Reflecting on Robotics
Important Things to Know
One of the most important things that I have learned throughout this course is the power of robotics and automation. Prior to learning about robotics, I always assumed it was just a concept used in movies. The term was extremely generic and all robots were nearly the same. I did not realize how much of today's society includes different robots and automation that play a role in many daily lives. Some of these robots and automation include self driving cars (Tesla), kiosks, self-check out, and so much more! In "Preparing Our Students for a Robotic Future", Dennis Kambeitz emphasizes the fact that robotics are going to impact every job on the planet. The reasoning behind this is the increased efficiency and productivity that is made possible. Robots have the ability to master repetitive tasks with a high consistency which is perfected every single time. This results in a vast increase in productivity and reduction in errors. Another benefit is freeing human workers to focus on tasks that are more complex or require creativity which may be difficult to be achieved by a robot.
Another important thing that I learned that was that there is no doubt that robotics will take over jobs one day, but the real question is how quickly is this going to happen? China and Singapore are already putting their children through robotics classes in order to prepare them for future jobs that do not necessarily exist yet. Many people are seeing the power of robotics come to life right before their eyes which is why many are preparing for what is to come. This has definitely changed how I feel about robotics since my knowledge prior to this course was minimal. Now that I have learned the ability it possesses, I am excited to see what the future holds for it as well as how the world is going to embrace it!
Robotics and the Future
Everything that I have learned through this course is going to be incorporated into my future teaching because I have discovered various opportunities to expose my students to robotics, AI, and automation. I think the sooner that this happens for students the better. When I reflect on my own elementary experience, I was rarely even experiencing opportunities with technology let alone any type of robots. I want my students to dip their toes into robotics, AI, and automation to allow different methods of creativity and imagination. Students will also be obtaining multiple skills through these experiences such as problem-solving, designing, thinking, reasoning, mathematical, and cognitive skills. After the assignment where we had to experiment with an AI, I decided to look into AI resources that would be beneficial to my students. I found a wide variety of resources that could be used within my classroom to either make a lesson more engaging for students or further their understanding on a specific topic. This made me realize that robotics does not have to be assigned in the curriculum in order to use it with my students. I want to expose my students to any idea that could benefit not only their educational careers but also their personal lives.
If I were to run a robotics club for students I would definitely use Edison! I think this robot was a great way to introduce students to coding. I could definitely see students in my own school being excited to have Edison shimmy or play songs. It was interesting as an adult to experiment with a robot, so I could imagine what a child would feel and think. The different assignments were also fun to complete since there were so many different tasks that the Edison was able to do, and some were certainly more challenging than others. I enjoyed my trial and error moments with the Edison especially when I thought it would be easier and quickly came to discover the task was quite the opposite. It makes me wonder what this course would have been like if I had a partner to work on certain tasks with. I think students would have great conversations and experiences trying to perform these activities with a partner or group. I would love to see students create their own tasks in order to see how creative they would get. Edison is a great tool to inspire creativity and imagination!
Comments
Post a Comment