Robotics and Programming Education

Coding vs Programming

Coding is often confused with programming. Where coding is purely writing a program with instructions for the computer, programming is the whole process of identifying and analyzing the problem, coming up with a solution, coding and testing. Robotics and programming education is therefore mainly about students learning to design a solution for a particular problem and formulating it in such a way that a computer and/or robot can implement the solution.

Robotics and programming in primary education

Primary education is more about learning the way of thinking than actually teaching students how to code. Often students (with exceptions) only program with blocks in a graphical programming language: also called block programming. This is sufficient for primary school pupils. It is not necessary that they already master real programming languages.

Robotic Education

In primary schools, programming education is therefore often focused on the robot(s) and less on programming itself. Lessons focus more on playing with the robot than on learning the way of thinking that comes with programming. There is often not enough knowledge and experience in house to set up a real program.

Robotics and programming in regular classes

An additional problem is that in many schools a few robots are purchased, used in some individual lessons and then quickly end up in the closet. In addition, the lessons are often separated from the subject matter of regular lessons, while robotics and programming lessons in primary education can be easily combined with science and technology education.

Moreover, with programming lessons you can meet different learning objectives of the world orientation course. That's why at Robokidz Eduventures we help teachers enrich their lessons with robotics and programming and we offer detailed robotics lessons so that primary schools can easily get started with programming. Explore robotics classes for kids in Pune

Robotics and programming in secondary education

High schools that focus on programming generally offer computer science or an elective in robotics. Usually these courses focus on computer skills. High school students often work alone on a computer. In secondary education, the focus is more on coding than on the use of robots. Unfortunately, the lack of (appealing) robots gives programming a dull image more than once among these students.

Cooking with robots

When dealing with programming languages, more attention is often paid to coding, or simply learning to write the code, than to the entire process of programming. Coding is often taught as a cookbook recipe: students are shown step by step what they need to do to write a program. While this can be useful for teaching the basics of programming and helping students make the step from block programming to coding in a non-graphical programming language such as Python or C++, it loses the problem-solving mindset.

Integrating robotics and programming into school subjects

As with primary education, programming is often offered separately instead of being integrated into regular subjects. When a school does not offer a computer science or robotics subject, there is little room within the regular subjects to pay attention to robotics and programming education.

Yet it can be a solution to integrate robotics and programming into regular subjects such as technology, mathematics and physics. This prevents one subject teacher from having all the knowledge about learning programming in-house and shows you that a robot can be used in all kinds of subjects. Robotics and programming are also very suitable for linking to subjects such as biology, physics and ... even languages!

Learning line robotics and programming

Unfortunately, there are few high school programming methods that are not built like a cookbook recipe and are easy to integrate. But don't worry. If you are seriously considering getting started with programming as a school, our teachers can provide practical tools and useful tips. With an interactive training we not only enthuse the entire team, but we also show that working with robots can be of added value for every teacher. Win win!

Get more certified robotics teacher training

In addition, on our online teaching portal Leapo , we offer a method of programming for secondary education in which robotics is integrated into school subjects. If you are a teacher at a secondary school, then there are plenty of opportunities to get started with robotics and programming.

Do you have specific questions about robotics and programming? Please contact us. Our robotics experts are here for you!

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