Kindergarten – Grade 2
Building and balancing structures, simple machines, directional instructions and floor-robot or paper-robot sequencing.
FutureTech & Computing
Robotics & Engineering
Grade bands served: Kindergarten through Grade 12
Robotics and Engineering teach learners to design, build, test and improve physical systems. Learners begin with simple machines, structures and sequencing challenges, progress to motors, sensors and microcontroller programming, and reach prototype engineering in high school with the full design process — define, research, ideate, prototype, test, iterate, document. Where robotics kits are limited, learners use recycled and locally available materials, paper engineering and simulation so that the engineering habits of mind are still developed.
Why this subject matters
Liberia needs builders, maintainers and problem-solvers in energy, water, construction, agriculture and manufacturing. Engineering habits transfer directly to those fields.
Overall learning goals
- • Apply the engineering design process to real problems.
- • Build stable, functional mechanical structures.
- • Program controlled behaviour using sensors and actuators.
- • Test, measure and iterate on prototypes.
- • Document designs so others can build them.
Core competencies & skills
- • Design process discipline
- • Mechanical reasoning
- • Sensors, control and automation
- • Prototyping and iteration
- • Technical documentation
Scope by grade band
Grades 3–5
Design challenges with constraints, gears and levers, simple circuits, and introductory robot programming.
Grades 6–8
Engineering design process, motors and sensors, autonomous robot challenges, and measurement-based iteration.
Grades 9–12
Applied engineering, microcontrollers and IoT concepts, mechanisms and control systems, and full prototype development with documentation.
Typical learning activities
- • Timed build challenges
- • Design-journal keeping
- • Robot navigation tasks
- • Circuit and sensor labs
- • Teardown and reverse engineering
Project examples
- • Bridge or tower challenge with load testing
- • Line-following or obstacle-avoiding robot
- • Automatic irrigation or water-level alert prototype
- • Senior engineering prototype addressing a community need
Assessment methods
- • Prototype performance against criteria
- • Design journals
- • Technical drawings and documentation
- • Team collaboration rubrics
Real-world & career connections
- • Mechanical and electrical engineering
- • Manufacturing and maintenance
- • Energy and utilities
- • Agricultural technology
FutureTech & AI integration
Robotics is where coding, data and AI become physical — learners connect sensor data to decision logic and discuss automation's effect on work.
Expected learner outcomes
- • Graduates deliver a documented, tested prototype.
- • Graduates program a sensor-driven automated behaviour.
Where it appears by grade
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