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Learnya Academy

Course · Intermediate

Educational robotics

Building, programming and debugging a robot to learn: what research says, which robots to choose, how to design and assess a sequence, and what AI changes.

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10 lessons · 1 quiz · 1 h 25 min · completion badge

15Intermediate Ro Educational robotics

In the paths

Training with AI Course 3 of 4 · Next: AI and education

What you will be able to do

  • Explain constructionism and what research syntheses really say about educational robotics
  • Choose a robot according to the students’ age and the goal, and plan its equipment and upkeep
  • Place an activity in the Plan d’études romand or the Lehrplan 21
  • Design a sequence that progresses and assess it with a rubric
  • Judge a social or connected robot before using it with children, including the students’ data
Who it is for
Primary and secondary teachers, trainers and those in charge of digital technology in schools, with no background in computer science.
Prerequisites
None. The “Designing training with Learnya” course helps with the preparation part.
Duration
1 h 25 min
Level
Intermediate

Programme

What the course covers.

  1. Why robotics helps students learn· 3 lessons

    • Learning by building 7 min

      From Piaget to Papert’s turtle: why programming an object that acts can help students learn, and on what condition.

    • Computational thinking in practice 7 min

      Decomposing, abstracting, writing an algorithm, debugging: what computational thinking covers, and how to work on it with or without a screen.

    • What research really says 7 min

      Syntheses find positive effects, but moderate, variable and fragile ones. Knowing how to read them avoids promising too much.

  2. Choosing and equipping· 2 lessons

    • Which robot for which age 8 min

      Button-operated robot, sensor robot, programmable board, construction kit: each family serves an age and a goal. And a fleet of robots has to be managed.

    • What the curricula require 7 min

      In French-speaking Switzerland, digital education has entered the PER. In German-speaking Switzerland, the Lehrplan 21 has its Medien und Informatik module. The cantons set the pace.

  3. Designing and assessing a sequence· 3 lessons

    • A sequence that progresses 10 min

      From unplugged to text, predicting before running, debugging methodically, working in pairs: building a sequence that helps students learn.

    • Assessing with a rubric 10 min

      A robot that reaches the target does not tell you what the student has understood. A rubric makes the process, the explanation and the collaboration visible.

    • Inclusion and gender balance 7 min

      From the age of six, children associate robots and programming with boys. The way the activity is presented and the work organised matters.

  4. Robots, AI and responsibility· 2 lessons

    • When the robot perceives and speaks 7 min

      A robot that follows a rule is programmed. A robot that recognises a gesture or converses through a language model has been trained. The difference can be understood in class.

    • Social robots, ethics and students’ data 8 min

      A robot that talks and reacts creates a relationship. Useful for some kinds of learning, it raises questions of attachment, deception and personal data.

  5. Final quiz· 8 questions