Learning by Robotics: The Impact of Educational Robots on Learning
Ilaria Gaudiello, Elisabetta Zibetti · 2016
Formerly limited to academia, robotic-based instruction (RBI) today crosses the doorstep of kindergarten, primary school and secondary school. The reasons of such a pervasive diffusion of RBI in educational contexts, under the form of modular activities, short-term and long-term projects based on constructible and programmable robotic kits, can be found in the educator's expectations toward a technology that has been defined. Robotic kits are normally composed of mechanic and electronic elements that are controlled by dedicated interfaces where students program robots' behavior through high-level language that can be verbal or graphic. Since robotic kits have succeeded kits containing exclusively bricks and kits containing exclusively mechanisms, they are called 'third generation technology'. Concrete applications of RBI are distinguished into three types: theme-based curriculum approach, where different curriculum areas are integrated around a specific topic; project-based approach, where students work on projects to explore real-world problems; and goal-oriented approach, where students compete in a robotics challenge.