Educational robotics has become popular for enriching learning environments and promoting knowledge-building activities, especially in STEM. Young learners are provided with opportunities to develop real-life skills through robotic-based activities, including computational thinking, programming, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving. However, when integrating robotic-based activities into teaching, the focus on young learners’ expressive language development has not been emphasized. Thanks to the TU College of Education (COE) dean’s office and BTU–Partnerships for Greater Baltimore for supporting and providing an excellent opportunity to explore the effectiveness of integrating robotic-based storytelling activities to facilitate young learners’ expressive language development.

The Creative Storytelling Summer Camp is part of the TU College of Education Robotics Program, which received a BTU Partnership Award in 2023. It is a free five-day camp held on the TU campus from July 15 to 19, 2024. The camp accommodated fourteen students from kindergarten to fourth grade, most from the Towson community. Among the fourteen students, twelve attended public schools, and two were home-schooled.

The camp’s daily schedule ran from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a one-hour lunch and recess break from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Beyond creating a fun, safe, and inclusive learning environment for students, we also prioritize achieving the following goals:

  • Enhancing students’ capacity to express their thoughts clearly and creatively.
  • Teaching students the fundamental elements of a story, including setting, character, plot, conflict, and solution.
  • Expanding students’ vocabulary and using descriptive language in their storytelling.
  • Providing students with opportunities to construct and program robots, fostering interactive and hands-on learning experiences.
  • Using robots as characters or tools to bring stories to life enhances the storytelling experience.
  • Fostering collaboration through group projects and activities.
  • Encouraging students to present their group robotic storytelling projects.
  • Demonstrating the connection between technology and expressive language development.

The students learned about the five storytelling elements throughout the camp. They demonstrated their mastery by incorporating them into the final group story. Using the VEX Go kit, the students worked together to build robots, create stories, design characters, code characters, and decorate story settings. This collaborative process allowed students to express their ideas, thoughts, and suggestions during group discussions. Each group was satisfied with their story presentation, which seamlessly integrated technology. Furthermore, the students delivered their story content clearly and coherently during the presentation. Most importantly, students enjoyed engaging in physical games and hands-on activities, which brought them great joy.

The success of the Creative Storytelling Summer Camp has been reflected by the following:

  • Students highly participated in all activities and were fully engaged.
  • Each group successfully presented the group story, which included five storytelling elements and technology integration.
  • We observed the effectiveness of integrating robotic activities into expressive language development.
  • Positive learning experience from students. For example:
    • “It’s so fun, and I like learning about robotics.”
    • “We did a lot of stuff. I like building with Legos and hanging out with friends here.”
    • “I would like to come back here because it was really fun!”
    • “I love to code robots and all the games that we did.”
    • “I learned how to code and make robots. That’s fun!”
    • “My favorite activity was probably building the robots and (decorating) the story setting.”
    • “My favorite part might have been creating the story or maybe it was liking building the robot.”
  • Positive feedback from parents. For instance:
    • “They really enjoyed it! Requested a second week! Spoke with high anticipation for the next day!”
    • “He made some new friends, learned new skills, and wants to get some robots to build at home.”
    • “Absolutely LOVED IT! It strengthened his creativity and confidence in himself.”
    • “They shared about creating their robot, the stories they made, programming, etc. They had a fun time and want to return next year.”
    • “She (gained) more confidence in building and coding. She also seemed more confident interacting with new people.”
    • “He is very excited about robotics now. He also was not very descriptive before describing the school, but with this camp, he was excited to talk about it the whole way home in the car.”

We had the pleasure of hosting two groups of guest speakers who delivered robotics-related activities to our students aimed at enhancing their learning experiences and boosting their motivation. The first guest speaker, Stella from Ridgely Middle School, showcased a spirograph she created using VEX IQ. This impressive arm is capable of drawing many different patterns by changing the speed or position of the arm. The students had the opportunity to try their hand at creating the patterns using the spirograph and take home one finished artwork. The second guest speaker was a team of high school students from Howard County Chinese School’s First Tech Challenge (FTC) team, Howard Dynamic. They introduced their team-built robot and provided a demonstration of its capabilities. Following the demonstration, students were given the chance to interact with the robot. The activities presented by the guest speakers greatly enriched the students’ robotics experiences and promoted their motivation to delve deeper into the world of robotics.

The Creative Storytelling Summer Camp is an example of the expansion of the TU College of Education Robotics Program. With ongoing support from the College of Education dean’s office, BTU, faculty, staff, students, and volunteers, the TU-COE Robotics Program will be developed into a more mature, stable, and technology-enhanced long-term program that supports students’ learning, while also facilitating faculty research.

Note, Qijie (Vicky) Cai and Suzhen Duan were contributing authors to this post.