The Engineers of Tomorrow Teaching Robotics to Primary School Children Sabina Jeschke , Akiko Kato , Lars Knipping 1
2
2
University of Stuttgart, Department for Computer Science, Electrical Engineering & Information Technology, Center of Information Technologies and Institute of Information Technology Services, 70553 Stuttgart, Germany (
[email protected]) Berlin University of Technology, School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Center for Multimedia in Education and Research, 10623 Berlin, Germany ({kato, pfeiffer, erhard}@math.tuberlin.de) 1
2
Abstract In Germany we have seen a rising concern on lacking in numbers of students in science and engineering in recent years. Technological subjects are often regarded as not attractive by potential students. To address these problems early in the development of the children we offer courses in robotics. These benefit from the attractiveness of robots in popular culture, imposing a very low inhibition threshold. Positive technology experience for the participants of both genders can be created by paying attention to gender-sensitive aspects. By using tool sets like LEGO Mindstorms one can provide hands-on experiences and immediate results, giving the children both opportunities for creativity and a sense of achievement. A wide range of scientific and technological skills can be covered easily by employing this highly interdisciplinary field. 1. Introduction In Germany, industry expresses its grave concerns about the lacking number of trained engineers since several years. Among the primary reasons for this problem are low numbers of freshmen and high dropout rates. Moreover the number of female students in engineering subjects is especially low. Potential students often view technological subjects as rather difficult and theoretical, lacking social relevance and adequate relations to applications in their professional work later on. To approach these shortcomings, we propose not only to reform engineering studies to become more attractive and more application-oriented. We also want to introduce teenagers and even children to technological and scientific subjects to foster interest and skills early in their development.
Figure 1. Girl working on the RCX model, the predecessor to the NXT. Therefore we developed robotics curricula targeting children in primary school (ages 6 to 12). Its goal is to spark interest in natural sciences, engineering and computer science, early setting the course for further learning. Robotics is perfectly suited to introduce children to technology and demonstrate a variety of concepts to them. Robots fascinate children and are popular due to their presence in TV, movies, and literature. Their applications in numerous areas like industry, medical care, housekeeping, area exploration, etc. are well covered in media.
2. Concept For the reasons given above, we offer courses for pupils to introduce them to the basics of robotics by letting them construct their own toy robot and control its behavior by programming it. To allow fast results we use robotics construction sets of the LEGO NXT Mindstorms series [3]. Such sets pose a particularly convenient way to build physical programmable models without having to know anything about hardware. On earlier courses we gathered experiences with the predecessor model of the NXT, the LEGO RCX, see Figure 1. The NXT represents an ideal tool for our purposes, not only serving as a physical model for programming, but also being easy to handle and still allowing lots of freedom for creativity. Many of our students already have experiences with LEGO building and are eager to create more sophisticated constructions with them. The NXT set consists of structural and mechanical building parts (beams, pins, axels, gear wheels, etc.), the NXT “intelligent brick”, several motors (the actuators) and sensors. The “intelligent brick” is a programmable device with monochrome LCD screen, build-in loudspeaker, four push-buttons, and plugs to connect up to three actuators and four sensors. To download programs onto the brick, it can be connected to a PC via USB. Alternatively one can use the Bluetooth capabilities of the NXT brick, which also allows direct communication between bricks. Sensors available in the default packages include touch sensors, ultrasonic sensor for measuring distances to objects, sound sensors, light sensors, and rotation sensors (integrated into the motors). See Figure 2 for an example robot built from an NXT kit.
Figure 2. Robot built from an NXT kit. The hardware can be controlled by using a graphic programming language named NXT-G (see Figure 3), available from LEGO and evolved from the LabVIEW programming environment [4]. It can be easily learned and allows the children to control their robots without any previous knowledge on programming. Other programming languages are available for the NXT, for example RobotC and NXC, the latter usable with the Open Source programming environment BricxCC. However, these are more suited for older students to get training with regular text based programming. While the NXT-G environment also allows sophisticated programs using a data flow concept, basic development features are presented simple enough to be used by our target group. These rely on plugging together predefined control blocks and set some variables on them (e.g. for a motor control block power level, drive direction, duration etc.). Experiences showed that even young children can quickly develop rather complex robot behavior using these tools. As a historical side note, the idea to computer controlled models to be an aid in the teaching of programming concepts is already around for quite a while. Papert’s version of the turtle robot [5], supported by the Logo programming language of the late 60s, is perhaps the best known example, and the original Karel the Robot [6] existed not only as simulation, but as well as physical model. In fact, the LEGO Mindstorms product line was named after a book from Papert on children’s learning [5].
