Educational Robotics to Foster and Assess Social Relations in Students' Groups

Robotics has gained, in recent years, a significant role in educational processes that take place in formal, non-formal, and informal contexts, mainly in the subjects related to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Indeed, educational robotics (ER) can be fruitfully applied also to soft skills, as it allows promoting social links between students, if it is proposed as a group activity. Working in a group to solve a problem or to accomplish a task in the robotics field allows fostering new relations and overcoming the constraints of the established links associated to the school context. Together with this aspect, ER offers an environment where it is possible to assess group dynamics by means of sociometric tools. In this paper, we will describe an example of how ER can be used to foster and assess social relations in students' group. In particular, we report a study that compares: (1) a laboratory with robots, (2) a laboratory with Scratch for coding, and (3) a control group. This study involved Italian students attending middle school. As the focus of this experiment was to study relations in students' group, we used the sociometric tools proposed by Moreno. Results show that involving students in a robotics lab can effectively foster relations between students and, jointly with sociometric tools, can be employed to portrait group dynamics in a synthetic and manageable way

The Craft of Incentive Prize Design: Lessons from the Public Sector

In the last five years, incentive prizes have transformed from an exotic open innovation tool to a proven innovation strategy for the public, private and philanthropic sectors. This report offers practical lessons for public sector leaders and their counterparts in the philanthropic and private sectors to help understand what types of outcomes incentive prizes help to achieve, what design elements prize designers use to create these challenges and how to make smart design choices to achieve a particular outcome. It synthesizes insights from expert interviews and analysis of more than 400 prize

The Officina Emilia Initiative:Innovative Local Actions to Support Education and Training Systems

The issue of the regeneration of skills, in particular in the light engineering industry, is addressed by Officina Emilia (henceforth OE) as a crucial one in order to re-examine the interweaving of education, innovation and local development in the SMEs production systems. The project, aimed at the education and training systems, is designed to enhance the industrial culture in order to strengthen technical and scientific education. First sponsored in 2000 by the University of Modena & Reggio Emilia (Italy), over the last years OE has gathered the support of local actors dealing with the themes of training, culture, and local development. In 2009 it opened its museolaboratorio (“workshop-museum”) in which teaching activities promote an interest in the themes of work, technologies and the socio-economic development of the territory among the students and teachers of schools of all types and levels. The involvement of class groups, of teachers and other visitors takes place through active learning practices that foster motivation and develop a sense of belonging which is likely to lead to a more profitable educational experience, both secondary and tertiary, as well as to contribute to improving career prospects. Officina Emilia proposes innovative action on a local level, allowing for the implementation of effective teaching practices as well as the broadening and consolidation of best practices which might support a society-wide trend towards maintaining a high demand for a better quality of education and the ability to provide it. Ten years after the beginning of the initiative, with this paper we intend to open up the discussion on the various research issues and on the actions undertaken, focusing on the analytical tools and the main critical areas in the further implementation of the Officina Emilia initiative.Analysis of Education; Education Policy; Regional Development Policies; Innovation

Understanding Second Grader’s Computational Thinking Skills in Robotics Through Their Individual Traits

This study investigated the relationship between the personal traits and computational thinking skills of second graders within the context of robotics activities. The hypothesized model showed that learning preference, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy were the main predictors of coding achievement and computational thinking skills, while no direct relationship was found between learning preference, intrinsic, or extrinsic motivation. The final path analysis revealed that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation predict self-efficacy, self-efficacy predicts coding achievement, and coding achievement predicts computational thinking skills. Another important finding was the strong impact of self-efficacy on coding achievement as well as computational thinking skills. Results are interpreted with reference to implications for potential methods of improving computational thinking skills when using robotics in the lower grades in elementary schools

THE SAS STRATEGY TRAINING FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ROBOTICS ACTIVITIES

Educational Robotics in inclusive learning environments creates a wide area of research where innovative teaching practices and theoretical approaches are developed and investigated in order for the new growing educational challenges to be met. In this context, an educational intervention research was carried out using mixed research methodology. The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of the“SAS Strategy Training” a strategy that developed to foster the participation of children with autism, at level 2, in inclusive teamwork with peers during construction and programming LEGO Mindstorms. 2 children, 10-11 years old, diagnosed with autism, at level 2, participated in two inclusive educational robotics teams with typical peers. Τhe SaS Strategy has been integrated in the collaboration script that was designed to support the interaction between the team members during their collaboration on programming LEGO Mindstorms. The “SaS Strategy Training” had encouraging results in reducing the barriers of the participation of the children with autism in teamwork with their typical peers. Critical questions, reflections and new research horizons emerged.

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Institute of Northern Engineering 2006 Annual Report

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR -- OVERVIEW AND MISSION -- CENTER PROFILES -- ORGANIZATION & CENTER LEADERS -- ARCTIC ENERGY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY -- ALASKA UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION CENTER -- MINERAL INDUSTRY RESEARCH LABORATORY -- PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY -- WATER & ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER -- INE GENERAL RESEARCH -- ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2006 -- GOALS 2007 -- RESOURCES, FUNDING, AND EXPENDITURE

RoboSTEAM project the pilot phases

Digital society demands very qualified professionals ready to this environment challenges. This makes necessary to foster the development of competences related to such context such as Computational Thinking or STEAM related skills. However, this is not an easy task, especially because integrating subjects that covers the necessary topics and competences. New active pedagogical approaches are required and this what RoboSTEAM project provides. The application of Challenge Based Learning and Physical Devices and Robotics facilitate the so named twenty first century skills. The project has been developed by several universities and schools and one of most critical parts was testing the methodology and tools, this was done into pilot phases that are described in the present work. The results show that there are important differences between partners socioeconomical context, but that the outcomes of the project are flexible enough to be applied successfully in any of them.This paper is supported by ROBOSTEAM Erasmus+ KA201 Project with reference 2018-1-ES01-KA201-050939.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Connecting Networks through Percussion: Rhythm as an Inclusive Practice in Socio-Educational Projects

This study forms part of the project “Re-Inhabiting the Neighbourhood: Processes of Transformation and Empowerment Among Universities-Schools-Society through Artistic Practices”. Its main objective is to contribute to social transformation and citizen empowerment. It mainly explores the potential of rhythmic percussion to foster a sense of group cohesion among members of the community. Three workshops were held with the participation of 45 subjects, made up of primary school students, family members, school teachers, and university students. As in much sociology research, the approach is mixed-methods, allowing to have a broader understanding of the phenomena at study. The results highlight the key role of attentiveness and careful listening in achieving concentration and good cohesion, in addition to the importance of respect for fellow members and a sense of group belonging