A Playful Experiential Learning System With Educational Robotics

This article reports on two studies that aimed to evaluate the effective impact of educational robotics in learning concepts related to Physics and Geography. The reported studies involved two courses from an upper secondary school and two courses froma lower secondary school. Upper secondary school classes studied topics ofmotion physics, and lower secondary school classes explored issues related to geography. In each grade, there was an “experimental group” that carried out their study using robotics and cooperative learning and a “control group” that studied the same concepts without robots. Students in both classes were subjected to tests before and after the robotics laboratory, to check their knowledge in the topics covered. Our initial hypothesis was that classes involving educational robotics and cooperative learning are more effective in improving learning and stimulating the interest and motivation of students. As expected, the results showed that students in the experimental groups had a far better understanding of concepts and higher participation to the activities than students in the control groups

Modular Design of an Educational Robotics Platform

The goal of this thesis is to design a modular educational robotics platform to improve the limitation of current educational robotics platforms, such as limited pins, single programming language, and single programming device. This platform uses an SPI bus for modularity and to solve the problem of limited pins on current educational robot platforms. A Raspberry Pi, which runs a 32bit Embedded Linux System, has been used to build the central control for this educational robotics platform to enable it to use different programming languages and to be programmed by different devices. The modules and libraries for stepper motors and IR sensors have been built for this robot, and the example projects, basic control, obstacle avoidance, and wall following, show that this educational robotics platform can be used as a platform for basic artificial intelligence design. This thesis also shows how to design a custom module, which enables users to design their own modules and put them into their robot projects

A Systematic Review of Studies on Educational Robotics

There has been a steady increase in the number of studies investigating educational robotics and its impact on academic and social skills of young learners. Educational robots are used both in and out of school environments to enhance K–12 students’ interest, engagement, and academic achievement in various fields of STEM education. Some prior studies show evidence for the general benefits of educational robotics as being effective in providing impactful learning experiences. However, there appears to be a need to determine the specific benefits which have been achieved through robotics implementation in K–12 formal and informal learning settings. In this study, we present a systematic review of the literature on K–12 educational robotics. Based on our review process with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, and a repeatable method of systematic review, we found 147 studies published from the years 2000 to 2018. We classified these studies under five themes: (1) general effectiveness of educational robotics; (2) students’ learning and transfer skills; (3) creativity and motivation; (4) diversity and broadening participation; and (5) teachers’ professional development. The study outlines the research questions, presents the synthesis of literature, and discusses findings across themes. It also provides guidelines for educators, practitioners, and researchers in areas of educational robotics and STEM education, and presents dimensions of future research

Makers at School, Educational Robotics and Innovative Learning Environments

This open access book contains observations, outlines, and analyses of educational robotics methodologies and activities, and developments in the field of educational robotics emerging from the findings presented at FabLearn Italy 2019, the international conference that brought together researchers, teachers, educators and practitioners to discuss the principles of Making and educational robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education. The editors’ analysis of these extended versions of papers presented at FabLearn Italy 2019 highlight the latest findings on learning models based on Making and educational robotics. The authors investigate how innovative educational tools and methodologies can support a novel, more effective and more inclusive learner-centered approach to education. The following key topics are the focus of discussion: Makerspaces and Fab Labs in schools, a maker approach to teaching and learning; laboratory teaching and the maker approach, models, methods and instruments; curricular and non-curricular robotics in formal, non-formal and informal education; social and assistive robotics in education; the effect of innovative spaces and learning environments on the innovation of teaching, good practices and pilot projects

Colias: towards an affordable mobile robot for education in developing countries

Educational robotics can play a key role in addressing some of the important challenges faced by higher education in developing countries. One of the major obstacles preventing a wider adoption of initiatives involving educational robotics in these parts of the world is a lack of robot platforms which would be affordable for the local educational institutions. In this paper, we present our inexpensive mobile robot platform Colias and assess its potential for education in developing countries. To this end, we describe hardware and software components of the robot, assess its suitability for education and discuss the missing features which will need to be developed to turn Colias into a fully featured educational platform. The presented robot is one of the key components of our current efforts in popularising educational robotics at African universities

Teaching Elementary Mathematics with Educational Robotics

Current education reforms call for engaging students in learning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in an integrative way. This critical case study of one fourth grade teacher investigated the use of educational robots (ER) not only for teaching coding, but as an instructional support in teaching mathematical concepts. To support teachers in teaching coding in an integrative and logical manner, our team developed the Collective Argumentation Learning and Coding (CALC) approach. The CALC approach consists of three elements: choice of task, coding content, and teacher support for argumentation. After a cohort of elementary teachers completed a professional development course, we followed them into their classrooms to support and document implementation of the CALC approach. Data for this case consisted of video recordings of two lessons, a Pre-interview, and Post-interview after each lesson. Research questions included: How does an elementary teacher use the CALC approach (integrative STEM approach) to teach mathematics concepts with ER? What are the teacher’s perspectives towards teaching mathematics with ER using an integrative STEM approach? Results from this critical case provide evidence that teachers can successfully integrate ER into the mathematics curriculum without losing coherence of mathematics topics and while remaining sensitive to students’ needs

Educational robotics. The pleasure of participation

The paper attempts to identify the pleasure and satisfaction of participating in educational robotic through an educational robotic program that takes place for children ages 9 to 15. The aim is also to identify, with the use of statistical comparisons, any signs of the relationship between pleasure and satisfaction with participation with characteristics such as the gender of learners, the age of learners and the level of parenting. The survey showed that the participants were satisfied with their participation in the program and did not feel tired or bored. Also from the research is obvious that through educational robotics children can learn to cooperate more effectively with each other, and the teaching of basic principles of computer science, mathematics, geometry, physics, engineering, and in general mechatronics can be more effective when it does not have the conventional form of education but it has the form of play. (DIPF/Orig.