Matatalab Hands-on Coding Robot Set

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CertifiedEducation quality
10/2018
Matatalab Hands-on Coding Robot Set

Matatalab Hands-on Coding Robot Set

Matatalab
Programming
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Matatalab is a tangible coding robot set designed for kids 4-9 to learn basic coding through adventures and hands-on play.

Matatalab comes with a coding robot, physical programming board, programming blocks and additional assets which can be used to create and solve different kinds of programming problems. The students engaged with Matatalab will learn fundamental coding skills and develop necessary cognitive abilities through educational coding games from a young age. Matatalab also supports creative programming through ability to program music or command the robot to draw shapes on paper. Matatalab tools enables young kids to be creative and explorative, and teach programming skills without the need for screen or literacy skills.

Age groups 
Preschool
Elementary
Languages 
Spanish
Japanese
Chinese
Portuguese
German
French
Italian
Korean
Russian
Turkish
Platform 
Non-digital product
Registration 
Required
Offline play 
Internet required
Pictures
Videos
The player places the commands to a control board which sends them to the robot.

The player places the commands to a control board which sends them to the robot.

The robot can be made to play music by placing music commands.

The robot can be made to play music by placing music commands.

By inserting a pen to the robot, the robot can be made to draw shapes, angles and lines.

By inserting a pen to the robot, the robot can be made to draw shapes, angles and lines.

Matatalab also supports complex programming, such as functions and loops.

Matatalab also supports complex programming, such as functions and loops.

Matatalab is a set of tangible programming tools for young learners

Matatalab is a set of tangible programming tools for young learners

Pedagogy
Educational Quality
Learning Goals

The pedagogical analysis covers how the product supports learning of the identified skills. The student’s role is assessed by four contrary pair parameters, which are selected to cover the most essential aspects on the use of the product.

Passive
Active
Matatalab is fully interactive and the learning experience is based on hands-on problem-solving activities.
Rehearse
Construct
The solution provides an excellent opportunity to build a deeper understanding of programming and technology as it's based on learning by doing.
Linear
Non-linear/Creative
The solution follows linear, predetermined user progression set by the challenge booklet and the Teacher's Guidebook. This makes it easy to plan the learning path as learning outcomes and progression can be relatively easily predicted and scheduled.
Individual
Collaborative
Nearly all activities can be done as a group which is great. Meaningful social interaction is known to improve the learning outcomes and the solution provides a very good context for solving challenges together.

The following are the high educational quality aspects in this product.

Tangible tools for programming, which allow creating many kinds of arts and crafts.
The solution is fully interactive and the learning experience is based on hands-on problem-solving activities.
Matatalab supports complex programming, such as loops and functions with a tangible and fun tool set.
The solution follows linear, predetermined user progression set by the challenge booklet and the Teacher's Guidebook. This makes it easy to plan the learning paths for students.

The supported learning goals are identified by matching the product with several relevant curricula descriptions on this subject area. The soft skills are definitions of learning goals most relevant for the 21st century. They are formed by taking a reference from different definitions of 21st century skills and Finnish curriculum.

Subject based learning goals

Practicing to be responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology
Analysing problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
Create and debug simple programs.
Recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.
Understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions.
Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs.
Use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.
Use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output.
Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.
Understanding and applying the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation

Soft skills learning goals

Practising to understand visual concepts and shapes and observe their qualities
Learning to plan and organize work processes
Connecting subjects learned at school to skills needed at working life
Practicing to notice causal connections
Learning to build information on top of previously learned
Encouraging to build new information and visions
Learning to combine information to find new innovations
Practicing to work with others
Learning to listen other people’s opinions
Developing problem solving skills
Practicing to create questions and make justifiable arguments based on observations
Practicing to plan and execute studies, make observations and measurements
Practicing persistent working
Learning to find the joy of learning and new challenges
Creating requirements for creative thinking
Encouraging students to be innovative and express new ideas
Practicing categorization and classification
Practising visual recognition
Learning to notice causal connections
Building common knowledge of technological solutions and their meaning in everyday life
Using technology resources for problem solving
Understanding technological system operations through making
Using technology as a part of explorative and creative process
Understanding and practicing safe and responsible uses of technology
Practicing logical reasoning, algorithms and programming through making
Practicing logical reasoning to understand and interpret information in different forms
Experiencing and exploring sounds and music from different sources
Learning to acquire, modify and produce information in different forms
Practicing strategic thinking

The Finnish Educational Quality Certificate

Our Quality Evaluation Method is an academically sound approach to evaluating a product’s pedagogical design from the viewpoint of educational psychology.

The method has been developed with university researchers and all evaluators are carefully selected Finnish teachers with a master's degree in education.

More about the evaluation