Ready, Set…Robotics!

We’re all waiting for robots to make our lives better – but did you know that for children facing disadvantage, they’re already changing lives?

Quality STEM learning programs can provide children with rich learning experiences that are accessible, engaging and that can lead to better educational and life outcomes.

But in communities experiencing social disadvantage, access to technology in the home can be extremely limited – in fact, when the pandemic first hit, up to 85% of students in our partner schools didn’t own devices that would enable them to learn from home, and 40% lacked access to internet. Likewise, quality robotics equipment is simply unattainable for many of our partner schools.

Ardoch recognises the importance of STEM education for future jobs, which is why we’re giving students the chance to learn about coding and engineering. One of the ways we do this is through age-appropriate robotics kits and tech boxes to give students opportunities to learn coding, engineering and problem-solving skills as a group in an applied context.

From our Junior Tech Boxes featuring “Bee Bots”, an exciting robot designed help teach Preps about sequencing, estimation, problem-solving and just how to have fun with robotics, to our Future Gen Tech Boxes which help high school students design and test their own electronics, each robotics kit encourages students to engage in teamwork and improve their collaboration skills.

We also assist teachers to undertake professional development to improve their confidence in using the kits and supporting student learning. The Robotics Programs are just one of Ardoch’s suite of STEM programs to foster children’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills in fun, engaging and relevant ways.