The robot on show in UAE that's definitely cool for school

It's well known as a toy company producing plastic building bricks and mini-figures with yellow heads. But Lego is now introducing robots into UAE classrooms to help build the next generation of brainiacs. Already 450 schools across the Emirates - and more than 1,000 across the GCC - have signed up to a scheme that will encourage children aged eight to 18 to learn using the Lego Education Mindstorms EV3 robot.

It even “has a brain”, says Senthil Kugan, general manager at Atlab, the official distributor of Lego Education in the GCC.

​The Lego initiative being launched in schools across the UAE aims to encourage hands-on learning
The Lego initiative being launched in schools across the UAE aims to encourage hands-on learning

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He says the thinking behind it is to provide hands-on learning opportunities in the crucial subject areas of maths, science and engineering.

“Eight year olds can learn from it by the teacher telling them to build the robot and make it move 20m, then stop when it finds an obstacle,” Kugan says as an example. Elsewhere, an 18-year-old could learn from the Lego automaton by getting it to work out a Rubik Solver in one minute, he adds. But in an era of iPads in classrooms, are Lego robots - which come in at Dhs1,800 each - just too old-school?

Kugan disagrees. And so do the teachers. Lego robots in the classroom are “a great idea”, insists Deira International School physics teacher Anthony Robinson.

“From my experience with robots, there will be a large amount based around programming the robots - which is actually more computer-based,” he says. He explains that the mass use of devices such as iPads means one of the most sought-after skills nowadays is writing programming codes. Just look at pop star will.i.am as an example. He told 7DAYS last week that he’s ready to head back to the classroom to learn the skill.

Robinson says: “Using the code to actually see a robot carry out your commands is very rewarding for students.”

But are we not in danger of replacing teachers with robots? “It can’t replace a teacher in the classroom,” says Kugan.

“But it replaces the role of the teacher from a teacher to a facilitator. The skills required in the 21st century are problem solving and critical thinking. It’s the teacher’s job to pose the challenge.”

Yet you would imagine Robinson didn’t put himself through university only to be handed the job description ‘facilitator’. But it’s a title that suits him fine.

“All modern teaching methods are guiding us towards being a facilitator of learning,” he says. “Gone are the days of standing in front of a class feeding them information. The classic talk-and-chalk lessons are a thing of the past. Pupils synthesising then participating in their own learning is the best way to embed the skills and information set out by the lesson objectives.”

And there’s no way he sees robots eradicating his profession.

“Robots can be taught to adapt to new situations, but the complex tasks involved in a modern-day teacher’s life would be impossible to programme.” The importance of student-centred learning is a view firmly shared by primary school teacher Katie Smithers, who is head of maths at Emirates International School in the Meadows.

“Rote learning was ‘this is the method and you stick to the method’,” she says. “Now it’s about knowledge, skills, and the understanding of that and how this links. It’s exploration.”

Like Robinson, she’s a fan of Lego robots, and her kids building on their education from them. “It’s pretty cool,” she says.

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