WHY TEACH ROBOTICS?
Robotics is fast becoming an integral part of the school curriculum with its ability to integrate across a broad range of topics, most notably the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Areas.
Robotics encourages kids to think creatively, analyse situations and apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to real world problems. Teamwork and co-operation are a cornerstone of any robotics project. Students learn it is acceptable to make mistakes, especially if it leads them to better solutions.
Robotics is a fun and engaging way to teach fundamental technology, maths and science concepts. There are several key facets that the teaching of robotics promotes:
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Robotics encourages kids to think creatively, analyse situations and apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to real world problems. Teamwork and co-operation are a cornerstone of any robotics project. Students learn it is acceptable to make mistakes, especially if it leads them to better solutions.
Robotics is a fun and engaging way to teach fundamental technology, maths and science concepts. There are several key facets that the teaching of robotics promotes:
- Problem Analysis: Robotics encourages students to take a broad look at a situation and identify exactly what problem needs to be solved. Real world applications are easily found, giving students context for their project. Before any construction can begin, students must identify "what need will this robot fulfill?". With this in mind, how should the robot be designed to meet these need?
- Real World Design: With an application in mind and an idea of implementation, students can now begin the design process. This stage provides great rewards for students as the as they produce physical realisations of conceptual ideas. There is plenty of opportunity for refinement and improvement as they discover errors in their plans and issues they would never have considered during the design stage. Prototypes are quickly built and just as quickly discarded with lessons learnt as students progress towards an optimal solution. Resources must be managed and compromise made between form, function and cost.
- Programming: There are a variety of programming languages available for robotics, from graphical development environments to text based languages. Programming skills teach students to think logically and to consider multiple situations, as they learn a robot will do exactly as it is told, no more and no less. Information from a variety of sensors must be processed and dealt with logically and as with the design stage, there is ample opportunity for trial and error as students fine tune their robots to perform at their best.
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THINKING SKILLS DEVELOPED BY ROBOTICS
ALGEBRAIC THINKING
Algebraic thinking involves identifying patterns, relationships, and functions between one or more objects and being able to find the interrelationships between the variables that make up the objects; it is the beginning of symbolic reasoning. Engineering design skills provide students with a systematized methodology for solving complex problems; it is rigorous creativity.
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Mathematics as a Thinking Tool
According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, real-world problems are not ready-made exercises with easily processed procedures and numbers. Math educators need to place students in situations that allow them to experience math problems with "messy" numbers or too much or not enough information or that have multiple solutions, each with different consequences, then students will be better prepared to solve problems they are likely to encounter in their daily lives.
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According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, real-world problems are not ready-made exercises with easily processed procedures and numbers. Math educators need to place students in situations that allow them to experience math problems with "messy" numbers or too much or not enough information or that have multiple solutions, each with different consequences, then students will be better prepared to solve problems they are likely to encounter in their daily lives.
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COMPUTATIONAL THINKING
Computational Thinking is the thought processes involved in formulating problems and their solutions so that the solutions are represented in a form that can be effectively carried out by an information-processing agent.
— Cuny, Snyder, Wing
— Cuny, Snyder, Wing
Programming isan important area to train logical and structured thinking. The basic building blocks of automation are covered: sequencing actions, defining repeated sections and decision making based on perceptions. These are the ingredients that can be written down in a formal way. In later stages, you learn to analyze the choices made in programming languages.
Fundamental parts of mathematics are naturally covered when doing exercises. By writing down under which conditions an action should be performed, logic is introduced. The robot world demonstrates geometry in various navigational tasks. When rewriting a solution, algebraic rules will guide you to do it correctly. Random processes are at the basis of many modern applications, from banking to developing medicines. With RoboMind you can observe this yourself.
Problem solving is a another core concept of Computational Thinking. First a problem needs to be analysed in order to come to a precise definition of the goal. Then a possible solution for the problem needs to be found. Possible solutions are evaluated in terms of generality and complexity and can be tried by letting a machine execute it. We train you in this problem solving process in a rigorous way and introduce classical strategies along the way.
Creating solutions in the form of writing a program teaches you many skills: from carefully analyzing a challenge to design, implemention and testing of your solutions.
Big challenges are rarely solved by an individual. Communicationskills are trained in demanding problems. From brainstorming sessions, to delegating tasks and presenting results.
Computational Thinking is directly connected to relevant applications in many areas. The robot world is a perfect fit to demonstrate transportation challenges, automation in factories, and searching in an unknown environment.
Understanding what you learned in theory, during the implementation process and with concrete applications, will allow you to formulate design decisions. By evaluating different solutions, specific choices for an application domain will reinforce these decisions. Different application areas of the same core concepts stimulate seeing patterns across domains.
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Fundamental parts of mathematics are naturally covered when doing exercises. By writing down under which conditions an action should be performed, logic is introduced. The robot world demonstrates geometry in various navigational tasks. When rewriting a solution, algebraic rules will guide you to do it correctly. Random processes are at the basis of many modern applications, from banking to developing medicines. With RoboMind you can observe this yourself.
Problem solving is a another core concept of Computational Thinking. First a problem needs to be analysed in order to come to a precise definition of the goal. Then a possible solution for the problem needs to be found. Possible solutions are evaluated in terms of generality and complexity and can be tried by letting a machine execute it. We train you in this problem solving process in a rigorous way and introduce classical strategies along the way.
Creating solutions in the form of writing a program teaches you many skills: from carefully analyzing a challenge to design, implemention and testing of your solutions.
Big challenges are rarely solved by an individual. Communicationskills are trained in demanding problems. From brainstorming sessions, to delegating tasks and presenting results.
Computational Thinking is directly connected to relevant applications in many areas. The robot world is a perfect fit to demonstrate transportation challenges, automation in factories, and searching in an unknown environment.
Understanding what you learned in theory, during the implementation process and with concrete applications, will allow you to formulate design decisions. By evaluating different solutions, specific choices for an application domain will reinforce these decisions. Different application areas of the same core concepts stimulate seeing patterns across domains.
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DESIGN THINKING
Design thinking, commonly used in the design and planning fields, is a methodology that matches the needs of people with technologically feasible ideas and viable business strategies. (Source)
WHAT IS STANFORD’S DESIGN THINKING PROCESS?
Stanford’s Design Thinking Process is used to create a products that suited for public use. There are five steps to Design Thinking.
Stanford’s Design Thinking Process is used to create a products that suited for public use. There are five steps to Design Thinking.
- The first step is empathy; we see how others feel towards a specific item. Interviews are used to gain insight to human nature.
- The second step is to define. In this step, we use the information gathered from interviews to find the user’s real problem.
- Ideate, the third step in design thinking, is where the group finds solutions to the problem.
- The fourth step is to prototype. Once an idea is decided upon, groups work together using random materials to construct examples of their product and explain how their product works.
- Testing is the final step. Groups rebuild their prototypes and create a working product. Once built, testing begins. Testing identifies problems with the item, so the product can be modified to better suit the user.