Programmable Robot Kit for both Visually Impaired and Sighted Elementary School Students

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K00992
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Science education
• Research Institution: Fukuoka Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: KIMURO Yoshihiko 福岡工業大学, 情報工学部, 教授 (30205009)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 家永 貴史 福岡工業大学, 情報工学部, 准教授 (00393439)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: プログラミング / 視覚障害 / ロボット / 初等中等教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the informational society, it seems that elementary school students should learn programming and a robot kit such as LEGO is used as one of adequate programming materials. However, almost all programming tools for beginners employ graphical user interface, so visually impaired students cannot use such programming tools. To reduce the problem, we have proposed a new programming material only using a numeric keypad and a mobile toy robot. Using the programming material, we had experimental classes, which were focused on the ease of use it for both visually impaired and sighted students. As a result, visually impaired students were able to obtain the programming skill within 15 minutes at maximum from their first touch of the robot. On the other hands, sighted students spent only 5 minutes to use the robot.

Free Research Field

知能ロボット工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

適切に設計されたテキストプログラミング言語であれば，ビジュアルプログラミング言語と同等以上に簡単に，かつ，晴眼盲弱の区別なく，日本語や英語の区別もなく，小学校低学年からプログラミングを学習できることを示した．晴眼盲弱を区別しないプログラミング教材というアプローチは，他に類がなく学術的な意義があると思われる．また，PC不要で特別な準備もなく母語でプログラミングを学習できることは，社会的意義も大きいと思われる．