LearnBlock: A Robot-Agnostic Educational Programming Tool

Pilar Bachiller-Burgos,Pablo Bustos,Luis J Manso,Luis V Calderita,Ivan Barbecho

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2972410

Pilar Bachiller-Burgos, Pablo Bustos + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.2972410

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Abstract

Education is evolving to prepare students for the current sociotechnical changes. An increasing effort to introduce programming and other STEM-related subjects into the core curriculum of primary and secondary education is taking place around the world. The use of robots stands out among STEM initiatives, since robots are proving to be an engaging tool for learning programming and other STEM-related contents. Block-based programming is the option chosen for most educational robotic platforms. However, many robotics kits include their own software tools, as well as their own set of programming blocks. LearnBlock, a new educational programming tool, is proposed here. Its major novelty is its loosely coupled software architecture which makes it, to the best of our knowledge, the first robot-agnostic educational tool. Robot-agnosticism is provided not only in block code, but also in generated code, unifying the translation from blocks to the final programming language. The set of blocks can be easily extended implementing additional Python functions, without modifying the core code of the tool. Moreover, LearnBlock provides an integrated educational programming environment that facilitates a progressive transition from a visual to a general-purpose programming language. To evaluate LearnBlock and demonstrate that it is platform-agnostic, several tests were conducted. Each of them consists of a program implementing a robot behaviour. The block code of each test can run on several educational robots without changes.

Highlights

In our highly technological world, Computational Thinking (CT) is becoming a valuable skill
This paper presents an educational tool, called LearnBlock, for learning programming and CT-related contents through robotics
OVERVIEW OF OUR PROJECT LearnBlock arose within the research project Emorobotic, which aims to create a set of tools that facilitate the teaching-learning processes of programming in primary and secondary education, with a special focus on how programming serves as a means for developing abilities of emotional management

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In our highly technological world, Computational Thinking (CT) is becoming a valuable skill. Its objective is to support the inclusion of learning programming in basic education, in the age range from 4 to 14 years For this purpose, TACCLE 3 provides practical ideas, materials and resources necessary to introduce computing or coding in the classroom [8]. The incorporation of robotics into pre-college education system seems necessary and crucial This is especially important considering that the 2030 labour market will mostly require profiles related to electronic device programming, system automation and robotics [14]. This improvement is the result of applying the reasoning, logic and abstraction learned from programming to other subjects [18] In this context, this paper presents an educational tool, called LearnBlock, for learning programming and CT-related contents through robotics.

RELATED WORK AND MOTIVATION

SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE OF LEARNBLOCK

CONCLUSION