Robots in Education
The role that robots can play in opening up new avenues in the field of education – perhaps in a manner similar to that played by digital technology a few years ago
- stands, arguably, on the threshold of the agenda for debate and discussion as part of the wider discourse of curriculum change and education development in
Guyana. The avenue for this discourse has been paved by the advent, a few years ago, of the group STEM Guyana and much later by the more recent announcement by the Ministry of Education of its intention to introduce robotics as a discipline in the local school system.
It is no longer a question of determining whether or not robotics is what one might call ‘relevant technology’ at this stage of Guyana’s development. The facts speak for themselves. Our contemporary economic/developmental pursuits are becoming inextricably bound up with robotics. This is certainly the case with the oil and gas sector, a sector which, for the foreseeable future, looms large in the development of the country. Accordingly, we must begin to discuss robotics as a stimulating and strategically significant topic as part of the broader issue of the growth and development of Guyana.
The advent of STEM Guyana just a few years ago and the successful participation of a team from Guyana in a 2017 international robotics competition triggered a significantly enhanced awareness of robotics among Guyanese in both the formal and informal teaching and learning systems. There developed limited pockets of discourse regarding the desirability or otherwise of incorporating robotics into education if only for the purpose of creating an enhanced interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) or as an instrument with which to open the way for children towards a society in which robotics will be consistently integrated everywhere.
While the jury would appear to be still out on that issue, the role that STEM Guyana has played in popularising robotics in communities in several parts of Guyana coupled with the Ministry of Education’s expressed interest in inserting robotics into the curriculum point to the reality that robotics has become part of the national discourse in the broader discussion on the relevant development in our education system.
What it seems is yet to emerge, is a collaborative initiative that binds the pursuits of STEM Guyana and the formal education system along with the various other technologically-focused institutions if Guyana is to enable a speaking with one voice and a pooling of what are still limited resources to get the robotics show on the road…so to speak. It is this bringing together of the opinions and visions of stakeholders from educational institutions and tech savvy organisations which, ultimately, will lead to a realisation of that goal.
Our own admittedly limited research on robotics and education has turned up revelations arising out of the pursuits of Robotics, South Korea’s leading Educational Robotics company which asserts that “robotics is the best tool for Project Based Learning (PBL) for the 21st century and the most exciting way to learn by doing.” The view further asserts that “PBL is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which students acquire deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students learn about a subject by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to a complex question, challenge or problem.”
The robot as what one might call “an educational subject” is applied elsewhere in early primary classes among children as young as 5-6 years of age, enabling them to learn basic algorithms by programming objects and actions. During their later schooling they are exposed to competitions at different levels using robots they have built and programmed.
Robots also help to support broader educational activities in disciplines like health education where simulation is an important vehicle for learning to improve health care management. Implementation of effective teaching methodologies in the health sector rely increasingly on robotic simulators.
Many developed countries have implemented the widespread use of tele-presence robots, devices that enable sick children to benefit from out-of-classroom sessions school by through tele-operated robots.
These roles apart, robotics can also assist teachers in their pursuits by performing some types of classroom management functions like accounting for the presence or absence of students and welcoming them into the classroom by name. This facility enables the teacher to maintain his/her pedagogical focus.
Among the well-researched conclusions regarding the relevance of robots and robotics as part of the schools’ curriculum is their role in:
● strengthening scientific and technological culture in
schools;
A collaborative initiative involving STEM Guyana and a number of state agencies will deliver the country’s first ever National Robotics Competition, Stabroek Business has been informed.
The disclosure was made to this newspaper by Karen Abrams, one of the co-founders of STEM Guyana, the organisation which, in July 2017, guided a largely inexperienced team to a highly creditable 10th place in the 164-nation inaugural First Global Games, a robotics competition held in Washington, D.C.
On Monday Abrams told Stabroek Business that she was proposing to collaborate with the Ministries of Public
● facilitating the transfer of knowledge through trans- disciplinary activity- based projects;
● Serving as tools for the application of scientific thinking;
● Deployment as artefacts for rendering abstract knowledge concrete, that is to say, for teaching real- world application of math, science, programming and engineering.
