to create whatever style of game that each team collectively chooses to make.

This intuitive way to approach game development is proving to be exceedingly beneficial to students with special educational needs and to multi-language learners. Construct 3 is simple enough for learners who are newer to coding, but holds greater functionality for advanced courses, allowing students to develop at their own speed, and to go far.

Inclusion

In 2022, only 24 percent of Connecticut students participating in a computer science course identified as female.  Additionally, just 11 percent Identified as Black, 19 percent Hispanic, and 0.1 percent were Native American.

Students from underrepresented backgrounds need extra encouragement to try computer science and reap equal benefits from computing skills. Dispelling stereotypes has proven essential, as many students, especially girls, still believe that computer science ‘isn’t for them,’ ‘that’s for boys,’ or because ‘it’s too hard’ and ‘only involves sitting at a computer screen.’

Once students learn that computer science can also lead to a career in things like entrepreneurship, automotive design, healthcare, music journalism, fashion, or sports analysis, they may be more receptive to the career opportunities that come with computer science and offer them an escape from their current reality. Because these career opportunities are so wide, computer science can and should support greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. With the right skills, any student could almost walk out of school and into a highly lucrative career.

Introducing teachers to computer science

Considering the limited definition of computer science and its largely optional status, schools depend on teachers who are personally interested in coding. The competence of the untrained computer science teachers in our state was remarkable, and I wanted to help them take their courses to the next level. Exploring options for game development, I found Construct 3 to be the clear winner. Its intuitive user interface combines both block-based and text-based programming, so students can switch between the two as they progress. This makes it ideal for both students who have never seen a line of code and highly competent developers in upper high school grades. Its intuitive functionality means that teachers with no prior experience can also jump in and work with the students.

Digital divide

Our computer science courses needed to be accessible to all students, including those without connectivity or a sophisticated device. We’ve been able to bridge this digital divide by seeking an accessible platform: Construct 3 can be downloaded for use offline and can run on inexpensive Chromebooks. This helps eliminate the homework gap by giving every student the opportunity develop their skills, irrespective of their household income.

Organizations

Organizations such as the National Center for Women in Technology and our own local higher education institutions are also closing these opportunity gaps through various scholarships and affordable courses.

In addition to formal academic training, many schools and libraries will be have hosted an ‘Hour of Code’ during National Computer Science Education week from December 5th. These fun and casual events give children a taste of being creative with technology. Websites like Code.org will hosted free online coding challenges and CyberStart America ran a free online cybersecurity competition for high school aged students.  Our own Lt. Governor’s Computing challenge offers many levels of entry for grades 3 through 12. Participating in an Hour of Code or online competition is a brilliant way for schools to test the waters of what a computer science course can look like.

Inequality in the US will not disappear overnight. To bridge the ‘homework gap’ and give disadvantaged students an equal opportunity for success in the modern world, schools must be able to teach them computer science. Every student should finish the school knowing not just how to consume with technology, but also how to create with it. By showing students the joy of mastering tech and programming, they will enter adulthood hungry, and ready to seize all the opportunities of the digital revolution.

Related:
How we created a computer science curriculum in 5 steps
How one educator made computer science a “must” during COVID

Coding is a necessary skill in today’s world, but it is relatively challenging to master, especially for kids. Its complexity is not necessarily because it is incomprehensible, but because it is a new concept for most students. This is especially the case for students in inner-city schools where technology is inevitably scarce due to systemic factors beyond the students’ control.

With numerous programming languages available, it can take time to pick a starting point. Educators have found a solution to this problem: gamification. Platforms like CoderZ offer virtual programming services where children can learn code through games. These games make learning code both fun and engaging for kids.

Through the CoderZ Robotics curriculum, kids learn to create, manage, and communicate with cyber robots in a virtual setting by inputting code. Block code is used because it is easier for children to understand and execute instead of complex text-based code. Learning is more accessible because virtual robots do not require hardware, space, or other associated costs.

