TechColleges: Learn to teach using robots

Abstract

TechColleges, a project founded by the Federal State of Lower Saxony, aims at inspiring students at vocational schools to become a part of the first generation of academics. These students - being trained to teach at vocational schools - get support during their university courses with mathematical introductory courses and electrotechnical projects using small robots (e.g. Raspberry Pi, Arduino). Robots have a great potential for motivating students excellently by linking electrical engineering with computer science. Positive impressions by using robots were received for projects like robotic summer program or robot lab project. Furthermore, there is a large number of available systems, like Lego Mindstorms or Robotino, which can be used in classrooms. TechColleges uses robots in university and classrooms to motivate students to become a teacher at a vocational school. The project consists of three levels, in which students are confronted with problems in the field of robotics and teaching activities. This paper describes the individual levels of the project. Level one depicts the obtained results. Level two and three give a preview.