Overview of technologies for building robots in the classroom

This paper aims to give an overview of technologies that can be used to implement robotics within an educational context. We discuss complete robotics systems as well as projects that implement only certain elements of a robotics system, such as electronics, hardware, or software. We believe that Maker Movement and DIY trends offers many new opportunities for teaching and feel that they will become much more prominent in the future. Products and projects discussed in this paper are: Mindstorms, Vex, Arduino, Dwengo, Raspberry Pi, MakeBlock, OpenBeam, BitBeam, Scratch, Blockly and ArduBlock

Using Scratch to Teach Undergraduate Students' Skills on Artificial Intelligence

This paper presents a educational workshop in Scratch that is proposed for the active participation of undergraduate students in contexts of Artificial Intelligence. The main objective of the activity is to demystify the complexity of Artificial Intelligence and its algorithms. For this purpose, students must realize simple exercises of clustering and two neural networks, in Scratch. The detailed methodology to get that is presented in the article.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, workshop presentatio

Starting from scratch: experimenting with computer science in Flemish secondary education

In the Flemish secondary education curriculum, as in many countries and regions, computer science currently only gets an extremely limited coverage. Recently, in Flanders (and elsewhere), it has been proposed to change this, and try-outs are undertaken, both in and outside of schools. In this paper, we discuss some of those efforts, and in particular take a closer look at the preliminary results of one experiment involving different approaches to programming in grade 8. These experiments indicate that many students from secondary schools would welcome a more extensive treatment of computer science. Planning and implementing such a treatment, however, raises a number of issues, from which in this paper, we formulate a handful as calls for action for the computer science education research community

What did the Romans ever do for us? ‘Next generation’ networks and hybrid learning resources

Networked learning is fundamentally concerned with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to link people to people and resources, to support the process of learning. This paper explores some current and forthcoming changes in ICT and some potential implications of these developments for networked learning. Whilst we aim to avoid taking a technologically determinist stance, we explore the potential for future practice and how some educational and pedagogic practices are evolving to exploit and shape the digital environment. We argue that we can change both the ways in which connections between people (learners and other learners; learners and tutors) are made and the nature of the resources that learning communities (particularly distributed communities) can engage with. In doing this we draw on two strands of work. Firstly, we draw on the ‘IBZL Education’ a UK Open University initiative to develop new scholarship in the context of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through which educators are encouraged to think about technological change in the next five to ten years and ways in which we can intervene and shape these developments. We use problem-based learning as an example of a learning experience that can be difficult to implement in a networked learning environment. IBZL identified two broad strands of significant technological development. 'Superfast' broadband networks that are capable of supporting novel applications are being rolled in the UK (and elsewhere). Also, boundaries between the real and virtual worlds are becoming blurred as in the ‘internet of things’ where, for example, RFID tags enable information about the real world to be brought into the virtual one. We use the term ‘artefact’ to describe designed components, whether entirely digital, such as a computer forum, or material, such as a tablet PC. Networked ‘hybrid’ technologies of virtual and material components have may great potential for use in education. Secondly, we illustrate how these changes may be beginning to happen in distance education using the example of TU100 My Digital Life, a new introductory Open University. . TU100 Students use an electronics board in their own homes to work on a programming problem in collaboration other students through a tutor-led tutorial in a web conferencing system. We also note some of the evident complexity that establishing such resources as part of wider infrastructures of networked learning would be likely to involve

Perceptions about the Use of Educational Robotics in the Initial Training of Future Teachers: A Study on STEAM Sustainability among Female Teachers

In these moments of future uncertainty and change, teachers must be trained to respond to the challenges posed by today’s society, and the challenges that are closely related to the economy. We are going through the first steps of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and changes are already taking place in our daily lives, in our way of learning, working, and interacting with each other. According to the data of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the future of teacher professional development is disfigured—most technological profiles play a strong role, and this affects the skills and abilities of teachers, especially in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). The goal is to achieve the Millennium Goal number three proposed by the United Nations: All countries must promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. This objective aims to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, and the promotion of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to improve the competences of women and vulnerable groups to ensure that no one is left behind. These are priority areas to consider regarding SDG4 (Sustainable Development Goal 4) and Education 203

Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Education: Looking Through the Gender Question

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field in general, and Engineering, suffer from a lack of diversity. Yet there is growing evidence that more diverse organizations are more successful and effective. There is also a global shortage of STEM and engineering skills that can be tackled by addressing the lack of diversity in the field. One obvious way to view this problem is by looking at gender. Women make up 50% of the population, but in Engineering the number of female students and professionals is clearly less than this, often around 10 – 25% in many parts of the world. This underrepresentation of women leads us to think about other groups that are underrepresented in Engineering; these include Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and those from socially deprived backgrounds. This paper examines a number of approaches to support diversity and inclusion to encourage a greater uptake of engineering by underrepresented groups and to retain people in the sector