Authors:
Ahmed Wael
1
;
Ghada Ahmed
1
and
Nada Sharaf
2
Affiliations:
1
The German University in Cairo, Egypt
;
2
The German International University, Egypt
Keyword(s):
WeDo, Robotics, Simulator, Programming, Children, Computational Thinking.
Abstract:
Robotics is now integrated in the STEM curricula for teaching mathematical concepts, mechanics, physics and programming skills. However, the presence of the robots and hardware components is always a challenge. It could be costly and in case of online learning, it is hard to use hardware elements. This is why there is an increasing need of simulators that display the robot in different environments. Such simulators could provide feasible solutions. The work presented in the paper introduces “Let’s LEGO”, which is a simulator for building and constructing robots, controlling them programmatically and seeing them in action based on the Lego WeDo 2.0 electronic kit. The work presented in this paper builds on the current need of introducing computational thinking to children from an early age. The goal of this project is to investigate methods for developing a Simulator for creating and constructing robots, controlling them programmatically, and viewing them in operation. Let’s LEGO was
evaluated by instructors responsible for teaching programming and robotics to children in grades 2-4 (7+ years old). They reported that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would like to include it in their teaching techniques. The aim is to strengthen how technology-mediated learning may be used to provide a better and a more enjoyable learning experience to students with different profiles.
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