We are excited to see that our Robot Workshop (previously known as our Studio) is encouraging many long-term projects. When a student is able to return to a project over many days, they are working on many important qualities, such as attending and engaging (11a) persisting (11b), and demonstrating positive approaches to learning (11e). These are all necessary skills as they get older and progress academically.
Because the students are spending so much time on these robots, we are able to ask them to think through their choices in a deeper way. What their robots do and don't do, how they move and perform tasks, and what each part on the robot does are all questions the students are excited to answer, but also encourage higher level reasoning and thinking.
"It must not be forgotten that the basic law of children's creativity is that its value lies not in its results, not in the product of creation, but in the process itself. It is not important what children create but that they do create, that they exercise and implement their creative imagination." -Lev Vygotsky
Because the students are spending so much time on these robots, we are able to ask them to think through their choices in a deeper way. What their robots do and don't do, how they move and perform tasks, and what each part on the robot does are all questions the students are excited to answer, but also encourage higher level reasoning and thinking.
"It must not be forgotten that the basic law of children's creativity is that its value lies not in its results, not in the product of creation, but in the process itself. It is not important what children create but that they do create, that they exercise and implement their creative imagination." -Lev Vygotsky