Τρίτη 24 Ιανουαρίου 2017

To πανεπιστήμιο του Κέιμπριτζ δημιούργησε τη δουλειά των παιδικών μας ονείρων

LEGO



Τι λέει πως θέλει να γίνει ένα παιδί όταν μεγαλώσει; Πυροσβέστης, αστροναύτης, δάσκαλος/α...Όλες οι επιλογές περιορίζονται στα επαγγέλματα που ήδη υπάρχουν και είναι ευρέως γνωστά. Και ακόμη και έτσι σπάνια καταλήγουμε να κάνουμε τη δουλειά που ονειρευόμασταν όταν ήμασταν μικροί.
Το πανεπιστήμιο του Κέιμπριτζ πάντως φαίνεται πως «δημιούργησε» μια νέα δουλειά ή για την ακρίβεια μια νέα θέση καθηγητή που πολλοί θα χαρακτηρίζαμε ως «δουλειά των ονείρων μας» (για όσους δηλ. παραμένουμε παιδιά).
Η νέα λοιπόν αυτή θέση δεν είναι άλλη από αυτή του Lego Professor of Play και ναι όταν λέμε Lego εννοούμε τα παιχνίδια.
Συγκεκριμένα το Νο 1 Πανεπιστημιακό Ίδρυμα στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο αναζητά έναν ειδικό για να «τρέξει» το νέο ερευνητικό κέντρο εκπαίδευσης, ανάπτυξης και μάθησης.
Το κέντρο χρηματοδοτείται εν μέρει από το Ίδρυμα Lego και μεταξύ των στόχων του ερευνητικού κέντρου είναι να εξετάσει «τη σημασία του παιχνιδιού στην εκπαίδευση σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο», προκειμένου να διδαχθούν τα παιδιά δεξιότητες όπως η επίλυση προβλημάτων, η ομαδική εργασία, ο αυτο-έλεγχος.
Σύμφωνα με την Guardian, το Πανεπιστήμιο έψαχνε για κάποιον με μια «παιδική νοοτροπία»: «έναν ακαδημαϊκό, που του αρέσει το παιχνίδι, με εξαιρετική περιέργεια, ανοιχτόμυαλος, δημιουργικός και με φαντασία».

Τετάρτη 18 Ιανουαρίου 2017

Teaching Computer Programming: Get Ready-Set-Create!

Teaching Computer Programming: Get Ready-Set-Create!

To cement learning, allow students to use skills to solve real-world coding challenges

by Drew McConnell, Manager of Digital Learning, FIRST
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Teaching Computer Programming blog post

The goal of an Introduction to Programming class is for students to learn to program computers. The goal is not merely to read code, understand code, interpret code, analyze code, or even to evaluate code. The goal is to create with code; to use the languages of computer programming to create new, useful technology. Now, yes, in order to create with code one must also read, understand, interpret, analyze, and evaluate it. But many classrooms stop here. They never get to creation, and in turn, deprive their students of the real skill they came to learn.
This is often a constant balancing act in a classroom. How does a teacher help their students acquire fundamental programming skills while also helping them think logically and computationally? In my high school classroom, I have attempted to bridge this gap by always having two threads of assignments going at any given time. The threads are:
  1. An open-ended project to foster computational thinking and problem-solving.
  2. Assigned lessons in CodeCademy to gain basic programming fundamentals.
The idea is that as students design computational solutions to the open-ended project they can use CodeCademy to acquire the fundamental programming skills needed to do so. For a majority of students this approach works well, but a small handful of students have trouble. They struggle to make the leap from applying fundamental skills in a step-by-step lesson to designing a computational solution with the fundamental skills as the pieces of the puzzle.
The problem is that these kids have never been required to think critically before. They’ve always been told what to do and how to do it. They’ve applied algorithms in Math, but they’ve never had to design their own algorithm to solve a problem. In tackling this issue, my title as “teacher” falls short. I cannot teach computational thinking. There is no amount of knowledge I can impart that will enable them to think logically and computationally. Yet the task before me is still to help these students learn to program computers, and this inevitably requires computational thinking.
So what do I do? Like any good teacher, I ask questions. I find mechanisms that force students to think about the logic of code. When asked “What do I do next,” my standard answer -- much to the chagrin of my students -- is: “I don’t know. What does your program need to do?” This response typically results in silence and blank stares, but it is essential to the process. I cannot answer this question for them. They must learn to answer (and eventually ask) this question for themselves.
Recently I had a student, Robbie, programming a Go Fish card game. After much effort his program would deal cards to both a human player and a computer player, and allow the human player to ask for a card from the computer. Stumped on his next steps, Robbie asked “What do I do now?” Refusing to answer this question for him, I pulled out a deck of cards. I dealt seven cards to each of us and asked him if he had any ‘fours’. He instinctively began scanning his cards and I stopped him.
“What are you doing now?” I asked.
Unsure of himself, he replied, “Checking to see if I have any ‘fours’.”
“What will happen if you do?” I asked.
“I’ll give them to you.”
“And if not?”
“I’ll say ‘Go fish.’”
“You just laid out the next steps of your program,” I told him.
I wish I could tell you this brief conversation was a lightbulb moment for Robbie and that he has now mastered the art of computational thinking. This would not be true. It took another half hour of guiding questions to help Robbie move from these simple steps to successfully implementing them in his program, but it was essential to his learning process. And while I will likely have to continue asking him the same guiding questions, I saw progress in Robbie that day. He answered questions he could not answer a month before.
Learning to think computationally is a process. It requires a whole new way of thinking students have never done before, and it is not acquired overnight. As I wrote this blog I wanted to present a clean and easy solution to bridge the gap between fundamental programming skills and computational thinking. The reality is that I cannot. Computational thinking takes practice. Some students need to be guided through the process again and again and again. They need to learn to ask the right questions about a problem before they can solve it. This comes by hearing you ask the right questions again and again and again. And slowly, through persistence and no small amount of patience, they will first begin to understand the questions, and then to ask them themselves. Once they know how to ask the right computational questions, they can begin to apply their fundamental skills to solving them.
Drew McConnell is manager of digital learning for FIRST. Read Drew's bio
 

