A robotic competition: a classroom experience in a vocational school

Over the last few years, public educational policies emphasized on the need to equip schools with computers and to change didactics of teaching with the aim to improve educational quality and match the needs of a knowledge society. Technologies potentiate the student role with regard to the knowledge that is no more supplied by the instructor. So the teacher becomes a guide to the knowledge path. Many researchers have commented on the use of technological resources in education, in particular in the robotic field, but consistent data that assess how robots affect motivation and learning in the vocational education programs are missing from the literature. We present an educational experience over one year in a vocational high school class forming electronic technicians. Motivation and pressure are considered two factors impacting vocational high school student learning. The introduction of educational robot project and then of the robot competition showed to be effective in encouraging interaction among students and teachers and improving learning efficiency and motivation.