An experience to use robotics to improve Computer Science learning

Abstract

In the teaching of engineering and computing, one of the major difficulties in modern education is to create an environment to motivate the student to learn, allowing them to assimilate the abstractions of computer science with playful and practical actions. The use of robotics in educational environments has proven to be an appropriate tool for the development of activities that involve creating, designing and planning, thereby facilitating the teaching-learning process and further expanding the integration between different areas of knowledge. Robotics in the educational context is called educational robotic and can be defined as an environment acquisition of concepts through mechanical devices, allowing development of logical reasoning and creativity, besides being a multidisciplinary tool for learning. Our goal in this work is to provide an environment for open source programming by using robotics in education and help students to improve their learning of programming languages and software engineering disciplines through a study case where we used the Lego Mindstorms Educational Kit.