Auburn University Robotics Community Course: A Success Story

Robotics student 2The Auburn University Robotics Community Course, better known as Robo Camp, provides children in grades 5-10 with 20 hours of courswork designed to reinforce children's computer literacy knowledge while introducing them to more advanced concepts and hands-on applications of computer programming and robotics.

Students met each Saturday for three months to use Train and Assess IT application skill-based training modules to reinforce their knowledge about Personal Computer hardware, software architecture, Windows XP, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. More advanced concepts, such as basic computer programming and robotics, were taught using Alice Programming System and the Lego Mindstorms and Robotics Invention System.

Wanda Dann, author of the book Learning to Program with Alice, was guest of honor at the Robo Camp graduation ceremony where students presented their Alice and Lego Mindstorms and Robotics Invention System projects.

Robo Camp is the brainchild of Daniella Marghitu, faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.