FAQ's – CARES

FAQ

on Coding and Robotics Education in Schools of Goa Scheme

What is this scheme about? Please explain in detail about the basics of Coding & Robotics scheme?

Content HereThe scheme envisions to develop computational and design thinking skills along with programming integrated into the school level education for the state of Goa to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century digital world.

The scheme will strive to achieve

Making coding skills ubiquitous across the school-level student population in Goa.
Setting up coding / development labs, design studios, and towards having a penchant towards entrepreneurship.
To provide financial/ Traineeship support for developing project ideas, part-take in hackathons, conferences, and symposiums.
To infuse requirement meeting problem-solving and technical skills into the Goan education system through technical manpower, curriculum focusing on Design/Computational Thinking and Programming.
Develop a workforce for the on-coming way of life based on digital technology.
Provide a level playing field to students from rural areas to acquire skills which have been accessible mainly to urban students.
Application of theoretical concepts of Maths and Science taught in school to solve real world problems through Coding and Robotics
Learn by exploration
1. Skill that will help us to accept upcoming technologies easily
Build concepts and theory from experience and validate through experiments
1. Just like in real world
Don’t get loaded with terminologies
1. Yet, learn to get required information easily
Accept multiple answers
1. As long as it’s the solution to our problem
Express more through storytelling, music and arts
1. And also do it through programming, software tools and online collaboration
Understand science and applications of mathematical concepts
1. By building games and simulations
Use technology to help and grow
1. Yet, save ourselves from threats

In order to meet the above mentioned objectives, the scheme initiatives are classified into the following three key areas, for which the scheme will provide support in terms of:

Infrastructure Development
Technical Manpower
Facilitation and promotion

How can this scheme help in benefiting students in terms of their education?

The benefits to the students are as follows

Development of logical reasoning skills
Problem solving skills
Development of team spirit
Development of skills in Coding, Robotics and App building
Development of the ability to explore and learn with limited assistance.
Development of skills in Tinkering.
More successful career in the digital world
Build awareness of business terminology
Help students turn creators
Improvement in likeability and marks in related subjects of Maths and Science

What is the strategy behind the whole process of introducing Coding & Robotics in school?

Computational thinking (CT) is recognized as one of the key 21st century skills that involves understanding a problem, designing a solution and expressing it in a form that a human or a machine can execute. The recently unveiled National Education Policy 2020 by the Ministry of Education, GoI, recommends that mathematical and computational thinking will be given increased emphasis through a variety of innovative methods that make Computational thinking more enjoyable and engaging. It thus becomes paramount that the students of the state of Goa are trained in these essential skills to mitigate the demands of the digital age. A principal goal of school education is to prepare the child for participation in the world outside, interrogate it, and contribute to changing and shaping the world. Language, Mathematics, Science and Social studies form the core of school curricula world over, as they provide the basic means for studying the world, and in changing it. Computing is ubiquitous and people from every walk of life will need to be familiar with computing in some form or the other. This will give rise to a huge demand for computing skills leading to a talent shortage unless computational thinking is introduced in schools immediately. Children need to be taught not only to be socially responsible citizens but also train them to be creators, inventors and adopters of technology. It is therefore imperative to teach computing, which promotes problem solving, computational thinking and critical reasoning skills, at par with Mathematics and Sciences. In the state of Goa, many schools teach students use of word processors and presentation applications as well as some programming language such as Logo, Scratch, C++ or Java. Computational thinking is wider in scope and involves understanding a problem, designing a solution and expressing it in a form that a human or a machine can execute. Many countries such as US, UK, Singapore have adopted a national computing curriculum. Now with the CARES scheme the existing curriculum for Class VI, VII and VIII has been revamped to include topics that will inculcate computational thinking and Mathematical thinking

What is the target/ Aim of this scheme? Please provide us with the statistics?

Technology is becoming more and more ingrained into each and every profession. The pandemic has shown us the importance of the digital medium of communication in the education sector. Doctors increasingly rely on advancements in technology for accurate detection and treatment of life-threatening diseases. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robotics, are becoming a strong pillar of every field. No matter what professional field a student takes, technology will be the key tool for success. It is hence important for the computer teaching community to rightly empower the students with the skills of Computational Science and Design Thinking. Students should learn to tackle common problems with the application of technology. The whole world is witnessing innovation initiated by people of all ages. School children are seen using robotics to control appliances in the house. These technologies have evolved significantly in the last few years. Something that required a team of highly qualified engineers in the past, can now be done by school children. Several children in Goa who had access to the facilities have already demonstrated their caliber. However, a large majority of children are currently deprived of these highly essential skills of the future. The CARES scheme attempts to bridge this gap by providing the learning facilities across all Goan schools. Every student will get an opportunity to learn the essential skills for innovation. Key concepts of programming, robotics and artificial intelligence will be included, that will make children learn the most judicious use of computers using easy and free technology and affordable hardware. The students will then be evaluated purely based on their practical application of acquired knowledge. The scheme caters to 450 schools, 510 teachers and 65600 students from, both Government and Government Aided schools in the state of Goa

Which department/ ministry/ authority is working for this process?

The Department of Technical Education (DTE) under the Ministry of Education, Govt of Goa is implementing the scheme. A special Project Management unit (PMU) has been formed under the DTE to implement the scheme. The PMU is headed by Prof (Dr) Vijay Borges and reports to the Director Dr Vivek Kamat of DTE.

Activities undertaken till date under the scheme?

Syllabus has been revamped for Class VI, VII, VIII
Teachers handbook has been prepared for Class VI regular and Class VI optional
Teachers training for 510 teachers for implementing the class VI syllabus
An elaborate hierarchical model of Teacher capacity building is being implemented which consists of Core Master Trainer (State Level) – Master Trainer (Taluka Level) – Coordinator Teacher (Cluster Level) – Teacher (School Level)

What are the broad focus areas of the Syllabus ?

Coding and Problem solving through composition		Regular Syllabus		Optional Syllabus
		Domain	Tools	Domain	Tools
	Building simple games
	VI	Shapes	Scratch/ Pictoblox	Pose detection	Scratch/ Pictoblox
		Colloboration	Google docs/ only office	Image Detection	Scratch/ Pictoblox
		Graphics	GIMP	Handwriting detection	Scratch/ Pictoblox
		Internet		Face Detection	Scratch/ Pictoblox
		Data safety		Voice Detection	Scratch/ Pictoblox

	Creating Interactive 2D and 3D content
	VII	Creating art	Kojo	Sensors/ controllers	Kojo
		Data processing	SpreadSheets	Robot	Arduino
		3d Image editing	Blender	Robot Movement	Robot
		HTML		Component Interface
		Internet

	Creating Audio Visual Content
	VIII	Creating Music	Sonic Pi	App building	MIT app Inventor
		Video Graphics	Blender	Integration with Robotics	Kojo
		CSS	Text Editors
		Internet

How is the new syllabus being implemented ?

Academic Year 2021-22:
- ○ Std 6 syllabus implemented for std 6, 7 and 8
Academic Year 2022-23:
- ○ Std 6 syllabus delivered for std 6
- ○ Std 7 syllabus implemented std 7 and 8
Academic Year 2023-24:
- ○ Std 6 syllabus delivered for std 6
- ○ Std 7 syllabus delivered for std 7
- ○ Std 8 syllabus implemented std 8