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Teach Students Teamwork with Programmable Robots

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While building and coding a robot may sound like a big ask of students, it’s easy to find a programmable robot kit meant for school-age children. These kits are excellent tools for teaching students teamwork and collaboration, as well as practical STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) skills.  robot kits for kids Designing the Robot First comes designing and building the robot as a team. Try to find a kit with multiple builds and configurations, as a modular robot kit requires the students to agree on what type of robot they will create. They will have to decide as a team what their goal is, and design around that goal. Does the robot need to complete tasks? Navigate a maze? Go toe-to-toe in a sumo ring with another robot? They will have to build off a blueprint or develop their own to complete their goals. If the robot has a pre-determined build, assign team members specific jobs, such as sorting pieces, reading the build instructions, and building p
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Fun Indoor STEM Activities as the Seasons Change

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As the seasons change, the weather limits outside activities, forcing kids indoors. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in a fun and engaging way. Here are a few ideas for your kids or students to have fun and learn indoors while the weather gets colder. Robot Kit Learn to Code Technology is all around us, and computer literacy and the ability to code are becoming as important as reading, writing, and math. There are plenty of methods to teach your child programming languages, and lots of options for different ages ranges that vary the challenge. Some are visual languages, with drag-and-drop blocks of code, while others require typing in the code manually. Your child’s age will likely play a factor in choosing which language they learn and how it is taught. They could learn Blocky, for example, which allows dragging and dropping. Arduino, on the other hand, requires manual coding but is a real
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Important Skills Students Learn Through Coding

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Students who learn to code obviously gain coding skills, but there are other soft skills they will learn as well. For example, by using a robot kit , students can learn both to build the bot and to code its behavior. As part of a group or team, they learn to work together, divide labor, and set priorities. These and other skills are often transferrable to future jobs or classes, making coding a valuable activity for students.  Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Coding requires critical thinking. It takes time and energy to understand the problem and figure out the best way to tackle it. Is the drone kit they just coded not flying as expected? Why not? Exploring the cause and effect relationship, which can be seen immediately in bots after loading a program, can help students identify the problem in the code, and give them clues about how to fix it. They might have to analyze lines of code until an error is found or come up with an entirely new code to deal with a
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Why Students Should Learn to Code

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Getting students to learn an entirely new language is hard. Learning multiple coding languages can be even more daunting, but tackling those challenges has become an important aspect of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education. With technology taking over the world, there are plenty of reasons it’s important for students to learn how to code.  It’s a Digital World Technology is everywhere. Coding and computer literacy are becoming as important as reading, writing, and math. Learning how to code on a programmable robot can help students understand the world around them better. Most people don’t understand how technology works, and often take it for granted. Sufficiently advanced technology can appear to be magic unless the systems and coding that make it work are understood. This gives students a greater appreciation for the technology working all around them. Coding can have a real-world impact, which increases engagement as students see how they ca
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