I used the CoderZ League platform to help my students develop basic coding skills as they played their way through entertaining bite-sized missions. Once I saw how they possessed both drive and tenacity, they participated in a virtual robotics competition–the Fall 2022 CoderZ League Robotics Competition. The competition involved simple and complex tasks completed by the robot that the students programmed, such as direction of movement and angles of rotation to instruct the robot on how it should move to complete its mission.

Some of the missions the students completed during this competition:

• Robogolf – Students had to push golf balls into the golf holes. They used protractors in an applied setting to measure the angle the robot had to turn, and measured the distance to determine how far the robot had to move. The angular- and distance-value derived were not always whole numbers. Nonetheless, they had to beat a timer as well, which added to the complexity.
• Disco Blocks – Students had to get their robot to a target. They had to compute by adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. The path they chose determined whether or not they would score as high as possible.
• Maze Madness – Students measured the distance the robot needed to move before it could turn to reach its target. This mission was challenging as the distance was not always a whole number. The value might have been a decimal, which was perfect because we started the school year off learning about decimals in 5^th grade. As such, integrating robotics and coding supplemented the standards-based instruction that was already occurring in my classroom and enabled students to apply the content. Nonetheless, students were exposed to content pertaining to the end-of-year standard of measurement because they needed to measure the distance or angle the robot had to travel. Consequently, on a recent benchmark assessment, students made significant growth within that domain, which is typically seen at the end of the school year after that unit is taught.

Applications

CoderZ League Robotics is founded on using block-based code and game-missions to engage and teach children about programming. Grounded in STEM, these exercises help kids develop computational thinking and technical ability, which improves their real-world problem-solving skills. Students must adapt to complete further missions and challenges, thereby strengthening their resolve and developing skills they can use beyond the classroom setting.

In particular, the CoderZ platform offers a complete curriculum for programming cyber robots. Educators who wish to teach coding can do so even if they are not skilled in programming or robotics. All they have to do is follow the curriculum and learn with their students. However, this is also limiting because educators cannot create new challenges for students to complete. They must stick to what is provided on the platform. Nevertheless, it is an engaging experience that helps introduce children to complex concepts in a fun way.

Programming: Efficiency, Automation, Replicable Actions

I found the CoderZ virtual robotics program to be an excellent teaching tool due to its carefully curated platform. A high-quality program should contain features that enhance its efficiency, automation, and replicable actions.

Related:
6 tools to help kids learn coding and robotics
This teacher uses story coding to spark creativity and collaboration

This program fulfills these criteria in the following ways.

• Efficiency – Code efficiency refers to the dependability, speed, and programming technique used to develop an application’s code. It is the most critical factor in ensuring peak performance as it minimizes resource consumption and completion time. On CoderZ, any changes to the code are reflected immediately on the simulation pane. This gives the students instant feedback on their projects.
  
• Automation – Automation uses technology to complete tasks with as little human interaction as possible. In computing, it is typically accomplished through a program, a script, or batch processing. Students learn automation on CoderZ as they can input code that operates the virtual robots without further manipulation.  Automation simplifies the processes, making it easier for the machine to complete repetitive tasks.
  
• Replicable actions – This term defines a sequence of actions that enables the efficient use of limited resources while reducing unwanted variation during program development and execution. CoderZ achieves this by color-coding its command-blocks making it easier for kids to identify patterns in the code. This differentiation enables inclusion among diverse learners (i.e., students with special needs, English Language Learners, etc.).  Replicating tasks using code helps students understand the basis of the simulated action, as they can match parts of the program with the actions they produce.

Block-Based versus Traditional Text-based Programming

In the past, programming involved using a mouse and keyboard to type out text-based code. This can be complex for children, especially when it comes to internalizing syntax. These are the rules that define the structure of a programming language.  Furthermore, traditional input can make programming abstract and challenging for young students who benefit from visual and auditory learning.

