Robotics Course Reflection

 

Robotics Course Reflection


image source: meetedison.com


    
What are the 1 - 2 most important things you learned in this course? How will these things be part of your future work as a teacher or librarian?

One of the most important things I learned in this class is how to use coding to program a robot. In the first coding course, I learned how coding is structured, different types of languages, and different statements (if/then, elif). In this course, I applied what I learned to make an actual robot function. I also learned more about the Arduino when completing my lesson plan project. Although I've used an Arduino before in my classroom, I didn't understand all the functions of it or how it really worked. Researching this and having to explain it in a lesson better prepared me for completing STEAM projects using Arduino with my students. Another important issue I learned more about is AI and how AI is being used. This is a hot topic in my class and often comes up with stories read in class, news articles, or in other ways. Now that I understand more of the current events surrounding AI, I can better facilitate a conversation about the benefits and drawbacks of it. I have more resources to show my students when discussing the topic. 

What are 1 - 2 things you need to learn next to build upon what you learned in this course? How will you learn these things?

Although I learned a lot in this course, there are still skills I need to practice and master. I did practice building circuits with Arduino on Tinker Cad, but I would like to try this on an actual Arduino. I would also like to try out some lessons on a Raspberry Pi. I would do this by ordering these microcontrollers and testing out different tasks and lessons before introducing them to students. I also want to look into different coding languages and how they are similar or different from EdPy, which I used while programming the Edison. I feel that there are many free resources out there about reading and understanding coding languages. I will take my knowledge of how to program Edison and how coding works in general and apply it to learning new languages. I am also considering signing up for an account on Code.org.



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