Robotics for Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Inspire Future Innovators

Woodland Hills School District, an urban school district just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. had ambitious goals: to improve the STEM education of its students and remove barriers to participation in STEM careers, especially for women and minorities.

To implement their bold vision, school authorities supplied every school and K-5 classroom with age-appropriate VEX robotics education programs. Teachers received support for implementation and the results have been impressive. Students at all grade levels work with teachers and classmates to build, program, and use their robots. In doing so they’re mastering STEM concepts and building soft skills like teamwork and communication.

Far from Pittsburgh, Venu Cheedella of Walpole, Massachusetts remembers his son, Abhinai, drawing inspiration for an elementary school science fair project from watching his father use a snow blower. The idea was to use a remote control to drive the machine while sitting in the garage. Now a sixth-grader with a keen interest in science, Abhinai was in third grade when he worked with his teacher to program a LEGO Spike Prime robot to clear cotton (snow) in an open space and return to base. For her second-grade science fair, Abhinai’s sister, Anaina, chose to solve her biggest headache — lifting a watering can to tend to plants — by creating a basic motorized pump with help from her teacher.

These anecdotes are just two examples of how both schools and parents can nurture an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in young children. Starting early helps an appetite take root that often sustains through the middle and high school years.

In this first of a three-part series focused on robotics education pathways, we focus on the Pre-K through elementary school set and explore early robotics education. At this stage, STEM and robotics are nearly interchangeable, although robotics kits are especially useful because of the hands-on tactile nature that encourages children to learn while doing.

The value of a STEM-nurturing ecosystem

The Cheedella children’s interest in STEM might have been organic but a sustained and nurturing ecosystem helped keep the flame alive. “We are always on the lookout for any opportunities, programs, books, videos, or mentors — just about anything that can further curiosity and learning,” Cheedella says.

The kind of parental encouragement that the Cheedellas provide does not always reflect the reality of the rest of the United States, says Andy Schaafs, senior director of development at The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation. RECF’s global mission is to provide every educator with competition, education, and workforce readiness programs to increase student engagement in science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science.

While Schaafs himself went to college to become a chemical engineer, he was the first in his family to do so, and overcame rural poverty before he could get there. The Cheedellas themselves work in technology so setting a precedent for their children likely helps spur their interest in STEM. Coming from a non-technical family however, Schaafs found inspiration to pursue STEM from a school math club. Cheedella also recognizes the value of having his children’s schooling. “Studying at an excellent Montessori school where everything is hands-on has been super helpful,” he says.

To encourage an early interest in STEM, it’s not always possible to depend on one set of providers in a child’s life. Instead, a whole ecosystem of support may help them flourish.

The early foundations for STEM: Catch ‘em young

No matter where they find inspiration, it’s important to hook kids in STEM at an early age, Schaafs says. “Youth in certain pockets in the United States and in the world are told they can and can’t do things. It’s important we give kids experiences so a STEM mindset takes hold before they have a chance to fall prey to stereotypes and that really happens in third or fourth grade,” he adds. “It’s important for elementary school children to learn that they can do math and science before someone tells them they can’t, otherwise we have lost a good section of a generation,” Schaafs says.

Glade Montgomery, senior vice president of partnerships at Project Lead the Way, agrees. “Kids can’t be what they can’t see, so exposing them to the types of careers and opportunities that are available to them, particularly at an early age in elementary school, is really critical to their future success,” says Montogomery. Project Lead the Way develops STEM curricula for use by U.S. elementary, middle, and high schools.

“If you don’t expose children to engineering by the fifth grade the only kids going to engineering at that point are the ones who already have family members in it,” adds Ritch Ramey, director of education for the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

The benefits of early-age STEM and robotics

The four skills employers request most from prospective employees are communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking, according to Project Lead the Way. Students who learn STEM and STEAM (with arts included) develop these transportable skills early, the organization says, which is a leg up in a competitive work landscape.

And early STEM exposure is not just about a singular focus on a STEM-related career, the experts say. “Children gain confidence in problem solving and in their own ideas, which is huge. Rather than waiting for a teacher or a parent to solve their problems, they are able to start thinking about a process,” Griggs says. This is especially important for girls who, Griggs has observed, sometimes lose confidence in third grade and “wait for help rather than being comfortable moving forward and making mistakes as part of the learning process,” she adds.

