RekenRobot: Assisting primary school teachers in arithmetic education
J. de Boer (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
E.E.M. de Bree (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
P. Remeijsen (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
M.A.R.C.M. Verzijl (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
K.V. Hindriks – Mentor
DJ Broekens – Graduation committee member
OW Visser – Coach
H. Wang – Coach
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Abstract
A large problem that primary schools face is that the ratio of pupils to teachers is too high, the class sizes are too large and this makes it difficult for a single teacher to have a good oversight of how the development of a given child is going. The aim of Interactive Robotics is to tackle this problem by bringing robots into the classroom to aid teachers. They aim to have a single robot in a classroom that has the ability to teach different lessons and subjects; the RekenRobot being specifically for basic arithmetic. During the research phase, ideas were gathered regarding how to create teaching methods that are motivating and stimulating. For instance, personalisation, humanising the robot and adaptability of the teaching material were desired functions. The software for the RekenRobot was built from scratch, using the programming language GOAL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML and JSP. The original target audience of the project were children between the ages of 6 and 8. Later this was changed to cover different school years: 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, making use of levels with different degrees of difficulty. The robot can work one-on-one with a child, being able to practice addition, subtraction, times tables and telling time, as well as 2 forms of explanations can be given: making use of a bus and a number line. Using no explanation to rather focus on automation is also an option. The idea of the project was to lay the groundwork for the later development of the RekenRobot, as this will be an ongoing project for Interactive Robotics. The application designed in this project will be adapted to become part of the Interactive Robotics system. The first user tests at primary schools yielded a largely positive result. The children were excited and motivated to work with the product. The system is simple enough to require very little explanation. This project was never meant to realise a product that can be deployed tomorrow, but the result is a very solid basis for further improvements.