It’s time for city teachers to say goodbye to blackboard and chalk. Soon schools will use robots to demonstrate the principles of physics or find solution to a mathematics problem.
It’s time for city teachers to say goodbye to blackboard and chalk. Soon schools will use robots to demonstrate the principles of physics or find solution to a mathematics problem.
To grab students’ attention in class, teachers will get trained in using latest technology such as sound sensitive robots to teach mathematics and science.
Through a one-day workshop and a conference for school heads and faculty, teachers learnt the use of robotics to teach science and maths. An IIT Bombay-incubated company has developed an innovative set of robots so that students can grasp several textbook concepts through practical experience while building different kinds of robots. These robots have been designed keeping in mind the academic curriculum.
“The attention span of students is short. Studies have shown that even multimedia do not help in holding their attention for too long. Children tend to learn a lot when they are active. Even toddlers learn faster when they build blocks. Our programme is based on the same underlying principle,” said Gagan Goyal, founder of the company.
For instance, the ‘garbage and disposal’ chapter in CBSE science textbook for Std VII students can be taught by teaching how to build a ‘garbage cleaning robot’. To make this robot, students will have to conceptualise different kinds of garbage - biodegradable and others. They will learn about pulleys and gears and also how to programme the robot to take out trash. Similarly, to learn maths, they will have to build a robot that can move in a square. This will help them in learning concepts of geometry as well as physics.
Nearly 40 schools in the city have launched pilot projects of this teaching method. Lina Asher, head of Billabong School, says that robotics helps in keeping the boys’ attention in class. “Boys are more keen on kinaesthetic. Anything to do with nuts and bolts gets them excited. It definitely helps in keeping them engaged and interested in the subject,” she said.
“We need to teach students that concepts are not just theoretical. To spark their curiosity, we need to show them how all great machines are built on the foundations of these simple concepts,” Gagan said. This will also help in familiarising children with engineering concepts, he added.
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