Block-based coding has emerged as a tool to introduce students to coding. It allows them to explore these concepts in a friendly environment. These systems use colorful, draggable blocks that simulate coded language. Students choose functions from color-coded categories and combine them in a canvas work area to create a sequenced program. The benefit of block programming applications or websites is that the categories are clearly defined. There are blocks for adding specific functions, such as movement, control, and other variables.

However, block-based programming is only useful to a point. Once students are comfortable with block-based code, it is crucial to introduce them to text-based code. While block-based code is fun and engaging, text-based programming languages have real-life applications in computer science.  Educators should let students experience both block-based and text-based coding. When students are ready, they should transition from blocks to text, as text-based code for projects will be the most marketable in the industry.

Other Lessons Learned

The CoderZ virtual robot competition is effective in helping students with STEM learning. However, I was surprised that the program also taught my students practical life-skills as well. They include:

1. Teamwork – The kids worked together to ensure they selected the correct functions for each mission to win. It involved collaborating to figure out the most efficient way to program the robot to complete the missions. The competition cultivated teamwork, which can apply to other activities both inside and outside the classroom as well as ultimately in the workplace.
   
2. Resilience – The missions were not always successful the first time or the way to program the robot was not always straightforward due to time-constraints or terrain, so the kids had to learn how to deal with frustration throughout this competition. In such instances, students had to revise the code as many times as necessary to get it working right. Frustration is a problem they will face when using language-based code because a minor syntax error invalidates the entire code. They are bound to face discouraging moments while learning and in life. This skill strengthened their resilience to such frustration.
   
3. Relationship Building – I built relationships with the kids by leveraging tech, which kids love, and talking about non-school things in this casual setting (i.e., not school or academic). This helps develop the whole child. It also leads to kids wanting to understand complex mathematical concepts like decimal-numbers, angles, patterns, and measurement because they feel as though they are in a safe environment where they can take risks. The notion of “it takes a village” was apparent because of the direct and indirect support from various administrators: Dr. Herbert Blackmon (Principal), Dr. Taylor Greene (Assistant Principal), Minnie Lawson-Cook (Technology Coordinator), Flora Maria Echols (Instructional Coach), Dr. Mark Sullivan (Superintendent), Dr. Gwendolyn Tilghman (Instructional Superintendent), and Dr. Marsha Savage (Learning Operations Specialist).

Next Steps

Now that the months of hard work and the competition has concluded, members of the school and greater community are trying to raise funds for the teams to visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I hope the experience and opportunity will not only broaden their level of exposure, but will continue to encourage them to excel academically and to engage within the field of STEM.

When coding merges with storytelling, you have story coding, in which students use computational skills and design thinking as they demonstrate creativity across core curricular areas.

During an ISTELive 22 virtual session, computer science, robotics, and design thinking educator Paige Besthoff demonstrated how story coding–combining storytelling and coding–helps students develop critical skills.

Story coding involves using computer programming to retell stories–students might summarize a story, write original stories, or use programming to create alternative endings to well-known stories. Teachers can use story coding to bring history, science, world languages, ELA, and even math into their lessons.

Teachers can incorporate story coding into almost any subject area, and computer science concepts help students develop important lifelong skills–such as collaboration, communication, and perseverance–even if they don’t pursue computer science or STEM subjects in college or as a career path.

In fact, using computer science concepts in story coding encourages students to build computational thinking skills through the use of sequences, logic, variables, events, and more. Students also use real-time and creative collaboration as they generate their stories and tackle challenges during that process.

“My students are able to learn about computer science, but in a fun way. Doing it in a cross-curricular manner [means] teachers who aren’t computer science teachers can incorporate it without having to add an additional subject into what they teach,” Besthoff said.

Introducing students to coding and robotics gives them early exposure to STEM in general. This early exposure, according to research, is key to the future of the workforce.

Aside from the cool factor K-12 coding and robotics offers, students will learn a number of skills they’ll take with them well into adulthood, including creativity, problem solving, and the ability to fail without quitting. These skills stick around even if students don’t pursue STEM-related study paths or careers later in their lives.