If you have an inspiring story or piece of wisdom that you’ve picked up through your experiences in the FIRST community, please reach out to us at inspire@firstinspires.org and inquire about becoming a guest contributor for Inspire.
http://www.firstinspires.org/community/inspire/teaching-computer-programming-get-ready-set-create

Βοήθεια σ εκπαιδευτικούς υποστήριξης της Ρομποτικής

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/alycia-zimmerman/using-lego-build-math-concepts/

Here are some of the many ways that I use LEGO to boost engagement while introducing my students to a wide range of math concepts.
SCHOLASTIC.COM
    I was not one of those LEGO® kids growing up. Sure, my brothers had LEGO bricks, and every so often I’d kidnap some tiny LEGO men for a make-believe game. But I didn’t truly appreciate the engineering capacity of those studded plastic bricks. They were just so rigidly rectangular!
    As an adult, I’ve come to appreciate LEGO, both for its rectilinear aesthetic, and even more so, for its mathematical might. In the classroom, the tiny bricks are now my favorite possibility-packed math manipulative! Read on for a sampling of math activities that use LEGO pieces to build and reinforce key math concepts.

    LEGO – Not Just for Playtime

    Chances are that if you are a parent or teacher, you already know, at least in theory, that these sturdy plastic blocks have huge intrinsic educational value. Along with the obvious creative implications, while children play with LEGO blocks, they are also building their spatial and proportional awareness. Advanced LEGO kits are even used on the high school and college level for computer programming, robotics, and more.
    Let’s face it though – many elementary school teachers are women who, like me, did not grow up as LEGO experts. And until you’ve had some firsthand experience playing around with the blocks, you may not be comfortable using it as a teaching tool. So, here is my plea: Find some LEGO bricks in a storage closet or basement, and take some time exploring how they work. Count the studs, explore the dimensions, build some towers. And I guarantee, you’ll now be thinking … MATH!

Δευτέρα 9 Ιανουαρίου 2017

8 Σύνθετη Ρομπότ των ζώων που πρέπει να δείτε

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voNBzuI7IJ4

Top 5 Arduino Βασισμένο ρομπότ Έργα

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Παρακαλούμε ΕΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΤΕ μας! 
Θα θέλαμε να σας δείξει 5 Φουτουριστικό ρομπότ με βάση Arduino. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCgD664piY

Ρομποτική στο Χάρβαρντ


Χάρβαρντ Σχολή Μηχανικής και Εφαρμοσμένων Επιστημών ρομποτικής σχολή συζητήσουν την έρευνά τους και τις ευκαιρίες που έχουν για να κάνει τη διαφορά στον κόσμο.

MIT Robotics Team 2015 Promo Video



http://roboteam.mit.edu/