by PRP Group, on 11/22/2024
American schools begin teaching English language arts in early childhood, but, in some places, STEM education doesn’t start until middle school. In 2024, I find that surprising. Inspired by the work of Marina Bers, Ph.D., a distinguished professor at Boston College and my co-founder at KinderLab Robotics, I believe that students are ready and eager to learn STEM concepts much earlier in their education. Bers’ work has provided scientific evidence supporting the idea that the brain is particularly receptive to anything that resembles a language during the early elementary years — and the idea that coding is a language.
One of the key underlying concepts of coding is design thinking: generating an idea, testing it, modifying it and repeating this process. Working with robots like KIBO, which Bers created, is a natural way to engage young learners and teach them this kind of thinking. Here are three keys to bringing STEM learning to young students.