Figure 3. NXT-G graphical programming environment. In summary, the children are instructed to a basic working knowledge in robotics in an aged appropriate way. It qualifies them to design, construct, and program an autonomous mobile robot, on their own or in teamwork. Depending on the length of the course, exercises of different complexity are given to be solved using the supplied robotic sensors and actors, for example to find a black line on the floor and to follow its path. At the end of a course each of the participants presents his or her results. The total duration of the courses may be varied depending on the topical depth desired, starting from a single short introductory course of three to four hours length up to a consecutive series of full day courses. The overall concept is based on the project “Roberta – Mädchen erobern Roboter” (“Roberta – Girls conquer robotics”) [1,2] devised by IAIS Fraunhofer Institute engage students in activities that build up positive attitudes towards science and technology. At the Berlin Institute of Technology, we regularly arrange training in robotics for school children in primary education with ages ranging from 6 to 12 years since early 2007. Our experiences show that the courses are highly intriguing to children, both boys and girls – in fact, the feedback to course offerings can only be described as enthusiastic. To get evaluation data a special questionnaire for the course participants have been developed. After analyzing the first 51 of these questionnaires for different courses, the overall result tells us that 94,1% of participants enjoyed the course and even 98,0% would recommend it to others. The high creativity and the obvious social relevance of robots are especially alluring aspects for female students. Fast successes and visible, tangible results help the participants building self-confidence on their science and technology skills. Having female instructors is also helpful for girls, as they often lack positive female role models in the engineering areas. Results from questionnaires displayed a high satisfaction for all participants. 3. Conclusion Using the described approach offers a suitable framework to introduce young students into science and technology by hands-on experiences of robotics design and function principles. Due to the highly interdisciplinary nature of robotics the course participants get introduced into a wide variety of subjects while working on hardware and software, for example mechanics, mechatronics, sensor technology, electrical engineering, mathematics, and computer science. The results of their programming become directly observable and tangible in the physical world, resulting in much simpler debugging and optimatization cycles and immediate positive feedbacks on success. The use of hands-on robotics facilitates an active learning environment, interpersonal communication, and programming. Projects in these courses support learning fundamental technological knowledge. In addition, problem-solving methodology, working on projects and in teams are practiced. The courses include an analyzing phase, a design phase, a technical implementation phase, a test phase, and a final presentation of the results and thus compromise all major steps in product- and goaloriented work. The children learn, how to organize in teams and assign tasks, training widely applicable soft skills by this process. The teaching concept shown here should introduce children early on to scientific thinking and technological skills, stimulating interest for further explorations into these fields. Starting with robotics they get to know a highly up-to-date research area with applications in numerous fields. The vast positive feedback from the participants makes us confident on positive long-term effects like attracting more students – especially more women – for technological and scientific studies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Fraunhofer-Institut für Autonome Intelligente Systeme AIS (ed.), Roberta, Grundlagen und Experimente, IRB Verlag, Bonn 2006. S. Hartmann, H. Schecker, and J., Rethfeld, “Mädchen und Roboter – Ein Weg zur Physik?” in: Pitton (Ed.), Relevanz fachdidaktischer Forschungsergebnisse für die Lehrerbildung, Münster LIT Verlag 2005. LEGO. LEGO MINDSTORMS Official site. http://mindstorms.lego.corn (last visited Jan. 28th, 2008). National Instruments. LabVIEW product line. http://www.ni.com/labview (last visited Jan. 28th, 2008). S. Papert, MINDSTORMS: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, Harvester Press Ltd, 1980. R. E. Pattis, Karel the Robot: A Gentle Introduction to the Art, John Wiley and Sons, 1981.
