Translator: Karlee Davies Reviewer: Denise RQ
How did you imagine your future when you were a kid?
Was it a future with robots?
Was it as a 'push-button' family with a household robot like Rosie?
(Laughter)
Rosie was a robot from the 1980s' TV show The Jetsons,
and she handled all the housework and looked after the family,
even occasionally dispensing the family food pill for the day.
Was this how you saw your future?
I did.
I was that kid who not only saw a future with robots
but a future where I was a teacher.
I had some great teachers who really inspired me.
They used puppets, crafts, experiments,
and they were all focused on giving all kids an opportunity to learn.
It was these hands on activities that I remember most as a kid.
It's what I wanted:
to make sure my future students had the opportunity to be inspired by too.
However, I didn't go straight from school into teaching.
I went to a school where it was unusual to go to university,
especially for a girl.
So, I went to work in the public service.
I was told this was a great job, as it was secure.
Well, it was then.
I learned a lot working with the government departments I worked with.
And while there were no robots, I did discover an interesting technology.
I was with the public service
when we had the big uptake of computers in the late 1980s,
when the demand for computers
was to make our jobs more efficient and less labor intensive.
And while we're not at the Rosie stage yet,
we're starting to demand robots
to make our lives more precise, more efficient, and less labor intensive.
With the speed and development of robotics technology
and the probable impact on our world,
we can, and we must do better to position children to face the future with robots.
It's likely that robots and automation will replace
a lot of their jobs in the future.
Some say this will be 40% in the next 10 to 15 years.
So how do we prepare children to face this future?
By showing them how they can help shape it.
They can and they must be part of the discussion
about our future with robots,
understanding how they can be used in ethical ways,
and what skills are needed for this future world.
We don't know how far we can go with robotics technology yet.
Our kids will show us that.
So, the benefits of robots in the classroom
are not just about kids engaging with the technology.
And robots belong in every classroom,
because the hands-on activities can transform learning.
And it is important to get kids excited about their learning.
But it's also important that all children
are given an opportunity to future-proof themselves,
and so they become instigators of their own preferred future.
Kids know why we have robots in school.
They tell me they are engaging,
they help them understand science and technology,
and they get them thinking about the future.
And learning with robots is fun.
Researchers like me have actually shown
that children who engage in robotics activities at school
are more likely to go on to do further STEM study.
STEM is short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
And that term STEM is used to combine those learning areas in the classroom.
Robotics is a great tool for teaching STEM subjects,
and the STEM skills that have been identified as essential
for developing creative thinkers and problem solvers;
skills needed for future jobs and for solving big world problems.
What is frightening is most children in Australia are deciding not to study STEM,
and children from low-income areas are even less likely to study these subjects.
So even today, kids in the areas like I went to school in
are still less likely to go to university.
So how do we get them to engage with STEM?
Kids say robots are engaging.
By interacting with robots, by building robots,
by moving and programming robots,
kids are learning skills and building knowledge in STEM.
The hands-on application of these STEM concepts
lets them apply their learning and build their understanding.
Children are involved with hands-on activities
as they code and construct their robots.
This also gives them an appreciation of what can be done with this technology.
Even young children can be introduced
to easy-to-use visual programming tools that can help them work with robots.
In case you're concerned
children working with robots are sitting in front of the computer,
they are developing skills as they build and program their robots.
They move around the room building their robots,
working on the table or the floor to test their robots,
and to develop the programming sequences that their robots will follow.
Every year, at robotics tournaments around the country,
you will see children crowding around robots
and having fun with maths and science.
They are using their robots to think with
and to work together to problem solve in teams
as they make predictions and test and adjust their robots.
Because it's easy to see if a robot moves the way it should,
they get immediate feedback on whether their coding works or not.
And learning to code is about learning to solve problems,
needing to break the problem down, to recognize patterns,
and to think in a logical manner.
Coding with robots teaches children to think logically
because the robot won't do anything you don't tell it to do.
They need to use algorithms that include sequencing, branching, and looping.
Let's understand that when we talk about getting kids into robots and coding,
we mean doing it in age-appropriate ways.
By starting young with simple ideas
and building on those throughout the child's school years,
we can not only help them develop an understanding of robots and coding
but also help them develop
problem-solving skills, computational thinking, and creativity.
These are children who are not only going to be consumers of robotics technology
but builders, producers, and programmers.
So, yes, robotics education is about getting kids excited about STEM,
and it is about producing engineers, researchers, scientists, and innovators.
But it's also something more.
It is about getting kids excited about their learning and about their future;
every child,
every child in every school.
To do this, we need to direct resources towards schools.
I run a robotics outreach program
that works with over 50 schools from low-income areas.
Overseas, they call these under-served communities.
For most of the schools we work with,
the only access they have to robots are the robot kits we loan out to them.
The problem is we need to reach more schools.
We need to reach every school and every child,
and every child needs access to technology at school, including robots.
But not all schools have robots.
Not every child has access to robots.
Not every child has access to coding.
Not every child has access to these fun learning activities.
And not every child is empowered to make choices about their future.
Robots are part of their future too.
So next time you are talking to a young person, don't ask them,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Ask them, "What kind of future do you want?"
Thank you.
(Applause)