Coding and robotics can be introduced in any subject, with a little creativity.

Here are 6 tools to help students develop these valuable STEM skills:

1. CoderZ: Grounded in STEM and coding, CoderZ trains students grades 4 and beyond in computational thinking and technical ability. Confronted with real-world problem-solving, students must adapt to advance, strengthening their inner coach and developing the skills they’ll need beyond the classroom.

2. Tinkercad: From Autodesk, Tinkercad is a free web app for 3D design, electronics, and coding that helps educators build STEM confidence in their students through project-based learning in the classroom. Hands-on projects build confidence, persistence, and problem-solving skills.

3. Blockly: Blockly, for Dash and Dot, is a drag-and-drop visual programming tool that introduces children as young as 6 to fundamental programming concepts including Sequencing, Loops, Sensors + Events, Functions, Variables, and Conditionals through creative problem-solving.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts across the country have seen an influx of funding for student devices, internet access, and a variety of edtech tools. While equity of access is still a challenge in many communities, this new funding has advanced a unique opportunity for schools to create pathways to computer science education, overcoming some of the challenges that made it inaccessible to many students in the past.

When combined with many states’ adopting new computer science standards, the pandemic has the potential to accelerate K-12 computer science education across the country. Some schools will find it difficult to fit new computer science into an already busy daily schedule.

But there’s a fix! Educators across the country are working on curriculum to integrate computer science into core content areas, alleviating the problem of where to fit a new computer science course into the busy school day. Computer science education is also being used as a tool for gauging social emotional learning. When computing devices become available to all students, it becomes equally important for districts to have a plan for the types of programming environments and platforms students will use as they build CS skills across the grades. Computer science is quickly becoming another tool, like the pencil and paper, that students use to express themselves and to demonstrate mastery of content in unique ways. Here’s where I see these trends going in the new year.

Computer science education will be integrated into the core curriculum.

The move toward 1:1 computers for students has been underway for years, but the pandemic greatly accelerated the trend. Since the school closures that occurred in spring of 2020, many school districts have not only provided students with devices, but also hotspots and other tools to connect to the internet from home.

Giving every student a computer has streamlined the process for providing computer science lessons because there’s no need to schedule time in the school’s only computer lab or to check out devices from a shared computer cart. This practical change has made it easier to incorporate computer science lessons into core subjects taught across the day, like math and language arts.

With unpredictability fast becoming our daily bread, what can be more important than preparing the next generations for future challenges? Every parent wants to secure the best foundation for their children, be it for primary school education, academia, work, or life in general. 

In this sense, research has shown us how coding can be relevant across school subjects and academic disciplines. Now it’s time to talk about the other advantages it brings, including the cognitive effects of coding on children’s brains.

This is how coding shapes the future prospects of children.

Coding gives a head start for professional life

Learning to code can be a game-changer for students, regardless of country. With the hopes of better integrating into the local emerging tech community, Chinese parents prepare their children for code learning before pre-school. And Singapore launched a tailored coding class for primary and secondary school students as early as 2014. India has even introduced coding from class six, based on the country’s new education policy.

All of this is based on solid evidence: Computer science students are 17 percent more likely to go to college and have a successful career. Moreover, programming languages such as SQL, Java, JavaScript, C#, and Python are increasingly important to master regardless of profession or industry. The value of learning how to code isn’t only in the skill itself; it’s in the way of thinking, and that transfers to many other subjects.

If I had one teaching tool at my disposal in a classroom besides pencils, papers, and books, it would be an educational robot. A robot is the single most engaging learning tool I’ve used with students. It appeals to children of all ages, genders, and backgrounds—and it goes beyond technology to include so many learning goals. In fact, when I was at the pre-K-8 Park School, I considered it one of the most important social-emotional learning tools I’ve used.

