Today robotics is used in many areas and is important to the future of mankind.Robotics provides an exciting, hands-on way for students to learn Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and is inspiring them to pursue careers in STEM-related fields. Learning Robotics is a process to gain expertise in multiple fields and technologies, it allows innovating by bringing ideas to life.
Robotics has been used in education for decades as a medium to bring together knowledge in different fields to build a system, and for helping students better understand collaboration, natural sciences and develop higher level problem-solving skills. It provides students with the opportunity to test the results of abstract design concepts through concrete, hands-on robotic manipulations. Robotics is a fun way to learn.
In order to develop innovation spirit and critical thinking through the use of robotics as an educational tool and raise the young people’s interest towards STEM, USAID CEED II Project, Moldovan Association of Private ICT Companies in partnership with Estonian NGO ”Robootika” and ARTICO Youth and Children Center, under the patronage of the Ministry of Education launched on March 25, 2014, a new educational initiative based on Lego Education program – namely “ROBOCLUB”.
The project will be piloted within ARTICO Youth and Children Center, the Polytechnical College and 2-3 lyceums from Chisinau. The program will be offered as extra-curricular activity, 2-3 times a week, with a monthly fee to be defined by the operating partners. Within Roboclub students will be trained to assemble and program robots using icon-based programming software. Such technology allows children to create autonomous robots that can solve fairly sophisticated tasks such as locating and removing objects from a defined space.
The clubs will be equipped with Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 core sets – kits containing software and hardware to create customizable, programmable robots. Lego Mindstorms is one of the most widely used educational robotic platforms nowadays.
All the Robotics activities will be held in groups of 10-16 pupils, coordinated by an instructor/teacher. The trainers acquired the necessary knowledge and skills by attending a special ToT, conducted in partnership with NGO ”Robootika”, the organization running educational robotics in Estonia since 2007.
If you represent an educational institution interested in joining the program or a company willing to support the creation of new Roboclubs in Moldova, please contact us at office@ict.md or fill in the form with the required information and we will get back to you as soon as possible with all the details about the procedures and actions to be taken.
