Database #1 - Robotics Kits, ELA Instruction & Student Engagement

 Introduction: 

This school year I will be using the book “Ungifted,” by Gordon Korman for a novel study. In the text, an average student is accidentally enrolled in a gifted student program. One of the courses that this student is forced to take is robotics. After reading this book, I wondered if there was a way to have my students integrate robotics into the ELA classroom in a meaningful manner? Throughout this stage of my inquiry project, I will be completing some research on English instruction that involves robotics. The end goal will be to create a database of resources for robotics instruction that is related to English Language Arts, as well as student engagement.  

Resource #1: Ready, Set, Robotics! 

Valenzuela, J. (2021). Ready, set, robotics!: Build computational thinking skills in the k-8 classroom. International Society for Technology in Education. https://link.gale.com/apps/pub/60EZ/GVRL?u=queensulaw&sid=bookmark-GVRL 

This resource lists some methods in which to teach robotics in the English Language Arts classroom. Some of the ideas that I found interesting from the article include: 

• Representing the journey of literary characters through the programming of robots. For example, programming a robot to have the same qualities of a character in a book. How could you show the characteristics of Hermione Grainger through the programming of a robot? (para. 3) 
• Helping a character solve a problem in a story by programming a robot to do it - How could we program a robot to complete the obstacle course in “Ungifted?” How could a robot show the escape route of the characters in the novel “Maze Runner?” (para. 3) 
• Document results in a design journal as it will have students practice their reading, writing, expression skills and brainstorming skills. This will also help students keep track of their learning process and would be a good assessment piece for the teacher. (para. 4) 

Please note that this resource also has a great databank of robotics ideas for other content areas like mathematics and social studies.  

 

Resource #2: Wonder Workshop Website Lesson 

Wonder Workshop. (2022). Lesson 1: Introduction to Cue. Educational Resources. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://education.makewonder.com/curriculum/applied-robotics/7e3c87a8-cc05-4ff2-aa91-8ea4697b1480 

The Wonder Workshop website has a variety of resources for general robotics instruction. The link 

above will take you to a specific lesson that connects robotics to English Language Arts. One of the benefits of the Wonder Workshop lessons is that it lists common core outcomes that may apply to your curriculum. Although these outcomes are not Alberta specific, they did give me a better sense of how I could connect robotics to the Alberta Program of Studies for ELA. See below for some of the outcomes that the website listed: 

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3: Follow precisely a multistep procedure or write a multistep procedure for an activity.  
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific context.  

 

Resource #3: Examining Language Arts through Robotics 

Cubelets Chat. (2021, April 14). Examining language arts through robotics - Modular robotics: Cubelets robot blocks. Modular Robotics | Cubelets robot blocks. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://modrobotics.com/cubeletschat/examining-language-arts-through-robotics/ 

The article linked above that is posted to the Cubelets Chat website has some good ideas on how to link robotics to the writing process. Some of the specific ideas that I liked from the website were:

• The act of writing code into a computer helps students edit and revise their writing, paying extra attention to detail. Within computer code, one wrong letter or punctuation mark will invalidate a whole program (para. 2) 
• One great solution is to have students write their own sequence procedure. Sequencing is all about writing in chronological steps, often using transition words like first, next, and then. This is good practice for students to use transition words correctly and to ensure that their writing can be clearly followed (para. 6) 
• Cause and Effect writing --> When I do this, the robot does this or the robot is more effective when I do this, less effective when I do this (para. 7) 
• Confused Robots Activity - Each group builds a robot that includes one silly mistake, then writes a short description of what the robot would do if it was built correctly.  At the end, groups trade robots and practice writing Problem and Solution responses to practice giving and receiving constructive feedback. (para. 8) 

 

Resource #4: How Robots in English Class Can Spark Empathy and Improve Writing 

Schwartz, K. (2016, July 28). How robots in english class can spark empathy and improve writing. KQED. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/45834/how-robots-in-english-class-can-spark-empathy-and-improve-writing 

This was truly the best resource I found for robotics integration in the English Language Arts classroom. There were lots of great lesson resources and information on how to use robotics to connect to a novel study. As a bonus, this article also wrote about how robotics instruction can lead to students building empathy for others. Check out the list below for some specific information that I pulled from this resource: 

