An hour's worth of folding, creasing, and following directions closely was what it took for 5th graders to persevere and create an origami seed planter out of newspaper.
However, what does this have to do with robots?
Students watched a video of robots folding paper. Coding and algorithms are what makes it possible for robots to do tasks that humans have been doing manually for centuries.
What does the future hold in robotics careers? A video from the University of Michigan highlighted developments in designing micro-robots that are formed into complex shapes (folded like origami) and used for solving problems, like medical diagnosis or exploring collapsed buildings.
5th graders further explored coding to navigate mazes with Ozobots; learning that an algorithm is a list of instructions needed to complete a task.