The Scottish SPCA is delighted to announce a new partnership with Robo Wunderkind, an Austrian edtech company which provides a fun and natural way to introduce children to robotics and coding, which will be rolled out across schools from January 2019.
Scotland’s animal welfare charity will be offering primary school pupils across Scotland the chance to meet Caitlyn the chicken and her animal friends, and build and code their own animal-themed robot as part of the Society’s free Prevention through Education Programme.
The Scottish SPCA reach over 250,000 children annually through their education programme and are passionate about offering an innovative programme that inspires all ages to engage with animal welfare education.
The partnership with Robo Wunderkind aims to continue encouraging compassionate and empathetic behaviours towards all animals and in turn build the positive human-animal relationships that are important as children progress to adulthood.
Gilly Mendes Ferreira, Scottish SPCA Head of Education and Policy said, “This unique new addition to the programme will be a great tool that will capture children’s imagination, encourage them to have fun and be creative, and emphasises how amazing animals really are.
“It also links with STEM curriculum, which puts a special focus on problem-based learning so that the students can instantly apply the knowledge they’re gaining.
“Through collaborative work with the University of Edinburgh we know that our programme has a significant impact on children’s knowledge about animals, their welfare needs and on children’s beliefs that animals have feelings.
“By giving children the opportunity to build and code their own robot it will enable them to recognise that animals are actually born with these ‘in-built’ sensors and how important it is that we are aware of these senses when interacting with animals.
“We are so grateful to Tesco’s ‘Bags of Help’ for part-funding this new initiative.”
Anna Iarotska, Robo Wunderkind CEO and co-founder said, “Our team is very excited about the cooperation with Scottish SPCA. It’s an honour to work hand-in-hand with such a great partner.
“The Robo Wunderkind team have always been very interested in expanding the ways of using our robots beyond traditional “teaching coding” field. Forming part of the “Prevention through Education” programme is exactly what we have been looking for.”
Professor Jo Williams, Chair of Applied Developmental Psychology, Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Edinburgh said, “We will be working with the Scottish SPCA and Robo Wunderkind to evaluate the impact of this exciting new robotics activity on children’s understanding of animals and their beliefs about animal cruelty. We will also assess its impact of children’s attitudes towards robotics and informatics, which essential STEM skills for the future.
“At a time where there is concern about children’s increased time with digital technology and decreased time with nature, this novel activity could potentially use robotics to enhance children’s attitudes towards animals and their connectedness with nature.”
Robo Wunderkind is a leading edtech company, developer of the world’s easiest and most intuitive modular robotics kit, and software platform that helps children understand the fundamentals of coding and engineering.
If you are interested in booking these free workshops for your primary school in 2019, please contact the education team now education@scottishspca.org or 03000 999 999 option 5.
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