Making Robotics Easier to Implement in STEM Classrooms

Robotics kits are becoming a standard teaching tool in the classroom, but there’s still a lot of complexity and cost associated with incorporating this popular STEM tool, said longtime educator and EdTech expert Travis Rink. In this episode of the EdTech Podcast, host Sean Heath sat down with him to discuss the ins and outs of using Mimio’s new robotics kit for STEM classroom learning.

“In STEM, we’re training kids for jobs that haven’t even been created yet,” Rink said.

As a science teacher, Rink worked with Mimio’s various professional development and classroom tools. Now as the Mimio Educator Advocacy Leader, he manages global training programs. Mimio’s latest tool is the MyBot educational robotics system, developed to fulfill a need in robotics and coding in the classroom without the added complexity common in most systems.

“I’m a teacher at heart. And I really think the Mimio MyBot solution is a fantastic system that’s going to revolutionize what kids can do,” Rink said. “What makes it so cool is that it’s easy to use. Take it out of the box and it’s ready to go.”

The MyBot is easy for teachers as well as children ranging from elementary school, who use blocks of preassembled code to give the robot commands, to high schoolers, who use Python to work with the robot, Rink said.

But the distinction, Rink said, is this robot’s fundamental purpose.

“In the past few years we’ve seen a lot more companies displaying their robots but a lot of them are just toys. How would I use this in the classroom?” Rink said. “ That’s where the Mimio MyBot solution is a great head above by getting to the nuts and bolts of programming it.”

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