Week 5: Robotics

Image from: https://www.sitech.co.nz/products/all/bee-bot-class-pack

This week will cover the benefits of utilising robotics in teaching for enhancement of learning, skills and creativity.

Why Robotics?

Robotics are programmable machinery that can allow students to manipulate different moving parts of the machinery for various different tasks (Jung & Won, 2018). These robotics can provide students with the skills for design, creation and programming needed in the 21st century (Merdan et al., 2020). Robotics present valuable methodologies for teachers to encourage and improve motivation of students through the meaningful tasks that they carry out through the student’s own programming (Merdan et al., 2020). These skills acquired from the experiences of these robots can translate and be applicable for their learning in STEAM subjects [science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics](Merdan et al., 2020; Jung & Won, 2018).

Bee Bot

Bee bot is a great example of a robot which can be applicable in various subject areas; teaching problem solving skills, creativity and critical thinking whilst also covering curriculum (Alimisis, 2012) . The bee bot is capable of moving forward and backwards and functions to turn left or right through programmable buttons on the back (Terrapin, 2020). For example, in the subject area of geography, the bee bot can be programmed by students to move in certain patterns to reach the end goal in the map shown below (Terrapin, 2020). This would teach students about coordinates on a map, and other features of maps through visualisations, whilst exercising their problem solving and creative thinking to reach the finish line (Stefanos & George, 2019).

Although Jung & Won, (2018) argue there are difficulties on this implementation of robotics due to lack of focus on pedagogy itself, there is potential in these robots such as bee bot to enhance student learning and equip the future generation with skills to address issues in the world. Jung & Won, (2018) suggests that the focus should be on the way we teach with the robotics which will enrich student learning and motivation such as meaningful learning.

Reference List

Alimisis, Dimitris (2012). Robotics in Education & Education in Robotics: Shifting Focus from Technology to Pedagogy. Robotics in Education Conference, 2012.

Jung, S., & Won, E. S. (2018). Systematic review of research trends in robotics education for young children. Sustainability, 10(4), 905.

Merdan, M., Lepuschitz, Wilfried, Koppensteiner, Gottfried, Balogh, Richard, & Obdržálek, David. (2020). Robotics in Education : Current Research and Innovations / edited by Munir Merdan, Wilfried Lepuschitz, Gottfried Koppensteiner, Richard Balogh, David Obdržálek. (1st ed. 2020. ed., Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 1023).

Stefanos Xefteris, & George Palaigeorgiou. (2019). Mixing Educational Robotics, Tangibles and Mixed Reality Environments for the Interdisciplinary Learning of Geography and History. International Journal of Engineering Pedagogy (iJEP), 9(2), 82-98.

Terrapin. 2020. Bee Bot. Retrieved from: https://www.terrapinlogo.com/