Schaafs agrees. “Learning that failure is a good thing is one of the most important things students young and old can learn. It’s something that they can learn from as they iterate. And a good coach or educator is going to emphasize that with their students as they progress: here are the things that worked well and let’s try to improve upon the rest,” Schaaf says.

Some worry that a singular focus on STEM might tamp learning in other subjects. “Overly technical or structured activities might limit their natural curiosity and creativity. And sometimes, some schools may face resource constraints, making it challenging to provide equitable access to STEM programs, which could widen the gap between learners,” says Iqbal Ahmad, founder and CEO at Britannia Education Group, a provider of educational products and services.

These fears are legitimate, which is why Montgomery points out that an emphasis on including STEM in education is not about muscling other disciplines out. “It’s not to take the place of foundational knowledge in literacy and math that kids desperately need. It’s about showing them where they can apply these skills in a real-world context,” he says.

What does early engagement look like?

Spurring early interest in STEM can start with basic toys that encourage spatial reasoning and visualization and out-of-the-box thinking. Such toys include Duplo LEGO blocks or building kits (see sidebar).

“In elementary school [interest in STEM might come from] a classroom visit from a professional or a guest speaker from a local business talking about what their business does,” Montgomery says.

Examples of school successes in encouraging STEM and robotics pursuits abound. Kansas City public schools know the importance of early STEM education and have implemented Project Lead the Way’s Launch, which includes STEM programming for K-6 students. The district has seen that as students progress through fifth grade, they are increasingly able to collaborate with teammates and solve interdisciplinary problems.

Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) in Texas has an at-risk population of 42.6% and took on the challenge of integrating computational thinking into the K-5 curriculum. Teachers attended a training session and developed creative ways to integrate VEX programs. Students became so engaged with the robots that teachers wove them into lessons beyond the original mandate of half the school year.

Greenwood Elementary School in Greenwood, Indiana, participates in the First Lego League Jr. robotics program, which introduces young students to coding, robotics, and teamwork, points out Arvind Rongala, CEO of Edstellar, a corporate training services company. Designed for second to fourth graders, the program ensures a hands-on STEM foundation at an early age. “The school’s robot design teams have won prizes at state competitions. Teachers say students are better at problem-solving, more confident, and more interested in STEM subjects. Parents report that their children perform better in school and extra-curricular activities,” Rongala says.

And Kristi Matlack, high school robotics teacher and VEX Robotics coach at North Union Local Schools in Richwood, Ohio, has seen fourth-grade elementary school students in her district compete successfully in VEX IQ competitions. Even at the elementary school level, children learn how to work through the design process and the concept of friendly competition, Matlack says.

Advice for parents and educators

Seeding such successes takes concerted hard work. To hook children early, Elaine Griggs, a high school teacher in Pembroke, Massachusetts, suggests teachers get involved. A science bent is not necessary because most robotics kits are very easy to use, Ramey says. Griggs has been teaching robotics for 20 years, offers mentoring programs and coding workshops for grades 2-8 in robotics. Mentors are high school students in three clubs Griggs oversees: Computer Science Honors Society, Future Women Engineers, and Robotics.

Parents can also do their part, Griggs says. “Even if parents think they cannot teach STEM ideas, they can attend science museums and local events at libraries with their children. Keep a STEM memories book or a science journal where you can make pictures and record science,” she says.

“I always tell parents to lead by example when it comes to creating an interest in STEM. Start with fun, interactive tools that turn learning into play — think Osmo or Tynker for coding. Get involved yourself and address daily challenges together, if it be through cooking, which means a bit of math and science, or fixing things around the house,” advises Mohit S. Jain, the founder of Genie Academy, provider of after-school enrichment and tutoring.

“It’s important for parents to mix STEM activities and free exploration to help children build a well-rounded foundation for learning,” Ahmad says, “this approach fosters resilience and curiosity, which are invaluable not only in STEM but in education as a whole.”

Griggs agrees. “Start with children’s interests and expand from there. Modeling great listening skills and playing games is a great place to start,” she says.