  This paper describes the methodology and outcomes of a series of educational
events conducted in 2021 which leveraged robot swarms to educate high-school
and university students about epidemiological models and how they can inform
societal and governmental policies. With a specific focus on the COVID-19
pandemic, the events consisted of 4 online and 3 in-person workshops where
students had the chance to interact with a swarm of 20 custom-built brushbots
-- small-scale vibration-driven robots optimized for portability and
robustness. Through the analysis of data collected during a post-event survey,
this paper shows how the events positively impacted the students' views on the
scientific method to guide real-world decision making, as well as their
interest in robotics.