• “For someone like me who teaches literature by lots of dead white guys, teaching programming adds relevance to my class,” (para. 2) 
• For the next Spheros project, students chose a character from Mark Twain’s classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and programmed their Spheros to represent the personality, emotions and journey of that character. Students had to go back to the text and use close-reading strategies to find textual evidence that would back up their interpretation of the setting, motivations and feelings of the character. Then they had to decide how the Spheros, a simple round ball that can light up, could represent those qualities. (para. 6) 
• Programming is very similar to the writing process. Students like to finish something quickly and never look at it again. As students collaboratively planned their storylines, tried programming different representations into the Spheros and modified their approaches, they began to see the importance of revision. (para. 8) 
• Project on Beowulf - Studied the three different battles between Beowulf and Grendel. Next, students chose a battle to represent using the robot. Students had to code their Spheros to not only represent the actions of their character in the battle, but also collaborate with the group representing their opponent so that the interactions in the battle matched up. (para. 9) 
• Lord of the Flies Project – Three challenges using the robots: 
• Challenge #1 – Shelter Challenge 
• Challenge #2 – Fire Challenge 
• Challenge #3 – Pig Hunt 
• He then assigned each student a character and programmed each robot to have the abilities and resources that matched that character’s personality. For example, the Sphero representing Piggy was programmed to go half as fast as the fastest boy’s Sphero, but because he is a resourceful, smart character he had more tools to complete the challenges. (para. 20) 

 

 Resource #5: Using Robots in Literacy 

Teaching Smarter. (2018). Using robots in literacy. YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhwnYQOBtso. 

In this video, an elementary school teacher completes a tour of his classes robotics assignments for the novel “Wild Robot.” Here are some of the big points that I pulled out of the video:

• After reading a novel study book, students were tasked with creating the setting of a scene using robotics. They needed to use hands-on materials to create this scene (I.e., paper, modelling clay, etc.) 
• Filmed the robot taking a tour of their selected scene from the book. The robot had to fit within the stage, so that was an added challenge for the students. 
• Decorated their robot to look like the main character from the book 

 

Resource #6: Exploring Student Engagement with a Humanoid Robot 

Levchak, S. (2016). Robotic literacy learning companions: Exploring student engagement with a humanoid robot in an afterschool literacy program (Order No. 10616587). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1972753233). Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/robotic-literacy-learning-companions- exploring/docview/1972753233/se-2 

This dissertation created by Sofia Levchak explored literacy learning using the NAO Humanoid Robot. I was intrigued by this dissertation because Levchak was exploring reading comprehension and how it may be positively impacted by robotics integration. Below are some of the main points that I pulled out of the dissertation: 

• NAO Humanoid Robot is not a replacement for the teacher, but a way to engage students and promote higher order thinking skills (p. 10) 
• Purpose of study was to explore the effects of robots on student engagement and reading comprehension (p. 14) 
• The integration of the NAO humanoid robot into reading has the potential to elicit feelings of involvement and curiosity, and to encourage social interaction (p. 15) 
• NAO robot would ask the students questions after they read a text (p. 15) - Motivating tool for students to comprehend what they were reading, so that they could respond to the robot 
• Students who had access to the robot to ask comprehension questions showed a stronger willingness to read afterwards in comparison to those who did not have access – Only when recreationally reading and not academic reading (p. 91) 
• Willingness to participate in reading comprehension questions after reading did not change between the control and experimental group (p. 102) 
• Students appeared to have a hard time understanding the robot when it asked comprehension questions (p. 102) - I wonder if this would change with a different type of robot? 

Some of the questions I have after reading this dissertation include: 

• This article was published in 2016, so would a modern robot for 2022 impact reading comprehension levels more than what was viewed in this study? 
• Could robots that are not humanoid help students with reading comprehension? What type of robots could be tested? 

 

 

Resource #7: Developing Creative Behavior with Robotics 

Nemiro, J., Larriva, C., & Jawaharlal, M. (2015). Developing creative behavior in elementary school students with robotics. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 51(1), 70–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.87 

This article was more closely related to student engagement in robotics instruction, than English Languages Arts integration. Many of the resources studied in this article stated that robotics instruction proved to make students more creative and divergent thinkers, as well as allowed them to be more engaged in their learning. I also liked that this article listed some robotics challenges that could be modified to fit into the ELA classroom. Please find the main points that I pulled out of the article below: 

