Abstract:

The construction and programming of robots are very important for primary school students to acquire practical technical skills in the construction of functional devices. Given that technical education and the development of practical skills of students in the distance form is difficult to implement, options and alternative solutions were sought. The article reports on the possibilities of implementing practically oriented educational activities in distance form. We have found the use of simulation tools and virtual environments as an alternative solution. The LEGO Digital Designer programming environment allows you to build your own robot, as well as the Virtual Robotics Toolkit. The same programming environment can be used to control the created robots, whether from real or virtual kits, e.g. LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Software for students. The use of simulation tools and virtual environments also proved successful in distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article brings our experience and also the results of a questionnaire survey, about how the construction and programming of robots was implemented in Slovak and Czech primary schools during the pandemic.

Keywords:

Simulation tools, educational robotics, construction of robots, programming of robots.