Robotics K-12 And Your District: Article Analysis

As the use of technology between generations grows exponentially with each passing year, graduating students leave school with a lack of technological-based education required to land them jobs in the modern market. Despite this, educators never stop trying to find innovative ways to reach new generations of kids. One such person, author and educator Cindy Costa, wrote “Robotics K-12 and Your District,” featured in the magazine Leadership, and she argues for incorporating robotics into STEM as to introduce students to technology to allow them to gain better chances to secure a financially stable career for the near future. The idea of presenting kids with a head start to give them a better chance in an unstable job market creates hope in
These sources include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Commerce, along with Vex Robotics regional manager, Nancy McIntyre (32-33). Citing these sources boosts Costa’s credibility by proving that she has done her homework, providing not only facts but expert opinions to support her claim such as: “In addition to learning valuable engineering skills…. students gain life skills such as teamwork, perseverance, communication, collaboration, project management, and critical thinking” (33). Furthermore, Costa uses personal examples from her experiences as a teacher to support her ideas; she writes “The inclusion of robotics in education has provided students with an opportunity to collaborate closely with a team to strategically solve problems in a reflective manner” (33). This quote demonstrates that she, similar to the school board administrators, has a desire to see students succeed combined with the first-hand experience in the education of children. Overall, Cindy Costa’s appeal to ethos effectively strengthens her argument and credibility by demonstrating her knowledge on the subject to her
Cindy Costa incorporates distinct rhetorical strategies in her article, but she never capitalizes specifically on pathos. Instead, she uses it fluently throughout the paper restating the same ideas. Examples such as, “students to attain essential education, skills, and employment necessary to achieve economic self-sufficiency,” then restated as, Students learn how to build, design, and evaluate a quality robot objectively based on solid science, math, technology, and engineering foundations,” and even, “Through robotics students understand the importance of the 4Cs and how it all works together….students learn a skill set for life” (33-35). While these quotes do give the pretense of promise, Costa leaves herself extraneous article room to come up more inventive ideas, as she did in her first few paragraphs, yet she drags her audience along, repeating her argument in place of better supporting evidence. Although Costa weakens her article by her usage of the ad nauseam fallacy, her argument stands firm due to her application of other rhetorical