Using LEGO Mindstorms as an Instructional Aid in Technical and Vocational Secondary Education: Experiences from an Empirical Case Study

Authors:
Maria Moundridou;Alexander Kalinoglou
Affiliations:
School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), General Department of Education, Athens, Greece;School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), General Department of Education, Athens, Greece
Venue:
EC-TEL '08 Proceedings of the 3rd European conference on Technology Enhanced Learning: Times of Convergence: Technologies Across Learning Contexts
Year:
2008

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Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical study concerning the use of LEGO Mindstorms Robotics kit as an instructional tool in technical and vocational secondary education. In particular, a robot car was developed and programmed in order to be utilized in teaching classes in the field of Mechanical Engineering. The paper describes the rationale for that construction and the robot car itself and proposes a lesson plan exploiting this technology. The pilot study that was conducted aimed at measuring the effectiveness of this approach in terms of learning outcomes as well as students' satisfaction, enjoyment and perceived usefulness. The results of the study are encouraging towards the adoption of robotics in technical education although raising some issues that need to be further explored.