A MicroPython-based Educational Robotic Maze Approach: Learning Improvement to Competition

Many countries have concentrated on teaching computer programming in recent years. Similarly, Thailand's Ministry of Education has emphasized computational skill education at all grade levels. Conclusions about how to improve the educational process in schools and plans for giving students the skills they need for the twenty-first century. Since the beginning of primary school, the introduction of programming has been a crucial stage in this approach. One of the languages taught in schools is Python. Most of them teach only in the form of programming. But it is rare to be used in conjunction with concrete hardware. Therefore, the researcher proposed a novel approach to teaching and learning through robotic learning materials, using the MicroPython language to develop learning through a competitive robot maze game. This pilot study is a quasi-experimental research. The experimental group comprises individuals interested in learning MicroPython and possess basic computer programming knowledge, but they have not previously studied MicroPython. Due to equipment limitations, the experimental group is limited to thirty participants from secondary schools in the north. The students who join this program study for five weeks on holidays as after-school activities. Testing consists of a pre-test and post-test and mission points from the competition in the robotic maze game. The result of learning in this way is that students can perform better academically. As part of a competition, they made an educational game about the robotic maze. The game for the competition was made as part of a MicroPython learning package for high school and college students. The Robotic Maze Approach with competition games has been utilized successfully to enhance learning.