Elementary education majors explore STEAM with hands-on robotics

On Tuesday night, students in kindergarten through fifth grade gathered at Reiman Gardens for an evening of hands-on learning with educational coding robots. The event featured activities designed by 22 elementary education majors enrolled in “Toying with Technology,” one of Iowa State’s School of Education courses offered this fall.

The course, taught by education associate professor E.J. Bahng, gave future teachers the chance to explore how technology can shape innovative PK–12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) activities. These activities promote computational thinking and use the engineering design process to foster creativity and problem-solving skills.

As part of the course, students connected with Iowa State engineering faculty and graduate students to learn what engineers do and why they chose their careers. Using what they learned, the education majors created interactive activities for the community.

Beyond technical skills, the course emphasized real-world experience. Students not only designed interdisciplinary STEAM lessons but also engaged directly with elementary learners, giving them an opportunity to see how their ideas translate into practice.

One activity, created by seniors Brooklyn Vandevanter and Kacie Maynard, brought the children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar to life. Using a Blue-Bot, a small, programmable robot, children coded the number of spaces the robot moved across a grid to “feed” the caterpillar.

“Rather than completing a worksheet about what happened in the story, students can do a coding activity, which is a lot more fun,” Vandevanter said. She explained that the activity helps kids see that engineering doesn’t have to be intimidating. They can start small and build their skills over time.

Maynard agreed and added that the activity also teaches an important lesson: mistakes are part of learning.

“Using Blue-Bots shows students that we want them to mess up, so we can explain how the technology works,” she said. “This feels more like a game for them than learning. If there’s technology, they get excited for it, but they’re still learning.”

Another team, seniors Nora Graening and Alena Layman, designed an activity where children drew shapes on a tablet and watched a small floor robot trace those shapes in real life. Students could also control the robot’s speed.

“I feel like incorporating these types of robots brings a new dimension into education,” Layman said. “If students are able to have fun with their learning—playing with something but still gaining knowledge—it will make a big impact.”

Bahng hopes that the event demonstrated to her teacher candidates the power of gift-based reciprocity and their ability to positively impact their communities.

“When they become teachers and design their lessons, they can incorporate some of the elements they’ve learned from the community-based learning here and the semester- long behind-the-scenes collaborative efforts,” she said.