There are so many demands on teachers’ time, especially at the beginning of a new school year, that teaching with a robot may not be on their lists of must-do activities. But robotics can be easily incorporated into instruction. As a lead makerspace educator, I’ve found that the best way to help teachers integrate robots into their lessons is to identify the skills they’re looking to teach and demonstrate how they can accomplish it with classroom robots.

As students return to the classroom after a tumultuous and traumatic year, SEL is going to be especially important. Here are a few activities that have helped the teachers in my school connect STEAM and SEL.

Using Simple Challenges to Inspire Complex Social Interactions

I’ve always found math to be a great entry point for introducing robots into early childhood classrooms. When the classroom teacher is doing measurement, we’ll bring out KIBO, a robot we use at our school, and see how far it can go in one “step,” or one forward command.

One of the things I like about this exercise is that it doesn’t require any specialized equipment aside from the robot. KIBO is screen-free, so each team of two or three students gets a robot, the three programming blocks required to accomplish their goal, and a worksheet to help keep them focused.

In the past decade, robotics have evolved from a sci-fi fantasy set in some distant future to an industry capable of producing present-tense toys, companions, workers and self-driving cars. And this is just the beginning. The industry forecast calls for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 26 percent, which would mean a value of $210 billion by 2025.

The inventors (and users) of tomorrow are children sitting in preK-12 classrooms right now, who by and large are not learning about robotics. This represents a huge opportunity for education technology companies. Robots promise to become a bigger part of our daily lives as the industry shifts from being primarily industrial-driven to increasingly consumer-oriented. As they expand beyond the warehouse to wherever we need them, robots will become more diverse, intuitive and useful.

The speed of change has been impressive in recent years and will only accelerate as machine learning and neural networks endow robots with human-like senses, allowing them to “see” and even “taste” like we do.  The skills children learn through robotics could certainly lead to career opportunities later, but that’s not the only reason to embrace the ABCs of androids. In addition to a range of science and math skills, students can practice problem-solving and creativity as well. We’ve arrived at a tipping point in robotics, and for education, that represents lifelong learning opportunities.

Here’s what edtech companies can do to prepare, in terms of both product and platform, for the future needs of today’s students.

1. Grow with students

There are a handful of companies creating strong educational tools in robotics for children, but they mostly target a particular age or stage. What if a robot (or set of robots) could advance as a student does? There is already a spectrum of teaching tools from various companies offering children of different ages the ability to learn about robotics (primarily coding), but how much more powerful would it be if a tool advanced organically with the student as they moved from preschool to high school and potentially even beyond? Just as coding lessons became more advanced, so too could other components of robotics such as engineering, electronics and, eventually, artificial intelligence. The pandemic took an eraser to the chalk line between home and school, so there’s no reason teaching technology shouldn’t follow this trend. Flexibility is key so students can learn at their own pace, when and where they want, for as long as they want.

In the spring and summer of 2020, Brooklyn Preschool of Science closed down for six months due to COVID-19. During those same six months, almost 300,000 people left New York, so there are certainly fewer families in our zip code than there were in March.

Even so, our independent preschools are back to serving 300 families at three locations, offering in-person classes for students ages 2 to 5. Parents are trusting us with their children not just because of the safety precautions we’re taking, but because of our pedagogical approach, which begins with a spirit of inquiry and ends with students who have a lifelong love of science.

An inquiry-based, hands-on approach

Our schools are rooted in inquiry, in a sense of discovery. We believe that nothing should be taught separately. Reading, writing, math, art, movement—everything should be taught holistically. We’re also huge believers in hands-on learning: we have about 25 different animals in each building to help us teach life science.

Through Carmelo’s experience as a public school teacher for 20 years and our time at BPOS, we’ve seen that a hands-on methodology is especially well suited to science because it puts concepts in context. Students truly learn so much more when they’re able to get their hands dirty and touch everything.

