Utilizing Educational Robotics for Learning About Sustainability Issues

Abstract

Nowadays, schools are trying to insert knowledge and learning about sustainability issues and environmental conservation in the academic context from an early age. It is also observed the use of information technology with new didactic and ludic resources that can encourage elementary and high school students to obtain knowledge about sustainability. To this end, this research presents some results using Educational Robotics, Gestalt, and information technology, which students received from a Brazilian public elementary school. In this study, after attending workshops on sustainability, the students developed robotic resources to help them with sustainability-related knowledge. The resources were tested according to their objectives: a mobile robot that recognizes the food and shows its footprint and a box with gas sensors to identify if food is in consumable condition or should be recycled. The experiment was very successful and is in a continuous application phase.