Kentucky 4-H recognizes a strong background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics can benefit young people, not only as they progress through school but as they enter the job market. In 4-H, our educators work to help youth develop an understanding of a variety of STEM-related disciplines. 

4-H robotics is a popular STEM offering. Robotics projects can range from junk drawer robots, which teach young people basic robotic construction using everyday items, to robots so large they are powered by motorcycle batteries. The most common form used by Kentucky 4-H’ers is the Lego Mindstorm NXT robotics kit.. A new offering for some 4-H programs are Pro-Bots. 

 Nelson County 4-H Agent, Danielle Hagler participated in a workshop at the Kentucky Association for 4-H Extension Agents conference in 2017. At this conference, she was introduced to Pro-bots. Pro-Bots are battery-operated robots shaped like automobiles. They give young people an introduction into Logo programming. In this type of technology, young people program the robot to draw a certain configuration. This teaches them to plan, design and execute routes. In the process, young people learn coding. They can easily see an immediate outcome from the codes they enter into the Pro-Bots.

Pro-Bots also come equipped with sound, light and touch sensors that young people can program to react in various ways.  Educational technologies are often expensive and it is difficult for a single county to devote such a large percentage of their program support funds to purchasing. Danielle Hagler applied for a grant from the Kentucky 4-H Science Engineering and Technology program to purchase a classroom set of Pro-Bots to be used by Cooperative Extension Agents for 4-H Youth Development in district 5. She presented a training workshop the district 5 agents at their fall retreat. Cooperative Extension Agents for 4-H Youth Development in district 5, then contributed program support funds to purchase an additional classroom set of pro-bots. 

Lesson plans and instructional cards were created for instructors to use with 4-Hers ranging in age from 9-18. Alex Bryan, Cooperative Extension agent for 4-H Youth Development in Breckinridge County created an evaluation tools for agents to utilize to determine the impact of their programs.  

Since the purchase of the pro-bots, 4-H youth in 6 counties have had the opportunity to learn about programming through the use of this shared technology resource. The pro-bots have been used in educational workshops at the Kentucky volunteer forum and at the Kentucky 4-H Teen Conference. Robotics clubs, school enrichment programs, day camps, and summer camps, have used the pro-bots to introduce youth to coding and 4-H science programs.

In Nelson County, 555 youth in 4-H school enrichment/clubs utilized the Pro-bots. The Nelson County 4-H Robotics club created an instructional video to be used as an introduction to the Pro-Bot lesson. Youth then had 30 minutes to work in groups to explore the functions of the Pro-Bot, learn how to code the Pro-Bot, and demonstrate their new knowledge. Of the 305 who completed a program evaluation, after participating in the Pro-Bot program, 86% felt confident in their ability to program a Pro-Bot. 72% feel confident in their ability to write code and communicate effectively with computers. 229 youth indicated that as a result of the program, they have improved their computer science skills. 155 indicated an interest in pursuing a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics related career.