The purpose of this study was to compare seventh-grade students' motivation and preference toward text-based programming using Visual Basic, and graphics-based programming using Robolab. Motivation was defined by the My Class Activities questionnaire using the dimensions of interest, challenge, choice, and enjoyment. Preference was determined through team and individual student choice. This study was conducted with 122 students from three 6-week technology education classes. This study examined two hypotheses. First, middles school students will be more motivated when using a graphics-based programming language than text-based as measured by the My Class Activities survey. The second hypothesis for this study was that middle school students preferred using graphic-based programming more than using text-based programming in an introductory experience. Student preference was identified individually and within a team environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertacao_renata_martins_fortes.pdf: 4814619 bytes, checksum: 083ef392c333e2a2c8c9692db0ed11c1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-10 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This study aims to investigate the impact of a robotic environment on the strategies and representations used by students in the interpretation of distance-time graphs. It adopted a methodology based on Design Experiments (Kelly and Lesh, 2000), that is a cyclical process of reflections upon learning and teaching. A constructionist conception, following Seymour Papert (1994), informed the design of the research activities, which were intended to involve students in the creation of innovative solution strategies in the face of challenging problems. Difficulties related to the interpretation of graphs as described in the researches of Beichner (1994), Murphy (1999) and Brown and Crowder (2006) were identified, along with conflicts, such as those discussed by Arzarello e Robutti (2004), Parnafes e Disessa (2004) e Simpson, Hoyles e Noss (2006), experienced within computational environments. For the research activities, we used robotic materials of LEGO Education and the software Robolab was used by students to program the LEGO models they constructed. The activities were realized with one class of 8th grade middle-school students and one class of students from the 1st year of high school in a private school in the city of São Bernardo do Campo in the state of São Paulo. Analyses indicated that the difficulties related to the interpretation of graphs raised in other studies also emerge when students interact in a robotic environment. However, the results also suggest that work with robots, the opportunities to make connections between diverse mathematical representations. Especially the activities involving the construction of their own velocity radar contributed to the overcoming of some of these difficulties, particular as far as the students from the 1st year of high school were concerned / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo investigar o impacto de um ambiente robótico nas estratégias e representações utilizadas por estudantes na interpretação de gráficos apresentando relações entre distância, tempo e velocidade. Como metodologia de pesquisa utilizamos Design Experiments de Kelly e Lesh (2000), isto é, um processo cíclico das reflexões acerca do ensinar e do aprender. Para o desenvolvimento das atividades buscamos referência na concepção construcionista de Seymour Papert (1994), em que o professor estimula os alunos a criarem soluções inovadoras, a partir de suas conjecturas por meio de desafios. Analisamos as dificuldades quanto à interpretação de gráficos apontadas em diversas pesquisas como Beichner (1994), Murphy (1999) e Brown e Crowder (2006) e também as dificuldades encontradas em ambientes computacionais, tendo como referência Arzarello e Robutti (2004), Parnafes e Disessa (2004) e Simpson, Hoyles e Noss (2006). Optamos por utilizar os materiais de robótica da LEGO Education e o software Robolab 2.0 para programar os modelos construídos. As atividades foram aplicadas em uma turma de alunos da 8ª série do Ensino Fundamental e outra do 1º ano do Ensino Médio, de uma escola privada localizada na cidade de São Bernardo do Campo no estado de São Paulo. Segundo nossas análises, as dificuldades envolvidas na interpretação de gráficos apontadas nas pesquisas anteriores também emergem quando os alunos interagem num ambiente robótico, mas nossos resultados indicam que o trabalho com robôs proporciona oportunidades para criar conexões entre diversas representações. Em especial, a atividade envolvendo a construção de um radar para medir a velocidade contribuiu para a superação das dificuldades, particularmente para os alunos do 1º ano do Ensino Médio

Η εργασία μελέτησε την εισαγωγή της εκπαιδευτικής ρομποτικής στην Πρωτοβάθμια Εκπαίδευση: την ένταξή της στο αναλυτικό πρόγραμμα και στις ειδικές συνθήκες ενός τυπικού περιφερειακού σχολείου με τη μορφή project που αναπτύσσεται στα πλαίσια της ευέλικτης ζώνης. Πρόκειται για μελέτη περίπτωσης με στοιχεία έρευνας δράσης κυρίως όσον αφορά την ανάπτυξη του project στα πλαίσια της ευέλικτης ζώνης. Κατά τη διάρκεια ανάπτυξης των 8 δραστηριοτήτων του project μελετήθηκαν οι αρχικές κατασκευές των μαθητών ως προς εμφάνιση, λειτουργικότητα, στιβαρότητα, χρήση δομικών στοιχείων και η εξέλιξη αυτών των κατασκευών κατά τη διδασκαλία. Μελετήθηκε επίσης ο προγραμματισμός των ρομποτικών κατασκευών δηλαδή η απόδοση συμπεριφοράς στις κατασκευές αυτές με τη βοήθεια του προγράμματος οπτικού προγραμματισμού robolab. / -

The LEGO® MINDSTORMS® toolkit can be used to help students learn basic programming and engineering concepts. Software that is widely used with LEGO MINDSTORMS is ROBOLAB, developed by Professor Chris Rogers from Tufts University, Boston, United States. It has been adopted in about 10,000 schools in the United States and other countries. It is used to program LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics in its icon-based programming environment. However, this software does not provide debug features for LEGO MINDSTORMS programs. Users cannot test the program before downloading it into LEGO robotics hardware. In this project, we develop a simulator for LEGO MINDSTORMS to simulate the motions of LEGO robotics in a virtual 3D environment. We use ODE (Open Dynamic Engine) and OpenGL, combined with ROBOLAB. The simulator allows users to test their ROBOLAB program before downloading it into the LEGO MINDSTORMS hardware. For users who do not have the hardware, they may use the simulator to learn ROBOLAB programming skills which may be tested and debugged using the simulator. The simulator can track and display program execution as the simulation runs. This helps users to learn and understand basic robotics programming concepts. An introduction to the overall structure and architecture of the simulator is given and is followed by a detailed description of each component in the system. This presents the techniques that are used to implement each feature of the simulator. The discussions based on several test results are then given. This leads to the conclusion that the simulator is able to accurately represent the actions of robots under certain assumptions and conditions.