Abstract:

The technological revolution has made robots and their components cheap and accessible, therefore a huge tendency towards robotics education is perceived in the educational and pedagogical scene as robots have the capacity to engage students in an active and experiential learning experiences.
A comparative study is conducted with two groups of middle school students enrolled in a robotics course. The control group followed the direct instruction approach, which relies on explicit teaching through lectures and teacher-led demonstrations and used a proprietary robot development framework. The experimental group, on the other hand, utilized ROS (Robot Operating System) as the primary tool for robot development and control in tandem with a game based-learning approach. Both groups had similar course content and assessments.
This study aims to assess the learning outcomes, student engagement, and perceived satisfaction of the two groups. Learning outcomes are evaluated through pre- and post-course tests, which are covering both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Student engagement was measured by analyzing participation levels in class activities and project work. Perceived satisfaction was gathered through surveys and interviews.
The main objective is to propose a scenario in which a teacher can use a pre-built pick and place robot with a navigation stack and request the children to program the robot to move autonomously in a pre-defined surface area. The middle schoolers could start by writing simple code to make the robot move forward and turn. Then, they could progress to complex programs that uses the navigation stack to make the robot move autonomously and pick specified objects and placing them, while, avoiding obstacles.

Keywords:

Game based learning, educational robotics, Robot Operating System (ROS).