THE Journal: Robotics Connects Young Learners to Core Curriculum and Each Other
In this article, Jason Innes, KinderLab’s Director of Curriculum, Training, and Product Management, describes how robotics can connect students through collaborative lessons and help teachers accelerate learning for all students in math, literacy, and SEL.
The article reads in part:
Teachers this year are welcoming students with a wider than usual range of academic progress, even in the earliest grades. While some K–3 students are weeks or months behind grade-level expectations due to lost schooling, others are ahead because they thrived during remote learning. In this unique year, districts need resources to reach all students where they are. At the same time, teachers looking to work as efficiently as possible need tools and techniques that connect to multiple core subjects and build community among kids who have returned to in-person learning (or are experiencing it for the first time).
Engaging robotics activities that reinforce core subjects like math and literacy by using collaborative learning strategies can help teachers reach all of their students—but first teachers must be comfortable with the robots and coding concepts themselves. Early childhood teachers seldom have experience with computer science, and many districts don’t have instructional technology specialists, so robots based on longstanding best practices in early childhood education are a smart place to start. And because today’s teachers are more time-starved than ever, in-depth, in-person PD that doesn’t take up a great deal of teachers’ time is essential to lay the groundwork for lessons that accelerate learning not only in computer science, but in math, literacy, and SEL as well.
Some examples of how early education teachers can use robotics to make the most of their instructional time include:
– Introducing Students to School and Each Other
– Inspiring Collaboration
– Math: The Physical Number Line
– Literacy: A Tale Told by a Robot
Read on for the full article.
