Do educational robotics competitions impact students’ learning?

Abstract

The development of robot technology has grown rapidly. Robots have been widely used in various aspects to help human’s interests. In the education sector, robots have also been used as a learning tool to assist in studying fields such as science and technology. Currently, to encourage the development of robots in the education sector, robot competitions are held with various kinds of events. The types of robots developed to participate in robot competitions are also varied, such as mobile robot contest, modular robot contest, humanoid robot contest, flying robot contest, underwater robot contest, innovation robot contest, brick robot contest, and VR robot contest. The robot competition events are held nationally and internationally. The purposes of this study were to identify what kind of skills obtained by students after following the learning process using educational robotics competitions and to determine the appropriate learning model for the use of educational robotics competitions in studying the field of science and technology. This research was a literature review research. The research method was the Comprehensive Literature Review (CLR). This method has three phases such as 1) exploring phase, 2) interpretation phase, and 3) communication phase. The results showed that the learning model that was widely used in educational robotics competitions was project-based learning and was followed by problem-based learning. The skills obtained were to assist understanding science and technology, to develop computer programming skills, to sharpen problem-solving capability, to foster creativity and innovation, to bridge the gap between theory and practice, and to practice teamwork and social skills.