At Ozobot, one of our greatest joys is witnessing the magic of STEM in action as students dive into color codes and Blockly. Their eyes light up as they watch a simple color code control Evo’s speed, and they marvel at the brilliance of Ari‘s screen displaying real-life images. It’s a front-row seat to the power of STEM mindsets at work. And, ideally, students don’t stop at marveling. Our lessons for Ozobot are hands-on and experiential – they lend themselves beautifully to the key tenets of excellent STEM education.
Why does this matter? Because we know the benefits of a strong, robust STEM education reverberate for children throughout their schooling and their lives. The NGSS Science Standards put it best: “Science is not just a body of knowledge that reflects current understanding of the world; it is also a set of practices used to establish, extend, and refine that knowledge.”
STEM education, at its most effective, changes the way students interact with the people and world around them.
Consider the experience of a visitor to Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park – a geyser that predictably erupts every 90 minutes and can reach heights of up to 180 feet. It is one of the most awe-inspiring natural phenomena in the United States, and many children who see it might comment on the “magic” that causes water to erupt so high in the sky at such a regular cadence. Children immersed in STEM education, however, might experience it with a different lens, asking:
- What is in the water and steam released during an eruption? Does it change over time?
- What geological conditions contribute to the predictability of Old Faithful’s eruptions?
- How do the organisms surrounding Old Faithful survive in such extreme conditions?
Great STEM education teaches students to think like a scientist, meaning they do not take experiences at face value and simply move on. They inquire, they ask questions, they discuss, and they peel back the layers of an experience. By integrating the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, this interdisciplinary method emphasizes real-world applications, so when students are out in the world they carry a spirit and mindset of critical thinking and creativity.
Models for Hands-On Learning
One of the key tenets of STEM education is the development and use of models. In practice, this could look like creating a terrarium to show the interactions between organisms in an ecosystem or designing and building a popsicle bridge to demonstrate understanding of structural integrity and forces. It could be a student-constructed simulation of the rotation of Earth on its axis and how this leads to the cycle of day and night.
The model serves as a student’s own explanation of a given scientific phenomenon, giving agency for how they show what they know while providing teachers with valuable insight into student understanding of a concept. When students construct their own examples of the world around them, they are able to conceptualize natural occurrences that are otherwise abstract.
For multilingual learners, models are a beautiful way to communicate their understanding of a scientific concept and can aid in vocabulary development and meaning-making. The process of planning for and creating a prototype is also language-intensive as it often involves revising a representation based on new evidence and information. By providing a platform for engaging, authentic, and meaningful discourse with peers, MLLs can apply language in a highly student-centered way.
Over the years, Ozobot’s NGSS-aligned lessons that ask students to model their understanding of a scientific concept have been some of our most popular. In Modeling Animal Habits, kindergartners program their bot to imitate a rabbit looking for food using the point counters. Trait Match-Up is aligned to NGSS standards for first grade life sciences and walks students through the process of programming their bot to randomly choose inherited traits from the animal parents. One of the most popular middle school NGSS-aligned Ozobot lessons is a three-part series dedicated to the Engineering Design Process. Students are asked to apply the methodical Engineering Design Process to a simple situation, modeling their understanding of this key concept.
Because the start of the school year is all about community-building and setting routines that will last all year, each of the lessons in our August Lesson Spotlight ask students to model aspects of their school day, community, and essential routines for learning. We think this is a great way to introduce or brush up on color coding or Blockly programming while simultaneously sparking conversation and thinking about the school environment. Ozobot is the ideal mechanism for student modeling in a novel situation and simultaneously integrates technology, robotics and programming with content.
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Another essential aspect of STEM education is inquiry-based learning, where students are presented with a question tied to a problem. Students are encouraged to ask questions, make approximations, and test then refine their solutions. Especially when contrasted with the traditional methods of “sit and get” instruction, this process promotes deep engagement and understanding of concepts. When students are in the driver’s seat of their own learning and testing process, they develop their own independence and ownership.
The positive impacts of inquiry-based learning reverberate throughout the design cycle– because of their involvement in testing and iterating around solutions, student’s written and verbal explanations of their conclusions are more robust. Scientists communicate amongst themselves and to the world at large through written explanations (typically in a Claim, Evidence, Reasoning format). The insistence that claims make use of evidence in a logical manner and synthesize multiple pieces of evidence to create an original claim is standard across STEM fields. Thinking critically about the evidence presented, posing new and novel questions based on data, and refining explanations are thinking skills that benefit students from Kindergarten throughout their university careers.
One of the tools that combines all aspects of STEM education, from synthesis of contents to modeling to inquiry-based learning is the Ozobot Challenge Mats. Students are immersed in one context (Mars, Ocean, Soccer or Basketball) and presented with a series of coding challenges. Students engage in inquiry-based learning via the problems presented on the challenge cards or the teacher-facing lesson plans. The mats can accommodate up to four Evo robots at once, promoting collaboration as students work through models of real-world scenarios to demonstrate their understanding of both the content and Blockly programming.
Integrated Approach, Integrated Benefits
Encouraging students to approach problems and questions with curiosity, skepticism, and a systematic method of inquiry provides benefits throughout the school day. For example, an 8th grader in Social Studies who learns about the American Revolution and notes the discrepancies between rights for women and men may feel more compelled to learn about female revolutionaries. This student might take a completely different approach to the study of history than one who simply sits and takes the information at face value without questioning evidence. From a social-emotional perspective, children who respond with curiosity rather than defensiveness when they first encounter a disagreement with a peer show significantly higher levels of interpersonal skills.
Researchers for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) found that young children’s curiosity – specifically, their “eagerness to learn new things” – was as good a predictor of their later kindergarten Math and Reading achievement, as were early measures of self-control. The implications for this research are compelling and underscore the need to create environments that stimulate curiosity and exploration. This is as simple as asking young children open-ended questions when observing something new – asking them what they notice and why they think something is occurring.
Incorporating STEM education into the curriculum goes beyond just teaching technical skills; it cultivates a mindset that values curiosity, critical thinking, and exploration. By nurturing these qualities, we empower students to become lifelong learners who approach problems with creativity and resilience. This foundation not only supports their academic growth across all subjects but also equips them with the social-emotional skills necessary to navigate the complexities of modern life. As educators and parents, our role is to create environments that encourage inquiry and innovation, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential. STEM education is not just about the future of technology and innovation; it is about the future of our students and their ability to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
