Improving Students’ Concepts About Newtonian Mechanics Using Mobile Robots

In this paper we proposed an educational robotics project using MARRtino mobile robot to students of Italian high schools, aged from 15 to 19 years old. The MARRtino Educational Robot for high school project (MHS) lasted 70 h during the 2017/2018 school year. Students teams built a mobile robot and programmed it to participate to RomeCup 2018 competition and to make experiments in their school Physics Laboratory. We measured if the educational robotics activity improved students Physics concepts learning, Technology perceptions and attitudes, and perception of collaborative work attitudes. Moreover, the by-product of the educational activity was to broaden participation of young students in the technology field and to enrich the high school Physics Laboratories with a new technological and educational tool, a mobile robot.