How can using robotics and coding benefit students in the classroom?

 1. It's fun!
 2. It's engaging.
 3. Stimulates creativity.
 4. Hones critical thinking skills.
 5. Problem-based Learning.
 6. Applicable to real life.
 7. Develops social and collaborative skills.

Those are just a few reasons why I think usage is beneficial. Of course fun is always a motivational factor when it comes to learning with kids. But what better grounds for learning than active engagement?!

For our assignment in class, we were given Lego robotics with instructions to build a car and program it to move here and there and turn. Well the  instructions for building were great until we had to build our own front axle and wheels on our own due to missing parts! It was great because it presented my partner and I with a problem, forced us to communicate and collaborate, and learn through trial and error. Of course, being the college geniuses that we are, we created the perfect axle.

My partner took charge of the actual programming since he has had prior experience but when it initially didn't work I was able to see that his wiring was incorrect. Go me!

Just by my short experience alone, I feel that incorporating robotics and coding can be an effective instrument in learning. Being a preprofessional History teacher, I see incorporating the Scratch program into my classroom. For instance, I can have a project option for a historical event to be to create an animation using the MIT Scratch program. Students can recreate historical events by using simple code commands to achieve their desired effects.

Overall robotics and programming is an awesome tool for the facilitation of learning. Use it teachers!

Copy https://scratch.mit.edu/ to check out what people have created with Scratch!