TVV 2013, 6(1):212-215

TEACHING ROBOTICS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

HRBÁČEK Jiří, KUČERA Martin, HODIS Zdeněk, VYBÍRAL Petr

Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave,, Fakulta elektrotechniky a informatiky, Ústav elektroniky a fotoniky,, Ilkovičova 3, 812 19 Bratislava,

The situation in the technical fields is critical nowadays. The prestige of crafts is extremely low and consequently, there is little interest in them. Knowledge can be preserved in books and other media, but skills can't. Skills are handed down from a master to an apprentice by working together and the transmission of skills takes several years or even decades, depending on the field. Unfortunately, masters that are able to pass their skills are slowly disappearing. Nevertheless, difficulty of technical fields also requires a high quality secondary and tertiary technical education. Even here there is little interest in technical fields, partly because of great expansion of grammar schools and partly because of neglecting technical education at schools which has begun in 1995. We are currently in "Dark Ages" of technical education. Waiting for a legislative change is not fast enough solution to this difficult situation. It is necessary to turn the attention of pupils and their parents towards technology and rouse their interest in this field. As the results of a qualitative research taking place for more than three years at our department shows, one of the ways is to teach robotics in primary schools, at least as optional courses before the legislative will change. This paper summarizes some of the interesting results of researches and outlines ways that are good to follow in the area of technical education nowadays.

Keywords: HS robotic construction kit; education of robotics in primary schools; motivational courses; educational courses

Published: July 1, 2013  Show citation