Robotics education done right: Robotics expansion™, a steam based curricula

Abstract

Robotics is an exciting and effective method to interest children in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), but it requires trial and error, an effective means to implement the child’s input and most importantly an accurate depiction of what it takes to make a robot. Recently, Robotics has been introduced to educational programs looking to increase children’s interest in the Engineering (E) portion of STEM. The concept has been to show children that learning about engineering can be fun and exciting by building programs around something that moves and obeys a child’s commands. Working as a large group, students build a robot from a pre-packaged kit. The students piece together these robotic kits’ physical parts and then work with a computer to connect blocks on the screen so that the robot can now do something. The packaged kits include all the pieces to hold everything together as well as the motors and sensors already assembled in order to facilitate construction. These kits have only a few set ways things can go together and all the pieces that are premade for them to fit nicely together. There are typically only a few ways these pieces can adjoin and, therefore, which eliminates the potential to make mistakes. The computer work, often mistakenly referred to as coding, is simply a series of dragging and dropping pre-labeled items. If the dragging and dropping on the screen or assembling the connecting rods into connecting holes of the physical structure becomes too challenging for a child, a set of instructions to do all of the above is provided.