Using robots to teach creativity, collaboration and self-confidence

Key points:

Our students are growing into a world in which they will find themselves sharing their space, work and life with more and more robots. Over a year ago I read an article about McDonald's using robotic arms to make French fries, so even a job as simple as cooking fries will be done by a human-robot team, even if the human part is just maintaining the robot. We need to prepare our students for a world in which they routinely interact with technology that needs to be programmed.

Although they will be required to program machines, they will still have to collaborate, solve problems, and engage in all the very human interpersonal skills. That's why at Jacksonville Independent School District we like to combine social emotional learning with coding education. This is how it has worked since we introduced virtual robotics to our high school.

Existing STEM programs

A few years ago, we were looking for a robotics solution for our high school students to use primarily to engage them with engineering before high school. At the time, we didn't have any robotics courses for the middle grades, although we did have an after-school STEM club.

Because I had some experience with robotics at my previous school, our Career and Technical Education (CTE) coordinator and director asked me what I would need to support a robotics course. I landed in LEGO Education pick kits and coderz because they met the standard Robotics I course, aligned well with my previous experience in robotics education, and because there was a competitive aspect that would help engage students. Since we already had a team competing in the University Interscholastic League robotics competition, I thought CoderZ's League in a Box offering would be a good fit.

Virtual robotics and soft skills

We started using virtual robots for coding education in 2020, but we really leaned towards them when COVID emerged, because it was easier to work with virtual robots given the pandemic restrictions.

We found that, in addition to reducing the potential for cross-contamination, virtual robots were also great for problem-solving through trial and error. With robots in general, and especially virtual robots, students are more likely to try things without fear of failing because it's just a robot, or in our case, it's just a click-and-drag collection of images. They press play, the robot does its job, whether it works or not, and the students naturally move on to building some more to test their next idea.

My suggestions don't have to work, because now they're back on their robot, sifting through the code for other things to change and test. They don't need a solution from me and I don't have to be an expert in robotics or programming. I just have to get them to think about their challenge and talk out loud about how they might solve it.

In fact, in the past, many of the teachers or after-school educators I worked with in robotics were more facilitators than traditional teachers, which can be quite powerful. Students know they are discovering it themselves when they see you learning alongside them. This is incredibly engaging and empowering for students, and sets a vivid example of lifelong learning. It helps students develop self-esteem and confidence that transfers not only to all other subjects, but to all aspects of their lives.

Another way we like to encourage the practice of these collaborative and communication skills is to encourage students to help their peers if they find success before their peers. They almost take on the role of teacher when they start asking others, “Well, what have you tried?” or reassure them by reminding them, “This was the 100th thing I tried before it finally worked.”

Lessons learned

To make sure you're developing those soft skills, look for Tools and lessons that have guiding questions and prompts for reflection.. They don't have to be groundbreaking or deeply revealing questions. You just want to start the conversation and have tools to help you connect the activity to your curriculum. Having a few hints in each lesson to get you started can be incredibly helpful.

Don't be afraid to start small and start with what you can afford and what you know you will use. Even if it's just a handful of kids in a single class, you can find out what they like and don't care for as much, and expand your program later.

Starting small also extends to each lesson. Our virtual robotics program makes it easy for students to learn with a quick tutorial that shows the specific coding blocks they will use, eliminating some options to reduce overwhelming and allowing students to focus on things like problem solving, searching of creative solutions and communication and collaboration with colleagues. This is particularly helpful with younger students.

It's also a great idea to choose activities at your own pace. Our virtual robotics program allows us to choose between delivering one unit at a time to students, having them complete activities in chronological order, or allowing them to complete lessons at their own pace. We find that the self-paced option works best to keep students interested and avoid overwhelming them by not giving them too much at once.

It has been incredibly rewarding to watch students grow in their problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, and to see them transfer all of that to other classes. Some people may say that you can't teach confidence, but you've never seen a kid in your robotics class go from struggling in math to realizing that they can overcome their challenge by trying something new, chatting with someone who's going through what they're going through. same. , or just keeping it until you're ready.