Ready For Robotics

This project is led by Professor Marina Bers from the DevTech research group at Tufts university and funded by the National Science Foundation.

This work focuses on the components of STEM to facilitate teaching of the two components , the “T” of technology and the "E" of engineering, that have been the most neglected in early childhood education .While research is happening on later schooling, little is focused on the foundational years. We know however, both from an economic and a developmental standpoint, that educational interventions that begin in early childhood are associated with lower costs and durable effects.

Given the increasing mandate to make early childhood programs more academically challenging, while honoring the importance of play in the developmental trajectory, robotics can provide a playful bridge to integrate academic content with personally meaningful projects. Young children can become engineers by playing with gears, levers, motors, sensors; and programmers by exploring sequences, loops and variables. Robotics can be a gateway for children to learn about applied mathematical concepts, the scientific method of inquiry, and problem solving. Moreover, working with robotic manipulatives engages children in social interactions and negotiations while playing to learn and learning to play. However, previous work shows three important factors for technology to be successfully integrated into the early classroom. First, the technology needs to be developmentally appropriate. Second, there is a need of teacher’s professional development. Third, the technology needs to be low-cost

What are the research goals?

Although there is a growing interest in the field of robotics as an educational tool, little is focused on the foundational schooling years.The three three major impediments for bringing technology and engineering into early childhood education are:

The lack of knowledge and understanding about technology and engineering, and about developmentally appropriate pedagogical approaches to bring those disciplines into the classrooms among early childhood educators (Bers, 2008; Haugland, 2000).
The need for new technologies with design affordances and interfaces specifically developed for young learners.
The limited budget allocated in the early years to technology and engineering education

Therefore the goals of this project are to:

Develop and evaluate a low-cost, developmentally appropriate robotic construction kit specifically designed for early childhood education (PreK-2) to facilitate teaching of the components of STEM, the “T” of technology and the "E" of engineering, that have been the most neglected in this age segment
Evaluate the robotic kit by piloting it in the context of a professional development institute that allows to investigate models and strategies to better prepare early childhood teachers in the areas of technology and engineering.

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Ready For Robotics Hardware

Our design criteria for a low-cost developmentally appropriate robotic kit for early childhood education is:

Robotics parts should be physically and intuitively easy to sturdily connect.
Programming the robot should need the minimum of computer equipment.
Children should be able to attach a variety of crafts and recycled materials to the core robotic parts providing different types of creations, both stationary and mobile.
The robotic construction kits should be as low-cost as possible without sacrificing core functionality. We will aim for kits to cost less than $50.

The Robotics kit gets tested by children from the target age range and modifications are made, if needed. The robotics construction kit will be fully ready by June of 2012, in order to be used and programmed by Cherp in DevTech Summer Programs . Below you can see snapshots of the kit being tested by a group of children and Edward Baafi at DevTech.

The most recent version of Ready for Robotics prototype (pictured below), was tested at Eliot-Pearson Children School by 9 children form the extended day classroom in April of 2012. Children worked with different parts of the robots, and made programs using the CHERP software to make the robot move in different forms (e.g. Go Forward, Turn Left, Shake, Spin).

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Classroom Research

We will build on previous work to develop, implement and evaluate strategies for integrating the use of the robotic kit in the context of a professional development institute where early childhood teachers will learn about Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge(TPCK) framework by designing, implementing and evaluating a curricular unit integrating engineering and programming into their early childhood classrooms. The project aims to provide professional development scales for over 30 early childhood teachers who will participate in this program and take it to their classrooms.

This gets done through the focus of the curriculum of under the evaluation institute on two central themes in early childhood:

Sensing as tools for observation (including human and animal sensory systems, technology that extends human senses, and engineering robots that can "see")
How Things Move (locomotion of humans and other animals; exploring physics and engineering with rolling, sliding, and ramps; engineering transportation robots; comparing and contrasting human, animal, and robot parts and movement).

These modules address content and skills mandated by the state of MA.

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Resources

coming soon

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This project is supported by the National Science Foundation. (NSF DRL-1118897)

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