Humanoid Robots in the Classroom

Abstract

Humanoid robots have been used as educational tools in primary and lower secondary schools. The students involved were between 11 and 16 years old. The learning goals included: programming, language learning, ethics, technology and mathematics, e.g. practised by 7th grade students who programmed the robots and made the robots recite poems about the future. As preparation, the teachers participated in workshops in didactical planning and programming of the robots. In the most successful settings, the students worked with academic objectives beyond programming and robotics. Through examples, the potentials and the shortcomings of robot-supported learning are highlighted.