As a means of contributing to the fight against school failure, robots also enable project-based teaching, and change the learning environment by making it more flexible and less stigmatising, especially for students experiencing difficulties,
Those countries that have been successful in making robotics an integral part of their education system are useful examples to follow. In South Korea, for example, the introduction of an ambitious educational robotics programme led to the placement of more than 3,000 robots in pre-schools. South Korea’s national robotics strategy has triggered the development of educational robotics companies that lead the field globally. South Korea also hosts a number of afterclass robotics programmes and competitions for children.
One decisive factor for ensuring the success of educational robotics is involving teachers. Teachers can help to identify clear learning outcomes, aims and objectives for educational robotics so that it is proven truly useful in schools.
Many traditional topics too can be taught by ‘stealth’ using robotics. Literature on the subject indicates that “light and reflection can be covered by programming line-following robots, or with ‘table-top dancers’, robots that move around a table without falling off the edge. Students can learn about the movement of a pendulum, or use data-logging tools to measure body temperature change while a student exercises. Human movement can be studied by examining the capabilities of a robotic arm, or by developing a walking robot. Data-logging tools and counters mean that reaction times, vehicle acceleration, and distances covered by a vehicle in a set amount of time can be recorded, graphed, or used for predictions.”
Robotics can also be used to generate group activities, and for problem-solving and logic-based activities. What is known as “the learner-centred approach of robotics education” also allows for open-ended teaching and learning outcomes.
Several aspects of the research for this feature drew on an article authored by Ian Maud, St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School, Victoria and Chairman of RoboCup Junior Australia. Reprinted from The Curriculum Leadership Journal Telecommunications and Business along with the Department of Youth and other public and private sector partners and that the competition will be designed by two global partners, K12youthcode.com and My Robot Time.
The April competition will be used as a local pre-qualifier event ahead of Guyana’s participation in the August 2019 International Youth Robotics Competition (IYRC) which will be held in the Republic of Korea.
Guyana, meanwhile, is scheduled to host a Caribbean robotics competition, the first of its kind in the region in November, in which 10 teams are expected to participate.
Earlier this week Abrams told Stabroek Business that while she anticipated that 2019 could be “a busy and engaging year” for young Guyanese robotics enthusiasts in terms of participation in both local and international events, her first order of business was ensuring the successful staging of the April event. “A lot of this is new to Guyana and the preparation involves a good deal of work but thankfully the work that we have done to popularise robotics in recent years has left its mark. She said that STEM Guyana was working towards attracting more than 1000 young Guyanese grouped in more than 60 teams and that entries are anticipated from schools, community centres, youth clubs and other organisations. “Our success will be measured by the extent to which we are able first, to mobilise large numbers of young people from the far corners of the country and to further popularise robotics as a national preoccupation. Teams will be grouped by age in 6-8, 9-12, 13-17 and Open categories, for the purpose of the April Competition.
Abrams said that she was hoping that 2019 would be “a watershed year” for robotics in Guyana “in terms of us being able not only to become familiar with the pursuit but also to help develop “an enhanced national understanding of the relevance of robotics to Guyana’s development. Asserting that she had noted the recent disclosure that the Ministry of Education is in the process of undertaking a robotics initiative in the school system, Abrams said that was “a pleasing disclosure.”
“We cannot afford to wait any longer. We cannot afford to take the position that Guyana is not ready. The reality is that we have to put ourselves in a state of readiness. International society is changing, technology-aided development is a reality and we cannot afford to be left behind.”
Abrams says that while Guyana is still some distance away from developing an indigenous work force capable of covering all of the areas of expertise required in the oil and gas industry, it is not too early to secure an overall grasp of robotics and its role in the sector. “The oil and gas sector has already seen its first ever autonomous robot deployed on an oil rig and as the industry moves in an innovative direction, robotics could have a profound impact on the industry’s occupational health and safety record. While it was only relatively recently that the oil and gas industry became aware that its robotics ambitions were workable, they have quickly moved to a stage where investments in the sector are valued at possibly hundreds of millions. The oil and gas sector’s investments in the robotics industry is being undertaken in an effort to maximise human capital by eliminating the need to assign workers to dangerous and strenuous offshore assignments,” Abrams said, asserting that “this is an eventuality that we in Guyana have to begin to prepare for now.”