Importance of Robotics in Early STEM Education
One of the biggest worries for parents, in today’s tech world, is the screen time that their children get. How would it be if this worry is turned into something really productive for these kids? STEM education and robotics make this possible. Early education is the most effective time to engage and motivate kids with robotics and coding. There is an innate curiosity in young children with all the tech gadgets, electronics, smartphones, tablets, etc. which they see around them. However, the sad reality is that they don’t get to learn about them in early education.
Need for robotics for young children in today’s world
- Early education and childhood are a wonderful time to generate interest and spark that element of curiosity in the minds of young learners about coding, engineering, and robotics.
- Young children are excited and curious to know and learn about the world around them. This includes the world of technology, smartphones, and automatic doors.
- Robotics is a key aspect of STEM education that involves the blend of science, engineering, and technology to create machines (robots) for assisting humans to perform various physical tasks in the real world.
- Integrating robotics in early education helps introduce STEM subjects like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in a fun, interactive, and playful way.
- Robotics, an integral part of STEM education, helps bridge the gender and socio-economic gap between learners right from early education.
Benefits of STEM learning and robotics in early education
- One of the biggest benefits of implementing STEM education in early years for children is the inculcation of life skills in the young learners.
- It enables young minds to think critically, ask questions, be resilient to failures, and keep exploring until they succeed.
- STEM education and robotics focus on the integration of various STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- STEM education makes hands-on and application-based learning possible.
- The young learners get to solve complex challenges by applying the concepts of science, math, and technology.
- With STEM education and robotics, there is strong connection between academics, industry, and sensitivity towards the community.
- With the numerous benefits offered by STEM education, it needs to be implemented in early education.
Robotics and coding serve as a playground for children in early education
- Research indicates that children learn the basic concepts of STEM learning like coding, programming, and engineering faster at an early age.
- In early education, children are given development and age-appropriate tools to promote open-ended learning.
- Young children begin to play and interact with various materials and things they are given.
- In early education involving robotics, children are engaged in playful and fun learning.
- STEM learning cultivates the seeds of curiosity in the minds of tiny tots for the technological world around them.
Importance of robotics in STEM education
- Robotics teaches kids to be creative with coding and technology.
- As a part of STEM learning, children learn the basic skills of mathematics, which develops their sequential ability.
- When children learn to code, their computational ability is developed and enhanced.
- Children are motivated towards problem-solving.
- STEM education and robotics helps kids work in groups and fosters a collaborative approach.
- Young children learn by doing different things, including programming in early education.
- Robotics helps children learn and understand real-world problems and the solutions to overcome them.
Parents need to understand STEM education
- Most parents have a lot of confusion when they see their kids interact with technology.
- The main reason why parents are so worried about tech learning for children is because they do not see any tangible outcome immediately.
- Many believe that coding is difficult to learn. However, it is not in reality. It all depends on what coding a child learns and how he/she implements the same in the world.
- STEM education can be started as early as 6 years for children up to 18 years of age. The focus is mainly on STEM subjects and its practical applications.
Driverless cars, autonomous robots, controlled robots, and app-enabled robots are all applications of robotics and STEM learning. The various robots make use of sensors to act with minimal or no human intervention.
In order to be successful in the STEM future, robotics serves as an effective gateway where students learn to code and apply the acquired knowledge of STEM subjects.
