“Robots can serve as the basis of a powerful problem-solving curriculum that will help young children begin to develop the habit of creative, independent problem solving while introducing them to the key technologies of the Information Age.”  But …

… It’s Not About the Robots!

21st Century Mind Tools” • The Robots Change, Year-by-Year

There are many different programmable robots on wheels, which one should you choose?

The Pedagogical Advantages of Programmable Robots

“Whatever I cannot recreate for myself I do not understand.” — Richard Feynmann, Nobel Laureate in Physics

• Early Learning robots should encourage children to work with their hands and to move around their environment.

“The hand is the instrument of the intellect.”  — Dr. Maria Montessori

As With All Well-designed Manipulatives:

• Early Learning robots provide a medium through which to explore the world.
• Early Learning robots allow for meaningful play (closely related to creativity): play that reveals to children the secrets of their environment.
• Early Learning robots provide a material path to abstraction: i.e., a material, or concrete, way for children to model abstract concepts like length, angle, or negative vs. positive numbers.

Unlike Inert, Passive, Show-&-Tell Manipulatives:
(And many electronic games, toys, and computer “educational” software)

• Early Learning robots can be multi-use: an exploration, modeling, & problem solving tool.
• Early Learning robots are not limited to rigid or prescribed (pre-programmed) uses or behaviors: children can explore their environment creatively, testing and refining their concepts of it as they go. Continue reading →