Lecture

Programming Thymio with VPL

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Description

This lecture focuses on the learning process related to Thymio as an object of knowledge, where students discover the meaning of programming and start programming for the first time using the graphical VPL interface. The skills developed by students revolve around mastering oral and written language, mathematical languages with logical reasoning, scientific languages with trial and error reasoning, and digital skills with the VPL software. Teachers are advised to consider the obstacles students may face when programming with VPL and will be provided with an activity to identify and address common classroom challenges for better intervention planning.

In MOOC

The Thymio robot as a tool for discovering digital science

This course is intended for anyone who wants to master the Thymio educational robot, but it is especially designed for primary and secondary school teachers who want to learn about this tool and use it in the classroom. It allows teachers to acquire the basics of computer science and robotics, by proposing adapted problem situations, and by providing pedagogical tracks for the animation in class. It responds to the new programs for the introduction of digital sciences in schools in France and Switzerland an

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Related concepts (22)

Graphical user interface

The graphical user interface, or GUI (ˌdʒi:juːˈaɪ or ˈɡu:i ), is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicators such as primary notation, instead of text-based UIs, typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard. The actions in a GUI are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements.

Graphical widget

A graphical widget (also graphical control element or control) in a graphical user interface is an element of interaction, such as a button or a scroll bar. Controls are software components that a computer user interacts with through direct manipulation to read or edit information about an application. User interface libraries such as Windows Presentation Foundation, Qt, GTK, and Cocoa, contain a collection of controls and the logic to render these.

User interface

In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end, while the machine simultaneously feeds back information that aids the operators' decision-making process. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machinery operator controls and process controls.

History of the graphical user interface

The history of the graphical user interface, understood as the use of graphic icons and a pointing device to control a computer, covers a five-decade span of incremental refinements, built on some constant core principles. Several vendors have created their own windowing systems based on independent code, but with basic elements in common that define the WIMP "window, icon, menu and pointing device" paradigm. There have been important technological achievements, and enhancements to the general interaction in small steps over previous systems.

Learning

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants. Some learning is immediate, induced by a single event (e.g. being burned by a hot stove), but much skill and knowledge accumulate from repeated experiences. The changes induced by learning often last a lifetime, and it is hard to distinguish learned material that seems to be "lost" from that which cannot be retrieved.

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