Robotics as an Educational Tool: Impact of Lego Mindstorms

Abstract

Abstract-It is increasingly important that next generation of students must acquire problem solving, critical thinking and collaborative skills to succeed in their career aspirations in the 21st century. Technology plays a crucial role in assimilation of these skills. Among flourishing arrays of technologies, robotics provides challenges and opportunities to the learners in developing innovative ideas, disruptive thinking and higher order learning skills. In recognizing these potentials, educational authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) undertook an important step in distributing Lego Mindstorms kits to schools to encourage teachers to use in their teaching. This paper explores the educational use of robotics in schools and how teachers can integrate this new technology into the curriculum. The paper also suggests the effective strategies in using robotics as an educational tool and how it will impact students' interests in STEM related subjects. Some recommendations to enhance learning activities in the classrooms are provided.

Νέες Τεχνολογίες, Χρήσιμο Εργαλείο Στην Εκπαίδευση Των Χαρισματικών Παιδιών;

“…FIRST Robotics Competition, VEX Robotics θιπ.) (Coxon, 2010 (Afari et al, 2017). Δίλαη θαλεξό όηη ε ζπγθεθξηκέλε ζπιινγή κπνξεί λα ρξεζηκνπνηεζεί κε πνιιαπινύο ηξόπνπο ζηε δηδαζθαιία, παξνηξύλνληαο ηνπο ραξηζκαηηθνύο καζεηέο λα επηδείμνπλ ηδηαίηεξα ηαιέληα ηνπο.…”

PiBot: An Open Low-Cost Robotic Platform with Camera for STEM Education

“…This is a free hardware board that allows a wide variety of low-cost robotic components to be added [21,[25][26][27][28]. Thus, beginning with a basic and affordable Arduino platform, teachers and students can freely adapt it to their necessities, developing an effective and low-cost robot, as described in [29][30][31][32].…”

Making image and vision effortless: Learning methodology through the quick and easy design of short case studies

“…Another development program widely used in vision is LabVIEW™ . This programming framework developed by National Instruments allows to take advantage of several extensions such as the IMAQ Vision toolbox, a complete set of digital image acquisition and processing functions; NI Vision Assistant, a module that allows to quickly design machine vision solutions without any programming; NI Vision Acquisition, a software to acquire, process, and display camera images based on specialized hardware; Vision Builder AI, a software for automated inspection and object classification; and LEGO ® MINDSTORMS ® , a sophisticated teaching tool that helps students carry out playful hands‐on experiences in robotics . In this sense, RoboRealm ® is presented as a powerful vision software for use in machine vision, image analysis and processing systems.…”

“…The purpose of the tool was to facilitate the teaching of basic concepts on image processing and machine vision to educators. This paper intended three significant contributions: (1) to provide a machine vision tool oriented to educational use; (2) to validate a learning methodology based on the quick and easy design of short case studies; and (3) to examine its applicability into robotics subjects of the computer science and industrial engineering degrees, also extensible to image processing and machine vision courses in introductory levels.…”