Not just "teaching robotics"�but "teaching through robotics"

This discussion discusses strategies for teaching robotics not simply as a subject in its own right, but, using robotics in the teaching environment as an opportunity to stimulate creative thinking and generating an interest in science and technology as creative endeavours.
The spirit is very much that espoused by C.P.Snow in his attempts to bridge "the two cultures"� i.e. that of the arts on the one hand and that of science and technology on the other.

It is often stated by politicians that a "healthy economy"� depends very much on the presence of a sufficiently large pool of well educated scientists and technologists. Yet, at the same time science and scientists are perceived by many to be somewhat strange and possibly dangerous types. At school science is also perceived as a difficult and somewhat "soul less"� discipline, and also, by many not particularly exciting.

The attitude to science by politicians is also often extremely patronising. To quote / paraphrase Winston Churchill - "scientists should be on tap and not on top"�. Whilst it is true to say that a scientific education does not guarantee a gift for governing and leading a country, neither does it preclude it. Scientists are often tarred with very negative images and stereotypes such as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", or "Rotwang the inventor"� in Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis"�.

Robots are also perceived by many as a potential threat, and by others as a source of great wealth and power and control. Just think of HAL in Stanley Kubrik's "2001 a Space Odyssey"� for example. It is also sad to reflect that some of the best research in robotics is oriented towards military weapons systems research.

There are close links between robotics and computer game programming, and there is great potential to use both these technologies to enhance classroom teaching and,also, by demonstrating that these technologies are tools that can be used to enhance our ability to think about as well as to tackle many subjects.

The effective use of robotics, and also, computer game programming in the classroom requires that many teachers, not only science and maths teachers, are confident in using and adapting the technology in the classroom, and also that there is a much greater degree of "cross disciplinary"� teaching.

For this to happen it is necessary to provide teachers with the means to "handle the complexity inherent in robotics and computer game programming". The classical software engineering techniques of using modularity and abstraction to handle and manage complexity can be applied to teaching. Another key strategy is to make extensive use of analogy and metaphor when "teaching through robotics", and the teaching of skills connected with reasoning at the "most appropriate conceptual level" for any given problem.

We are, nowadays, living in an era where technology is changing very rapidly. Many professions require their members to take part in some kind of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) program. A CPD requirement for teachers could include attending programming and robotics courses and workshops, ideally, paid for by their employers, as well as courses and workshops about developing teaching plans and materials that involve programming and / or robot building. Ideally teachers should be able to develop new teaching materials and classes for themselves once they have acquired confidence and understanding in robotics and programming technologies and learned to see them as "simply the tools that they are".