When elephants nodded and dolls spoke: Bringing together robotics and storytelling for environmental literacy

Abstract

Inculcating principles of environmental stewardship among the children and youth is needed urgently today for creating a sustainable future. This paper presents a model for promoting environment literacy in India using story telling based workshops while focusing on STEM education including computational thinking, robotics and maker skills. During the workshop, participants build a robotic diorama with digital animations and animatronics to tell their story. Our initial observations from pilot studies conducted in 2019 in six rural and semi-urban schools in India showed us that the children were deeply engaged and enthusiastic throughout the workshop making the entire learning experience a very meaningful and joyful one for all.