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Tech Crunch
Can robots find a home in the classroom?
Jason Palmer
A few years ago, investors heralded the arrival of a future with robots
in the home. Robots like Jibo, Anki’s Cozmo and Mayfield
Robotics’ Kuri attracted buzz and hundreds of millions of dollars in
venture capital. All three companies have since shut down, prompting
Kidtech expert Robin Raskin to recently ask, “Has the sheen worn off
the tech toy world?”
With the demise of these robots and their makers, it’s fair to wonder
if and when there will be a time when robots have a real place in our
lives. But some robots are finding a home in a counterintuitive place:
schools.
Because for robots to succeed, they need to find an application that
integrates with human needs — solving real problems — and sustains
their use. At home, the current wave of robots may provide children
with a few hours of entertainment before they are tossed aside like any
other new toy.
In schools, however, robots are proving that they can serve a purpose,
bridging the divide between the digital and physical worlds in ways
that bring to life concepts like coding. Savvy teachers are finding
that robots can help to bring project-based learning alive in ways that
supports development of valuable critical thinking and problem-solving
skills.
It would not be the first time that K-12 schools paved the way as early
adopters of technology. Forty years ago, the Apple II was widely
adopted in schools first, before desktop computers colonized the home.
Laptops famously gained early momentum in schools, where their light
weight and portability were tightly aligned with the rise of in-class
interventions and digital content. Schools were also early adopters of
tablets, which, despite a few high-profile failures, are now seemingly
ubiquitous in K-12 classrooms.
The rise of robotics in K-12 schools has been buoyed by not just
intrigue with the potential of new gadgets, but an increased focus on
computer science education. Just a decade ago, only a few states
allowed computer science to count toward STEM course requirements.
Today, nearly every state allows computer science courses to fulfill
core graduation requirements, and 17 states require that every high
school offer computer science.
The growing importance of computer science at the high school level
has, in turn, trickled down to elementary and middle schools, where
teachers are turning to robots as an effective way to introduce
students to states’ new K-12 computer science standards. In California,
the state’s board of education now suggests that schools use robots to
satisfy five of its standards.
Educators are recognizing the potential of robots, not as toys, but as powerful tools for learning.
From a design level, classroom robots are fundamentally different than
those at home. Learning necessitates that — instead of bite-sized,
shallow experiences, robots must provide experiences that have the
depth and variety needed to keep students engaged over months and
years. To succeed in the classroom, they must be accompanied by
thoughtful curricular content that teachers can incorporate into their
instruction. Because robots are relatively expensive, teachers need
robots they can reliably use for a long time.
It’s a trend that hasn’t been lost on companies like littleBits and
Sphero, which are quickly pivoting to focus on a K-12 market
dominated by legacy players like Lego. Wonder Workshop robots, which
gained popularity through retail channels like the Apple Store and
Amazon, are now being used in more than 20,000 schools across the
world. Although they currently penetrate just a fraction of the K-5
classrooms in the U.S., their success is not only drawing increased
interest from investors, but fueling innovations that could have
implications for pernicious equity gaps that still plague STEM
classrooms — and high-tech fields.
While the toy industry has long marketed its products differently to
boys and girls in ways that actually reinforce stereotypes through
product design and advertising, robots designed for the classroom must
appeal to all students. Earlier versions of Wonder Workshop’s
Dash robot, for example, rolled around on visible wheels.
During its initial user studies, the company learned students equated
wheeled robots with cars and trucks. In other words, they viewed Dash
as something meant for boys. So, Wonder Workshop covered up Dash’s
wheels. It worked. Today, nearly 50% of participants in the company’s
Wonder League Robotics Competition are girls, with many of the winning
teams each year being all-girl teams.
So while the national narrative often imagines a dystopian future where
robots come for our jobs, classroom robots are actually helping
teachers meet the needs of increasingly diverse classrooms. They are
helping students improve their executive function, creativity and
ability to communicate with others.
Educators are recognizing the potential of robots, not as toys, but as
powerful tools for learning. And children as young as kindergarten are
using robots to better and more quickly understand mathematical
concepts. Students who have the opportunity to learn from — and with —
robots in the classroom today may develop a generation of robots that
can play a role in our lives well into the future. They will grow up
not merely as consumers of technology, but creators of it.
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