Starting them young

The reason why we saturate the school with so many animals is that you can’t get somebody to love, say, geckos if they’re 11 or 12 if they didn’t have those early experiences when they were 5 or 6. The same is true of teaching skills like robotics, coding, and computational learning. It has to happen early. These are the years to create a passion for science, which also leads to foundational language acquisition at a young age.

At Everett Public Schools, we’ve always had a robotics team at the elementary and secondary levels. Last year we were up to 50 robotics teams within the FIRST organization. During the shutdown, we went into a panic over how students wouldn’t be able to physically “touch” and work on the robots on campus anymore.

I didn’t want to lose our robotics stipend, nor did we want students to miss out on that learning during the shutdown. For help, we started searching for an online platform that would augment our in-person robotics curriculum.

We found what we were looking for in CoderZ and soon after, we shifted our entire robotics curriculum over to that platform. We weren’t sure how many students would want to log in from home voluntarily, but our participation levels have actually grown since the pandemic shut down in-person learning in March 2020.

Here are five reasons why we put energy and effort into creating and growing our coding programs:

1. Students need programming skills for today and for the future. We believe that all students need to have some programming experience in their life as the world is moving towards more automation. Simply having basic coding fundamentals is going to become more important to these youngsters, and we know that.   

Technology is ubiquitous in the lives of today’s students. As technology users, students access technology for entertainment, communication, and learning. Tech literacy, which has become as essential as reading, writing, and arithmetic in preparing students for the future, encourages students to move beyond the role of technology consumers to becoming technology creators.

Encouraging technology creators means engaging students in project-based technology courses that introduce them to coding, design, gaming, and animation. And as students complete projects such as developing an app, creating a 3D video game, or designing a collection, they gain relevant, hands-on experience using industry-standard tools professionals use. Students apply creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills–competencies that are important in preparing students for the future and are applicable to any career, whether it’s in technology or not.

While states are adding computer science as a requirement for high school graduation, fewer than half of K–12 public schools are able to offer technology courses. For Wautoma High School in rural Wautoma, Wisconsin, adding technology courses to the high school offering afforded equity of access to an online solution that would otherwise be prohibitive to a smaller district.

A programming language is math. It’s a system for writing human logic in a way that a computer can work with.

A computer program is a list of instructions written using the programming language’s mathematical system. When a computer runs a program, it’s called software. Because computer software is so important these days, it’s vital that we teach our kids to code.

A programming language is a mathematical tool for creating software. But programming languages are designed for software engineers and professional programmers. They were not built for and are not suitable for middle and even high school introductory courses. If you make a mistake, a programming language will not tell you what it is: It will just sit there, with a cryptic message on the screen (“RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded”) and wait for you to fix the problem. How does this apply to learning to code in today’s middle and high schools?

More K-12 schools are introducing drones into the classroom as educators discover how useful unattended vehicles can be to teach and strengthen science, technology, art, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) skills. Students are engaged by the possibility of flying robots in their classrooms, but teachers will require support systems to understand how to best implement a classroom drone program.

Before investing in the hardware, K-12 educators can take essential steps to enhance their drone program’s success in getting off the ground.

Consider the drone objective for your classroom

Decisions about drones and drone curriculum should be based on the students who will be learning with the drones and on the learning objectives educators hope to achieve.

Before purchasing a drone, educators should identify the need, audience, and purpose of the program, including goals for student engagement, course achievement, and objectives.  

In the 1400s, sons of good families were sent to be taught Latin by the Church. The monks who taught them weren’t trained as educators, and they made heavy use of corporal punishment. So it wasn’t much fun to learn to read back then.

In this period, no one assumed that everyone needed to be able to read–quite the contrary. Reading was for religious purposes and learning to read English was seen as unnecessary at best, heretical at worst.

But people who knew how to read and write English were guaranteed a spot in the new middle class. Businesses, now springing up in the towns, needed literate people to work in offices, reading and writing contracts, invoices, rules, and regulations. The Church thought that learning to read English was a waste of time–Scripture was all that mattered. But they just didn’t see what was coming. English was the language of business, and capitalism would soon replace the feudal economic system.

