A Contribution to the Discussion on Informatics and Robotics in Secondary Schools

Abstract

The approach to Informatics in Italian secondary schools is being reshaped after the Reform effective from autumn 2010. Educational robotics can contribute to this reshaping because it allows students acquire a technological competence in Informatics as recommended by the Computer Science teachers and researchers in universities with the “Manifesto for Informatics in secondary school” issued in May 2010. During the school year 2010-2011, first year students of a technical institute, i.e. students about fourteen years old, have developed programming activities using Scratch and S4A, Scratch for Arduino. This experience is proposed as a reference activity for a new Informatics curriculum in technical schools and, integrated with other components, to all types of secondary schools. Keywords—Educational robotics, Pragmatic robotics, Manifesto for Informatics, Scratch, Arduino, S4A.