by PRP Group, on 01/17/2023
A STEAM education expert explains how teachers can blend robotics and values, imparting lessons on generosity, perseverance and collaboration while coding.
When I was a student in Argentina in the early ’90s and told my dad I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. at the MIT Media Lab, I explained, “This is a dream.”
And my dad said, “But MIT? You don’t like computers. Why are you going there?”
“I’m going there because I love writing,” I told him.
“And what’s the connection between writing and computer science?” he asked.
“They’re both ways to create worlds to create meaning,” I replied.
How robotics and values work together
Teachers create worlds and meaning every day in the classroom by bringing not only skill-based curriculum, but a hidden curriculum: values. Values are those things we find important. When we ask students to spend precious class time on a specific lesson or project, we’re communicating to our students what we find important.