On 4 July 2025 The Don Podcast recorded an episode at Sheen Academy on coding and robotics education, with Sheen and Astrovos taking part alongside learners from the programme.

Putting students in front of the microphone

The straightforward version of this episode would have been adults explaining why robotics education matters. We have all heard that episode. What made this one worth doing was that the learners sat at the table too, in uniform, with the robots they build within reach.

Children describe this work differently from the people who sell it. They talk about the specific thing that would not work last week and the specific way they got round it. They are unembarrassed about the parts they found hard. It is a much better advertisement for the field than any adult framing, precisely because it is not framed.

What the conversation kept coming back to

Recorded conversations about robotics education tend to converge on the same handful of questions, and this one was no exception:

• Is this a hobby or a career path? For most learners it starts as the former. What changes it is seeing the same skills attached to a job they can picture.
• What about children who are not "technical"? The premise is usually wrong. Most children who believe they are not technical have simply never had a hands-on entry point.
• Does it belong in school or after school? Both, and the honest answer is that whichever one a child can actually reach is the right one.

Why we say yes to these

Podcasts, radio slots and community conversations do not enrol students directly, and we do not measure them that way. What they do is reach the parent who has heard of coding classes and has no idea whether they are for their child, or the teacher who has been handed a coding and robotics curriculum with no budget and no training.

A lot of what limits this field in South Africa is not interest. It is that people do not know the door exists. Recording in the classroom, with learners at the table and the kit on the shelf behind them, is one way of leaving the door open.

More conversations, demos and behind-the-scenes footage are on our YouTube channel and Instagram.