Tech&Learning: How Robots Connect Students, Families, and Educators
In this article, Heather Lee, the early STEM education consultant for the Idaho STEM Action Center and the school readiness project director for Idaho AEYC, shares her expertise and experience of placing playful, hands-on robots in libraries to introduce families to key foundational concepts that create strong learning supports for young children.
The article reads in part:
As a long-time early childhood educator, I’ve learned to view children as “born ready.” Yes, neuroscience reveals they are learning at birth! But they do it alongside responsive, caring adults. Parents are the first and most significant teachers of their children’s lives. When educators rise to partner with parents from the earliest stages to augment learning opportunities, students receive the best educational foundation to succeed throughout their school journey.
In my current role as the early STEM education consultant for the Idaho STEM Action Center, I collaborate with early childhood programs and libraries to make access to STEM tools free to teachers and librarians as well as parents and guardians who invite young children to enter the world of STEM through the daily routines of life.”
Heather creates partnership around the fact that children are born whole people who are curious, capable, and competent—and why it matters, including:
Connecting with Caregivers
Overcoming STEM Hesitancy
Connecting STEM to Personal Development and Literacy
Heather says about KIBO:
“KIBO, which is programmed using a series of wooden blocks that children put together on the floor, is one of my go-to STEM tools to encourage computational thinking through a whole-body sensory activity. So many positive connections take place in both mind and body that might not happen if a child were seated passively in front of a device.”
Read the full article.
