Welcome to All Inclusive Robotics (AIR) Play Program
This program is evidence-based and designed to spark children's interest in STEM engagement.
Truly being All-Inclusive where educators and parents can engage children in practising skills such as communication, language, numeracy, social-emotional, creativity and many more!
Browse through our learning stories to see what children, educators and parents have been doing with their children using robotics for STEM engagement!
Watch Me!
Our Research Program
Early Learning with Robotics Play Program is an evidence-based program emerging from international study (2018-current) involving Australia, Norway and England early childhood and home-based settings.
The aim of this program is to provide evidence-based resources for educators and communities to better understand strategies and techniques for improving children’s social-emotional, communication, literacy and oral language skills as well as early numeracy skills through robot play. Only when children learn and practise these dispositions in their real-world natural learning environments in their early years, they are better prepared to engage with STEM trajectories in their future schooling years.
The Benefits of Robotic Play
Our research has signalled that by playing with robotics technologies, a child’s natural curiosity and sense of inquiry-based dispositions and social communication can be harnessed.
Robotics offer multimodal ways of engaging and meaning-making – through touch, sound-visual-movement, and physical encounters – that go beyond simple screen time or printed text.
Through playful explorations with robots that operate using coding apps, children are provided with unique opportunities to engage with storytelling, communicating with their peers/siblings (e.g., via role play and engage in coding the robot to perform problem-based tasks), and collaborate to build creative solutions to real-world issues using everyday recyclable resources.
Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) Practice Principles Focus
Participants will have the opportunities to reflect together and with the researchers in their learning journey and progression towards children’s development of social-emotional and literacy and numeracy skills.
Our program ensures that participants are provided with strategies to be able to incorporate into their planning of activities and robot experiences that caters to the family’s priorities and children’s goals. In summary, the program supports participants to align their practice with the below Practice Principles.
Reflective
practice
Respectful relationships and responsive engagement
Integrated teaching and learning approaches
Outcomes for Children
Our program is conceptualised on the premise that children’s learning of skills of building respectful relationships are deeply connected to the quality support system available in their natural learning environments.
The program ensures educators walk away with strategies to achieving children’s development of:
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Express emotions and behaviours in the form of words and questions
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Embody resilience during manipulative play with the toys and collaborating with peers to achieve a shared goal
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Integrated teaching and learning approaches
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Evaluate encountered problems, pose solutions and narrate through stories their problem-solving journeys
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Engage in continuous questioning, suggest ideas and pose solutions between and/or amongst each other (with adults and peers)
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Learn oral language skills about negotiation, conflict resolution, understanding social cues, and listening to each other’s (adults’ and peers’) perspectives
Resources
