Robotics and Programming Integration as Cognitive-Learning Tools

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education Journal, 2016

This qualitative study examined how preservice elementary teachers integrated robotics into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) lesson designs and why they designed their lessons in a particular way. Participants’ lesson designs were collected, and semistructured interviews were conducted. The authors analyzed lesson designs to examine how participants integrated robotics into their lesson designs and interviews to explore why they designed their lessons in a particular way. Our findings suggest that, in general, preservice elementary teachers designed lessons for student learning with technology. Only one lesson was for student learning from technology. The rest were for student learning with technology or applied a mixed approach that supported both student learning with and from technology. Preservice teachers’ lesson designs seemed to have been influenced by their pleasant struggles during robot design, collaboration experience, robotics integration knowledg...

Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 2020

Robotics activities engage students in critical and computational thinking, problem solving, and collaboration, as well as engineering and computer science. By integrating robotics into disciplinary courses, educators offer these opportunities to a wider range of students. However, teachers may be less likely to use new technology without evidence that it can support their teaching and student learning. This paper presents two descriptive case studies as a 'proof of concept' for integrating robotics construction activities into disciplinary courses. They focus on teachers' motivation for integration, and how they used robotics to support disciplinary goals.

… on Edutainment III, 2009

Many constructivist technologies allow students to improve problemsolving strategies and learning in educational settings, encouraging teamwork and creativeness. Hence, in didactic contexts, the building, design and programming of Lego ® MindStorms™ robots entertain students, stimulating technological and social factors. In this paper, we investigated the knowledge acquisition of a Lego Robotics system in University students, who had to create a robot able to take part in a race and avoid an obstacle placed in an arena. The learners' documentation of each phase of the task (reports, schemes, photos and videos) was analyzed as cognitive fingerprints of subjects' mental activities.

2007

Abstract We describe a comprehensive program using educational robotics as a hands-on, constructionist learning environment, integrated into teaching across the undergraduate computer science curriculum. Five courses are described in detail. For the three courses which have been offered multiple times, evaluations were conducted to assess students' attitudes towards the robotics-based curriculum. These results are presented here. Lessons learned are shared, and new directions for the future are highlighted.

This paper introduces an educational robotics course offered as one of the Interdisciplinary Studies Courses under General Education category at a liberal art college that serves predominately underprivileged population of students from neighboring communities in New Jersey. It also presents the case study to examine participated students' learning from the course. The results show that, although the focus of the course is the educational robotics and programming to control robots created with LEGO Mindstorms, the students identified their learning of collaboration and cooperation skills as well as communication skills as one of the best learning outcomes from the course.

Makers at School, Educational Robotics and Innovative Learning Environments, 2021

Robotics in Education (RiE) is a broad term that refers to a variety of applications. Robots can enhance learning and teaching, but they can also help overcome impairments, whether physical or social. Even though the advantages of bringing new technologies into schools are clear, the lack of a well-established set of good practices, assessment of experiences, and tools slows down their adoption. This chapter aims to highlight the key points that emerge from the recent enhancements in RiE. First, the market and research are continuously developing new tools for school to try to meet needs and tailor products. Second, there is a wealth of formal and non-formal experiences, both in the literature and in school activities. Third, research is still validating tools and methodologies that will assess the impact of introducing robotics into education. Despite the wide availability of tools and experiences, there is still a certain degree of uncertainty about how to cope with technology in ...

This paper describes, taking a PhD thesis defended in 2011, some results about the integration of robotics as a technological resource in the curriculum of a private school in Brazil. It's emphasized the pedagogical and didactical aspects and brings a discussion about teaching science and the perspective of using robotics and the relation between curriculum, science and technologies. The results indicate the integration of robotics as a technological resource in basics education in Brazil has complex aspects, such as relation between time/space, the preparation of the educators and the relation between robotics and other subjects. Therefore, the comprehension of these aspects could indicate some steps that we should think when integrate robotics into curriculum, that the technology is not going to keep the prescribed curriculum hegemony, but amplified the perspectives of education for science and technology significant and motivated for students.

Educational robotics is a transformational tool for learning, computational thinking, coding, and engineering, all increasingly being viewed as critical ingredients of STEM learning in K-12 education. Although robotics in education for school age children has been in existence since the late 1900s and is becoming more popular among young students, it is not well integrated as a technological learning tool in regular school settings. The paper aims to convey the importance of integrating educational robotics as a technological learning tool into regular curriculum for K-12 students and explain how it helps students prepare for the future.

Education and Information Technologies

Educational Robotics (ER) has the potential to provide significant benefits to education, provided an increase in outreach by transitioning from the extra-curricular initiatives in which ER has thrived to formal education. As Computer Science (CS) Education is undergoing curricular reforms worldwide, the present study addresses the case of a Digital Education reform that included ER as a means to teach core CS concepts. Approximately 350 teachers from the first four grades of primary school participated in a mandatory two-year continuing professional development (CPD) program. The first year of the program was dedicated to CS and introduced teachers to CS Unplugged (CSU) and Robotics Unplugged (RU) activities. As such, we analyse the interplay between these activities and focus on teachers’ voluntary adoption of the proposed content in classrooms. This is complemented by an analysis of their perception and recommendation of ER. The findings highlight three main points. Firstly, ER b...

Motivation is a key ingredient for learning: Only if the learner is motivated, successful learning is possible. Educational robotics has proven to be an excellent tool for motivating students at all ages from 8 to 80. Robot competitions for kids, like RoboCupJunior, are instrumental to sustain motivation over a significant period of time. This increases the chances that the learner acquires more in-depth knowledge about the subject area and develops a genuine interest in the field.