The American Learning Center (ALC), a private foreign language school in Moldova, has recently launched a new interactive course cheekily known as "Face Robots" on robotics, electronics, and hardware programming taught entirely in English.
The course, which is part of the STEM education component of the American Language Center, aims to help students develop the mindset of an engineer, increase their ability to construct and program open-source robots, and further their overall programming skills.
The course is divided into Basic and Advanced modules. The Basic module is designed for students who are new to robotics and hardware programming and includes Arduino as a development platform and C/C++ as a programming language.
The Advanced module is tailored for alumni of the Basic module and for those who already have some experience in hardware programming. This module focuses on Raspberry Pi as a development platform and Python as a programming language.
A typical Face Robots module lasts for six weeks and includes:
12 sessions on electric circuits and hardware development, C/C++, or Python programming.
7 practical tasks for students to test newly obtained knowledge.
7 challenges to make a robotic device that can deliver a certain social or environmental value.
The innovation of the course lies in its methodology of gamification. Students receive experience points, progression points in certain domains, and skill badges demonstrating the specific skills they have developed when they complete the tasks and challenges. The American Language Center partnered with online game platform MEGA Game: The Game with Impact to deliver this course.
About the American Language Center
The American Language Center was launched in 1998 in Chisinau, Moldova. Over the years, the Center has transformed into one of the top five foreign language schools in Moldova and is one of only a few private schools with accreditation from the Moldovan Ministry of Education. Learn more about the activities of the American Language Center.