STEAM Education
KinderLab Robotics Releases K–2 Robotics and Coding Curriculum
KinderLab Robotics has released a new curriculum for early elementary grades designed to support education in robotics, coding and computational thinking. "Growing with KIBO - A Progressive Robotics Curriculum for Grades K–2" also offers integration with arts and literacy activities.
According to KinderLab: "'Growing with KIBO' is built upon the work of Dr. Marina Bers and her DevTech Research Group at Tufts University. The new guide expands upon the research-backed progression established in KinderLab's Creating with KIBO curriculum, adding many more classroom hours of lesson plans and establishing a clear, progressive scope and sequence built on three themes: powerful ideas in computational thinking, the engineering design process, and social-emotional learning (SEL). Each of these themes is grounded in Dr. Bers' extensive research and her published pedagogical frameworks around creative and positive technology education for early childhood."
It includes 60 total hours of materials, including three levels of progression — : novice, intermediate and advanced — each with 20 hours of material. It also offers "suggestions on how to encourage collaboration, sharing, and reflection within the lessons help support children's emotional development alongside STEM/STEAM learning."
"When working with KIBO, kids are learning coding and engineering through hands-on experience," said Angie Kalthoff, technology integrationist in St. Cloud Area School District 742 in Minnesota, in a prepared statement. "Growing with KIBO supports teachers in creating this hands-on environment. Instead of telling students directly what to do, you are encouraged to allow them to try and ask questions that start with 'Have you noticed…' and 'What happens when...'? In my favorite activity, the Hokey Pokey, students get up and dance with their robots. They program KIBO to dance one part of the dance at a time, developing their critical thinking as they match their dance actions to KIBO's programming blocks. They are learning sequencing and programming through movement and creative expression."
The curriculum is expected to ship Feb. 28. It's available now for preorder at an introductory price of $50.