By the mid-1700s, a majority of the English population could read, and literacy was increasing quickly. The Industrial Revolution followed soon after: Once people generally could read, the potential was there for a whole new type of workforce.

I think we’re now going through a phase a lot like the beginning of the Renaissance, which is why I think we need to teach all the kids to code.

Technology is ubiquitous in the lives of today’s students. As technology users, students access technology for entertainment, communication, and learning. Tech literacy, which has become as essential as reading, writing, and arithmetic in preparing students for the future, encourages students to move beyond the role of technology consumers to becoming technology creators.

Encouraging technology creators means engaging students in project-based technology courses that introduce them to coding, design, gaming, and animation. And as students complete projects such as developing an app, creating a 3D video game, or designing a collection, they gain relevant, hands-on experience using industry-standard tools professionals use. Students apply creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills–competencies that are important in preparing students for the future and are applicable to any career, whether it’s in technology or not.

While states are adding computer science as a requirement for high school graduation, fewer than half of K–12 public schools are able to offer technology courses. For Wautoma High School in rural Wautoma, Wisconsin, adding technology courses to the high school offering afforded equity of access to an online solution that would otherwise be prohibitive to a smaller district.

When our school shut down in March, initially, it was for a two-week period. I thought, “Well, this isn’t too bad, we can do a few coding activities from Code.org or maybe put together some Google Slides presentations for when we return.”

Then, two weeks turned into the end of April and my plan had to change.

As the technology teacher in our district, I felt I was adept at communicating with my students online (we are a Google Apps for Education school, and I’ve been a Google Classroom user since its beginnings), but I knew others in our district weren’t quite as tech savvy. I put together a few tutorial videos on how to use Google Classroom, Google Meet, and Zoom for our staff members to use to reach out to their students.

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As April turned into May, the likelihood that we would be returning to school dropped substantially. Virtual graduations, meal deliveries, and Google Meets became the new normal–a phrase I quickly came to despise. As I’m sure many of you educators out there would agree, we concluded our school year, but it felt like we never really finished.

On a visit to a class in Sitka, Alaska, we watched second grade students gain incredible experiences in computer science skills. The teacher, Cindy Duncan, believes in teaching young children to code, so she begins the year by introducing students to Ozobots through stories.

She used “The Gingerbread Man” and taught dyads of children to develop story characters. “I teach coding and robotics because as an educator it is my job to recognize that my students are global innovators, thinkers and problem solvers,” she explained.

Related content: 6 reasons to support K-5 coding

Everywhere you turn, teachers, parents and others are talking about coding and robotics for learners of all ages. Based deeply on the ideas of Seymour Papert, robotics and coding provide hands-on and creative opportunities for learners to invent, solve problems and create – perhaps the most appropriate implementation of STEM. These experiences provide the opportunity to teach STEM in a multidisciplinary way, with a hands-on approach, which also happens to be engaging and fun.

Robotics is attracting more student interest, and there’s a reason–when students can make real-world connections between what they learn in the classroom and exciting careers, their engagement and achievement often improve.

Educators across the country are working to establish robotics clubs after school, they’re creating robotics units in STEM classes, and they’re doing their best to ensure all students have the opportunity to learn just how essential robotics is to our daily lives.

As the director of blended learning in the Lancaster Independent School District (TX), Kimberly Lane Clark works with district campuses to help them implement successful blended learning practices. In that role, she frequently incorporates personalized learning and differentiated instruction.

Between innovation labs, STEM schools, and focuses on entrepreneurship and software design, the district’s schools are varied and students have countless opportunities to participate in activities aligned with their interests.

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eSchool News Robotics Guide

The eSchool News Robotics Guide is here! It features strategies to help you effectively integrate robotics into instruction, along with tips to find the right robotics resources to successfully teach key concepts. A new eSchool News Guide will launch each month–don’t miss a single one!