Teaching with robots gives an authentic context to learn CS and provides an opportunity for students to apply CS concepts in genuine ways. As robots become more accessible with the technology advances available, more and more industries are using robots to be more efficient, cost-saving, and safe. Students and professionals alike are continually investigating ways to use computation and robotics to address real world environmental and societal challenges.

Integrating real world applications with robots, and highlighting how CS concepts and skills are being applied to solve these problems can improve attitudes and interest in CS and prepare students for further CS education and career paths. By familiarizing students with coding, sensors, and automation via robots, they hone critical computational thinking (CT) skills needed to address 21st century problems and provide the experience, skills, and vision to succeed in both the 21st century's workforce and everyday life.

Read the following resources with your students to see how robots are used to make improvements in the workplace and everyday life, as well as address regional and global challenges. Use the discussion prompts to facilitate a conversation on how CS with robots is being applied to solve challenges, and how pursuing CS can empower them to to be a part of the solution to real world problems!

Note: These resources are editable Google docs, to make it easy for you to adapt them to best meet the needs and interests of your students. View these articles to learn more about customizing resources using Google Drive or Microsoft Office.

Competition-based learning with robotics is an effective way to engage students in learning CS, while encouraging them to apply math, physics, and other subjects through robotics.³ Competitions can motivate students to develop their CS and STEM competency by improving their programming skills, their robot build, and their strategy in order to improve their score.

Competitions also foster collaborative problem solving where students bring their skillset together with their team to cooperate in order to compete. Through competitions, students form authentic collaborations and take ownership of their learning as they design and build their own robots and prepare to compete. It is their robot and their game strategy.

Learn more about VEX Robotics Competitions with these Entry Points:

• coaches.vex.com
• students.vex.com
• parents.vex.com

Competitions can be implemented in the classroom, after school, or in informal learning environments to engage students and to organize CS and STEM instruction. VEX IQ and VEX EXP STEM Labs are built around classroom competitions as an organizer of learning. See the VEX IQ Castle Crasher STEM Lab for an example of how you can use classroom competitions to organize CS instruction that can be applied in both formal and informal learning environments. This STEM Lab Unit culminates in a classroom competition (Lesson 5) where students apply what they have learned to get the best score in the Castle Crasher Competition. See this article for guidance on how to implement an IQ STEM Lab classroom competition.

Try organizing a competition around one of the following VEXcode VR Activities. Each of these activities includes a competition section to help you introduce the competition to your students. See this article for strategies for facilitating VEXcode VR competitions with your students.

Watch the videos at competition.vex.com to learn about the VEX IQ Challenge (VIQC) and VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) games. This annual international competition engages students from all over the world and has even made it into the Guinness World Records! If your students are excited, consider participating in the competition with physical robots, or compete virtually with VIQC and VRC Virtual Skills.