• The robotics classrooms were characterized by a high degree of energy (para. 1) 
• Creative employees are needed, individuals who have the capacity to continually take in new knowledge and information, and exhibit innovation and complex problem-solving ability – robotics can help with this (para. 2) 
• Structured divergent thinking or problem-solving activities designed to increase the students' ability to think of many different approaches to a given problem (para. 7) 
• Competitive robotics programs - Designed to enhance student creative behavior, which involve engaging the students to work in teams to solve a variety of problems. (para. 7) 
• Researchers have discovered that the students retain content better and are more enthused when they learn how to use their knowledge in the real world (para. 8) 
• Robotics programs in education offer the students authentic learning possibilities for balancing the need for standards-based knowledge acquisition in math and science with the development of student creative behavior. (para. 8) 
• Robotics has been proven to be effective in teaching students with learning disabilities (para. 9) 
• In studies conducted, robotics was found to generate a high degree of interest (para. 9) 
• The Maze Challenge: The students were required to program robots to move through a maze composed of straight 12-inch-wide corridors, connected by 90° turns. The corridors were defined by 10-inch-high walls made of foam board. (para. 16) 
• The SUMO Challenge: The objective was to push an opposing robot out of a 4 foot in diameter circular ring. Alternatively, an opposing robot could be disabled by flipping it over or lifting and turning it over, without actually destroying the Lego parts of the opposing robot. Winners were determined through a series of elimination rounds. (para. 17) 
• The XBOT Challenge: The student teams were asked to program an XBOT (explorer robot) to locate a target object in only one try. Teams received information about the location of the object in distances and turns. (para. 18) 

 

Resource #8: Robotics & Literacy 

Drew, G. (2019, January 24). Robotics and literacy: A means of teaching students academic language. University of Nevada, Reno. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2019/robotics-and-literacy 

This article wrote about some of the language skills that students achieved based on their work with robotics. In particular, the article stated that most students were able to write more specifically after working with the coding of the robots. Please see below for some of the specific ideas that I pulled out of the article: 

• Working with robotics shifted students' language skills from non-specific to descriptive. For example, we need to program it 20 rotations and make it turn 90 degrees (para. 6) 
• Teaches students how to build, program and talk about robotics. Students used Lego building blocks to acquire scientific language and improve their overall literacy.  Students are also given a community to work within. (para. 9) 
• Students who have decided to participate in the program are not the students who are most successful at reading but those who are struggling or behind that really want to participate and learn (para. 10) 

 

Resources Not Related to ELA or Engagement: 

Listed in this section are resources that are not related to ELA or engagement in robotics learning. However, I found that these resources had some worthwhile information included in them. I also wanted to include these articles in my database to show that I was regularly reflecting upon whether a resource connected well to ELA or did not. See below for more information.  

 

Resource #1: Coding is the New Literacy 

Cable News Network. (2021). 'Coding is the new literacy': How Stem toys teach kids programming skills. CNN. Retrieved July 16, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/10/18/kinderlab-robotics-imagilabs-hnk-spc-intl.cnn 

• Robotics coding is a symbol system that allows you to communicate with the world, just like learning a language
• Kibo Robotics - Teaches 4-7 year old's how to code a robot using a simple color coded system
• Sequencing of coding is the same process as when we read and write
• Robotics can be screen free learning which encourages hands-on activities, collaboration, problem solving, etc.
• Technology is the future, so it is meaningful to integrate it into the classroom

 

Resource #2: Experiential Learning in Middle School Robotics Courses 

Rihtaršič, D., Avsec, S., & Kocijancic, S. (2015) Experiential learning of electronics subject matter in middle school robotics courses. International journal of technology and design education 2015, 26 (2), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-015-9310-7. 

This article would be a good one to read if you are looking for information on how to integrate robotics meaningfully into an option course. Within the article, the authors write about several robotics challenges for students that may be helpful for teachers. The authors also write briefly about how “robotics is a powerful motivator of learning” (Rihtaršič, Avsec & Kocijancic, 2015, p. 206). Check out this article for general robotics information! 

   

Resource #3: Exploring the Potentials of Educational Robotics  

Ioannou, & Makridou, E. (2018). Exploring the potentials of educational robotics in the development of computational thinking: A summary of current research and practical proposal for future work. Education and Information Technologies, 23(6), 2531–2544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-018-9729-z 

This article focuses too heavily on computational thinking to be included in my main database of resources. That being said, I was able to pull out some good general information on robotics which you can find listed below: 

• Give students the additional benefit of interacting with a concrete object in constructing their knowledge. (para. 3) 
• Robotics appear to be a needed tool in children’s hands, offering embodied and situated learning experiences. (para. 3) 
• Educational robotics seem to encourage students to think creatively, analyze situations and apply critical thinking and problem solving to real world problems (para. 3) 
• Educational robotics suggest learning through design and include activities such as constructing and operating robot platforms (para. 11)