Panama, November 6, 2024. Students from first grade to twelfth grade, from 10 schools in the province of Colón, participated in the closing of the educational robotics project “Learning with Blue-Bot and Rugged Robot 2024”, which was held on October 31 at the Center for Innovation, Technological Development and Entrepreneurship (Cidete) of the Regional University Center of Colón.
The Blue-Bot is a robot that can perform up to 40 movements and is used to introduce children to programming and robotics in an interactive and playful way. The Rugged Robot is a programmable all-terrain car, capable of making 45º turns and has a higher degree of difficulty. This is the second year that we have worked with high school and middle school students using the Rugged Robot.
This project promotes the use of robots to help teachers and professors of schools and colleges to teach their classes in a dynamic way, using gamification. This initiative arose as a result of a Cooperation Agreement signed between the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (Senacyt) and the non-profit organization, Asociación Cuerdas, dedicated to working for people with disabilities. In this edition, 315 students with disabilities participated.
“This project is fundamental for Panama, by promoting technological education from an early age, fostering interest in programming and robotics through interactive and playful experiences that include students of various abilities,” said Dr. S. T Kathia Pittí, deputy director of Innovation in Science and Technology Learning at Senacyt.
During this year, a total of 11,214 students from the following schools have benefited from this project: Marco Ramón Vásquez School, Santa Rita Arriba School, Felipe Salavarría Mesa School, Luis Jiménez Ruíz School, Villa Alondra School, Crispino Ceballos School, Miguel Febres Cordero School, Abel Bravo School, José Guardia Vega School and Benigno Jiménez School. all in Colón.
Challenges
The students worked in groups to program the steps and direction that the robots should follow to meet the rules of the different challenges they faced. In addition to applying their programming skills, they also demonstrated their knowledge and reinforced teamwork.
The first challenge was “Math Path”, which aimed to get elementary school students to practice math operations and using the correct signs to solve problems, all interactively, using the Blue-Bot robot.
In challenge 2, “Touring the patriotic symbols of Panama with knowledge” the students had to answer a question about the patriotic symbols and had to program the Blue-Bot to move on the mat and find the correct answer. In addition, they had to say an interesting fact about the symbol found to demonstrate their understanding.
Completing a sentence with the correct name of important institutions in Panama was the third challenge. The students used the Blue-Bot to move around on the mat and find the correct answer. The most colorful challenge for the attendees was the “Race Track” in which the teams had to advance their robots, go in reverse and make two different turns.
Representatives of the Ministry of Education, the University of Panama, teachers, professors, Miguel Charris and Dayra Wardrope, president and secretary respectively, of the Cuerdas Association participated in the closing of the project.
