Robotics

Educational Robotics is a fun and exciting activity that enables the student to get involved with the action. It is used in all levels of education to teach various concepts, mainly from the Natural Sciences.

Educational Robotics is the science that deals with the design,, manufacture and applications of robots. It is a learning tool for the experiential approach of positive and theoretical subjects, a means of strengthening social skills and, more generally, a space for supporting skills for success.

Educational robotics offers valuable insights to students through a pleasant process. This process of experiential teaching makes the student show interest in the content.

Educational robotics is an effective tool for the development of cognitive structures by children. Robotics training is carried out with the active participation of students who work in groups using a training package containing processor (mind), sensors as inputs of construction, motors as outputs and building blocks for completion of construction. Dealing with robotics involves two kinds of activities: a construction and a programming. The learners construct robotic structures and then plan them to provide solutions to the original problems the teacher places on their experience, interests and needs.

Why robotics in education?

Children design, construct and program robots and learn how to play and develop their skills:

✓ Mathematics and Geometry (proportions, distance measurement, understanding of basic geometric properties such as the perimeter etc
✓ Physics (study of motion, study of the effect of friction, study of the relation of forces, energy transfer etc.)
✓ Mechanics (construction, control and evaluation of mechanical solutions etc)
✓ Technology (technological literacy etc)
✓ History (eg with the construction of a catapult robot - Archimedes - children have the opportunity to experience the development of the technology of that time as well as the work and personality of Archimedes etc).

Educational Robotics has a positive impact on the cognitive field, but also on emotional (self-esteem, self-esteem) and social (socialization).

Through Educational Robotics, critical skills are developed:

✓ Teamwork
✓ Problem solving (analysis, design, implementation, testing and experimentation, evaluation)
✓ Innovation
✓ Project management (time management, project and resource allocation etc)
✓ Programming
✓ Communication skills
✓ Valuable cognitive skills (analytical and synthetic thinking, creativity, critical thinking, etc.).
✓ Thanks to the development of research interest. Educational robotics enables children to act as inventors and discover their own innovative ideas and solutions.
✓ Involves learners actively in their learning by solving original problems.
✓ Supports exploratory learning and enhances students' exploratory attitudes.
✓ Encourages students to study science and technology.

Robotics changes the traditional character of teaching

The Greek Vojta Center provides educational robotics courses for children aged 6-16. In the course of the lessons, children work in groups using a training package that contains a processor (mind), sensors, motors and structural elements to complete the construction.

The themes that are being developed are about the science of Physics, Engineering, Mathematics, Programming and in general a wide range of courses from all the science of science.

The communication and the verbal expression of ideas are cultivated through the work of the group when students are forced to explain their ideas and thoughts.

It supports experiential learning.

As a pedagogical approach, it is part of classical constructivism (Piaget, 1972) and constructivist constructionism in particular (Papert, 1993). The constructivist perception of the learning phenomenon suggests that the learning environment should provide authentic activities embedded in processes of solving open problems from the real world, encourage expression and personal involvement in the learning process, and support social interaction. In addition, constructionism argues that apprentices build knowledge more effectively when they are actively involved in the design and construction (manual and digital) of real objects that make sense to them, whether they are sand castles or LEGO constructions and programs (Papert, 1991).

Learning the processes of analysis, designing actions and then implementing them (using a machine) is a high-level cognitive skill - part of the large class of projects that psychologists call problem solving.

Facilitates programming learning

The programming of robotic structures creates a completely new interface for students with the following features:

(a) It is highly motivational, and therefore a factor of utmost importance for teaching
(b) The programming of robot behavior results from the transfer of existing and already known behaviors from living organisms
(c) It favors the malware test strategy, which is strategically familiar to primary school students
(d) It demonstrates acceptable approaches and solutions and not a single correct solution since behavior can be attributed in many ways
(e) Supports metacognitive learning processes, since programming activity leads to the compilation, analysis and outsourcing of mental processes. This effort has a metacognitive character by forcing us to think about the way we think and act.