Educational robotics

an experience to assist the learning of middle school students in the Serra Geral region, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

This work presents an experience report on the use of modular robotics with students from schools located in Minas Gerais in the Serra Geral region. The work involved students from the 5th to the 7th year of elementary school. Due to the great distance that robotics still presents for most of these adolescents, this work had as main objective to increase students' access to the reality of robots. Additionally, this work also proposed increasing the interest in applied research, in the areas of Science and Technology, with a view not only to the application of knowledge acquired in schools, but also to the teamwork and promotion of competitions in order to enable them to develop the following skills: proactivity, commitment, empathy, respect for differences, cooperation and leadership. For this purpose, students had weekly classes about mathematical and programming logic concepts, the concept of algorithms, block programming and basic robotics concepts such as the use of motors and sensors. Finally, the obtained results were evaluated through logic quizzes, robotics competition and reports from students’ parents, teachers and school supervisors.