2,220 research outputs found
Encouraging early mastery of computational concepts through play
Learning to code, and more broadly, learning about computer science is a
growing field of activity and research. Under the label of computational
thinking, computational concepts are increasingly used as cognitive tools in
many subject areas, beyond computer science. Using playful approaches and
gamification to motivate educational activities, and to encourage exploratory
learning is not a new idea since play has been involved in the learning of
computational concepts by children from the very start. There is a tension
however, between learning activities and opportunities that are completely open
and playful, and learning activities that are structured enough to be easily
replicable among contexts, countries and classrooms. This paper describes the
conception, refinement, design and evaluation of a set of playful computational
activities for classrooms or code clubs, that balance the benefits of
playfulness with sufficient rigor and structure to enable robust replication.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Robot tutors:Welcome or ethically questionable?
Robot tutors provide new opportunities for education. However, they also introduce moral challenges. This study reports a systematic literature re-view (N = 256) aimed at identifying the moral considerations related to ro-bots in education. While our findings suggest that robot tutors hold great potential for improving education, there are multiple values of both (special needs) children and teachers that are impacted (positively and negatively) by its introduction. Positive values related to robot tutors are: psychological welfare and happiness, efficiency, freedom from bias and usability. However, there are also concerns that robot tutors may negatively impact these same values. Other concerns relate to the values of friendship and attachment, human contact, deception and trust, privacy, security, safety and accountability. All these values relate to children and teachers. The moral values of other stakeholder groups, such as parents, are overlooked in the existing literature. The results suggest that, while there is a potential for ap-plying robot tutors in a morally justified way, there are imported stake-holder groups that need to be consulted to also take their moral values into consideration by implementing tutor robots in an educational setting. (from Narcis.nl
Innovative Web 2.0 Technologies to Support Struggling Readers
Most Web 2.0 technologies are either free or inexpensive, making them accessible for teachers to use for instructional purposes, especially to assist diverse students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. This article discusses the qualitative findings of a mixed-methods study that investigated how a group of candidates in a reading licensure graduate program responded to Web 2.0 technology integration when working with struggling readers, including their perceptual reaction and their implemented practice. The results from the study may help K-12 classroom teachers and teacher educators better understand how to include technologies in working with teacher candidates and assist them in designing instructional practices to support all learners
Using Ozobots to Learn Character Traits
Technology is utilized in everyday life. As such, teachers can employ educational robots and technology to assist in growing skills in collaboration, communication, computational thinking, and problem-solving. Educational robots also appear to increase engagement and motivation in students to participate in lessons. This study employed design-based research (DBR) to explore the use of Ozobots in teaching character traits in a fourth-grade classroom. Together with fourth-grade teachers, a set of lessons was created that employed Ozobots to engage students in learning character traits. Two technology integration frameworks, technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) and Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR), were incorporated to ensure that the technology integration lessons were developed with structure and intent. Through the DBR study, findings showed that educators could utilize Ozobots to support teaching character traits through instructional lessons. The lessons can be modified for additional grade levels depending on student needs. Implications for future studies include more research on how Ozobots and other educational robots may be suitable to help with reading and writing skills
Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Entertainment Computing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Entertainment Computing, vol. 17 (2016). DOI 10.1016/j.entcom.2016.07.001.[EN] According to current kindergarten curricula, game play is an important basis for children development
and it is the main driving force when designing educational activities during early childhood. This paper
presents a review of the current state of the art of game technologies that support pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten children development. Moreover, the most emergent technologies for developing educational
games for preschool children are identified and a set of future challenges are discussed. The main
goal of this work is to review the state of the art in interactive technologies which will help educators,
game designers and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) experts in the area of game-based kindergarten
instruction.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This work received financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and funded by the European Development Regional Fund (EDRF-FEDER) with the project TIN2014-60077-R (SUPEREMOS). This work is also supported by a predoctoral fellowship within the FPU program from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports to V. Nacher (FPU14/00136) and from GVA (ACIF/2014/214) to F. Garcia-Sanjuan.Nácher-Soler, VE.; GarcĂa Sanjuan, F.; JaĂ©n MartĂnez, FJ. (2016). Interactive technologies for preschool game-based instruction: Experiences and future challenges. Entertainment Computing. 17:19-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2016.07.001S19291
Boosting children's creativity through creative interactions with social robots
Creativity is an ability with psychological and developmental benefits. Creative levels are
dynamic and oscillate throughout life, with a first major decline occurring at the age of 7 years
old. However, creativity is an ability that can be nurtured if trained, with evidence suggesting an
increase in this ability with the use of validated creativity training. Yet, creativity training for
young children (aged between 6-9 years old) appears as scarce. Additionally, existing training
interventions resemble test-like formats and lack of playful dynamics that could engage children
in creative practices over time. This PhD project aimed at contributing to creativity stimulation
in children by proposing to use social robots as intervention tools, thus adding playful and
interactive dynamics to the training. Towards this goal, we conducted three studies in schools,
summer camps, and museums for children, that contributed to the design, fabrication, and
experimental testing of a robot whose purpose was to re-balance creative levels. Study 1 (n =
140) aimed at testing the effect of existing activities with robots in creativity and provided initial
evidence of the positive potential of robots for creativity training. Study 2 (n = 134) aimed at
including children as co-designers of the robot, ensuring the robot’s design meets children’s
needs and requirements. Study 3 (n = 130) investigated the effectiveness of this robot as a tool
for creativity training, showing the potential of robots as creativity intervention tools. In sum,
this PhD showed that robots can have a positive effect on boosting the creativity of children.
This places social robots as promising tools for psychological interventions.Criatividade Ă© uma habilidade com benefĂcios no desenvolvimento saudável. Os nĂveis de
criatividade sĂŁo dinâmicos e oscilam durante a vida, sendo que o primeiro maior declĂnio
acontece aos 7 anos de idade. No entanto, a criatividade Ă© uma habilidade que pode ser nutrida se
treinada e evidĂŞncias sugerem um aumento desta habilidade com o uso de programas validados
de criatividade. Ainda assim, os programas de criatividade para crianças pequenas (entre os 6-9
anos de idade) sĂŁo escassos. Adicionalmente, estes programas adquirem o formato parecido ao
de testes, faltando-lhes dinâmicas de brincadeira e interatividade que poderão motivar as crianças
a envolverem-se em práticas criativas ao longo do tempo. O presente projeto de doutoramento
procurou contribuir para a estimulação da criatividade em crianças propondo usar robôs sociais
como ferramenta de intervenção, adicionando dinâmicas de brincadeira e interação ao treino.
Assim, conduzimos três estudos em escolas, campos de férias, e museus para crianças que
contribuĂram para o desenho, fabricação, e teste experimental de um robĂ´ cujo objetivo Ă© ser uma
ferramenta que contribui para aumentar os nĂveis de criatividade. O Estudo 1 (n = 140) procurou
testar o efeito de atividade já existentes com robôs na criatividade e mostrou o potencial positivo
do uso de robôs para o treino criativo. O Estudo 2 (n = 134) incluiu crianças como co-designers
do robô, assegurando que o desenho do robô correspondeu às necessidades das crianças. O
Estudo 2 (n = 130) investigou a eficácia deste robô como ferramenta para a criatividade,
demonstrando o seu potencial para o treino da criatividade. Em suma, o presente doutoramento
mostrou que os robôs poderão ter um potencial criativo em atividades com crianças. Desta
forma, os robôs sociais poderão ser ferramentas promissoras em intervenções na psicologia
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