Learning Programming with Educational Robotics: Towards an Integrated Approach

Abstract

Despite the fact that it has been a few years since robotics entered the school and offered new learning opportunities, educational robotics usually is offered in the context of extra-curricular activity (e.g. a “club”) which addresses a limited number of students and participation is based on student personal interest. In this paper we explore the potential of ER when it is integrated in the typical school curriculum. In the study we report here, we integrated ER in the computer science curriculum and all students of a 9^th grade class engaged with robotics activities. The rationale underlying the study is that robotics can be used as a medium to motivate students in engaging with programming and support them to negotiate real life problems. Analysis of the data collected, indicate that ER when integrated with the computer science curriculum, can create a rich learning environment where programming is contextualized and students are highly motivated to engage and negotiate important STEM concepts.