Robots bring programming lessons to Sigulda school

Sigulda City Secondary School has joined a nationwide project that uses robots to teach programming, LSM reports. The initiative, run by the IT Education Foundation, provides schools with robots, teaching materials and methodological support.

Now in its third year, the project has reached more than 100 schools and over 12,000 students. This school year, 50 schools are taking part for the first time, including the Sigulda school.

Seventh-graders learn basic functions, such as switching the robots on and off. Eighth-graders tackle more complex tasks, programming a robot to meet set criteria and working out some of the required calculations themselves.

Students Valters and Olivers said they had learned to enter distances in centimetres and turning angles into an app. They said the robots made learning more interesting.

Computer science and programming teacher Marina Zakovica said pupils can program the robots to deliver or transport items, make sounds and change colours. The robots can also detect obstacles. Ninth-graders move on to programming in Python, she said.

The project offers teachers additional robots and materials to use in lessons and runs throughout the school year. Latvia’s students perform well in algorithmic thinking and programming, according to the latest PISA test, but there are differences in knowledge between schools. Access to technology alone does not guarantee better learning outcomes; teacher support and students’ ability to work independently are also important.