Programming Robots in Primary Schools Deserves a Renewed Attention

Robot programming is introduced in primary schools in order to offer both children and teachers the opportunity of concrete programming that is approaching the basics of informatics as a science while performing activities concerning the standard curricula subjects. Fundamental components of our proposal are: a) the use of different types of small autonomous robots as computer systems children develop programs for, b) programming with a textual, Logo-like language in order to avoid problems caused by the language in use during first programming activities, c) a cross-disciplinary didactical methodology where each robot activity is a learning environment nurturing as its principal concern concepts from traditional school subjects, d) a community of practice teachers can rely on, so that they do not hesitate experimenting because guaranteed of quick technical and pedagogical help. During 2007/2008 school year, the approach concerned about 30 primary school classes using different robots.