During this 3-hour STEAM program, 3rd graders go through 7 stages to design a robot that understands and responds to human emotions. The project builds emotional awareness as kids learn to identify feelings in others and choose kind ways to respond. The journey begins with an emotion circle and scenario discussions to develop empathy and social awareness. Working in small groups helps students practice empathy and cooperative problem-solving while tackling social challenges together. In the Planning the Robot Response stage, students use IF-THEN logic to code caring responses, which builds both empathy and emotional awareness, regulation and communication. Next, teams build and pilot where the focus is on demonstrating how the robot reacts empathetically to the emotion. The program ends with presentations and a reflection circle to improve communication and self-regulation skills.
SPIRIT Skill Focus
- Creativity
- Emotional awareness, regulation, and communication
- Empathy
Basic Information Sheet
| Age group | Student number | Duration | Number of stages | Subjects connection and relevance |
| 3rd; grade students | Whole class (Groups of 4 students) | 3 hours | 7 stages | Coding |
National curriculum Link and Objectives
- Understand basic logic and programming principles (if/then, sequences).
- Develop engineering and design thinking through prototyping.