Educational Robotics for Creating Effective Computer Science Learning for All

2022 ◽  
pp. 756-781
Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Real Picture ◽  
K 12

President Obama's initiative, “computer science for all,” has been a rallying slogan for promoting computer science in K-12 education. Although the participation of people of color in computer science (CS) has increased in the past several years, it is still drastically low and does not reflect the real picture of our society. This chapter explores how educational robotics as a learning tool can inspire underrepresented minorities including females and students of color to become interested in CS. Supported by Papert's constructionism theory, educational robotics effectively facilitates students' learning of various concepts in CS and STEM. Educational robotics is a learning tool which inspires students' interest in learning. It provides a learning environment that promotes students' learning of various CS concepts and computational thinking skills. Although robots naturally spark students' interests, to make it most effective, teachers are required effortfully to create learning opportunities that are authentic and meaningful for individual students.

Educational Robotics for Creating Effective Computer Science Learning for All

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Underrepresented Minorities ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Real Picture ◽  
K 12

President Obama's initiative, “computer science for all,” has been a rallying slogan for promoting computer science in K-12 education. Although the participation of people of color in computer science (CS) has increased in the past several years, it is still drastically low and does not reflect the real picture of our society. This chapter explores how educational robotics as a learning tool can inspire underrepresented minorities including females and students of color to become interested in CS. Supported by Papert's constructionism theory, educational robotics effectively facilitates students' learning of various concepts in CS and STEM. Educational robotics is a learning tool which inspires students' interest in learning. It provides a learning environment that promotes students' learning of various CS concepts and computational thinking skills. Although robots naturally spark students' interests, to make it most effective, teachers are required effortfully to create learning opportunities that are authentic and meaningful for individual students.

scholarly journals Mapping K-12 Computer Science Teacher’s Interest, Self-Confidence, and Knowledge about the Use of Educational Robotics to Teach

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Nuno Dorotea ◽  
João Piedade ◽  
Ana Pedro
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
Online Application ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Teacher's Knowledge

This paper reports a case study, developed in K-12 Portuguese Education, that aimed to analyze the computer science teachers’ knowledge, interest, and self-confidence to use educational robotics and other programable objects in classroom activities to teach computer science concepts and to promote students’ computational thinking skills. The research design was organized into a descriptive and exploratory quantitative approach. The participants were 174 in-service computer science teachers of Portuguese public education. The data was gathered from the participants, through the online application of the Robotics Interest Questionnaire scale (RIQ). Very positive levels of teacher’s knowledge, interest, and self-efficacy to use educational robotics for teaching purposes were reported in the study outcomes. These constructs were underlined in several studies as relevant factors to promote the use of educational robotics and other similar technologies by the teachers. Despite the study limitations and the small context, a set of relevant results was highlighted on computer science in-service teachers’ interest and preparation to use robotics and to support their students in learning activities with these artifacts.

Educational Robotics as a Learning Tool for Promoting Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs)

2015 ◽  
pp. 740-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Creative People ◽  
Technological Learning ◽  
K 12

In our ever-changing society where new technological tools are being introduced into daily life more rapidly than ever before, more and more innovative and creative people are needed for the work of advancing technology. However, current educational practice in schools seems to be moving away from helping to educate our future innovative and creative workforce. With the extensive focus on assessments through standardized testing, the concern is raised that more and more teachers are forced to teach to the test. In this chapter, educational robotics is introduced as a transformational tool for learning, which promotes learning of computational thinking, coding, and engineering, all increasingly being viewed as critical ingredients of STEM learning in K-12 education. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of integrating educational robotics as a technological learning tool into K-12 curriculum to promote Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs) to prepare students for the technology-driven future.

scholarly journals Educational Robotics in Primary School: Measuring the Development of Computational Thinking Skills with the Bebras Tasks

Informatics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiazzese ◽  
Arrigo ◽  
Chifari ◽  
Lonati ◽  
Tosto
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
K 12

Research has shown that educational robotics can be an effective tool to increase students’ acquisition of knowledge in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote, at the same time, a progression in the development of computational thinking (CT) skills in K–12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) education. Within this research field, the present study first sought to assess the effect of a robotics laboratory on the acquisition of CT-related skills in primary school children. The study also aimed to compare the magnitude of the effect of the laboratory across third- and fourth-grade students. For the purpose of the study, a quasi-experimental post-test-only design was adopted, and a group of 51 students, from third- and fourth-grade classrooms, participating in the robotics laboratories, were compared to a control group of 32 students from classrooms of the same grades. A set of Bebras tasks was selected as an overall measure of CT skills and was administered to children in both the intervention and control groups. Overall, the results showed that programming robotics artefacts may exert a positive impact on students’ learning of computational thinking skills. Moreover, the effect of the intervention was found to be greater among third-grade children.

Educational Robotics as a Learning Tool for Promoting Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs)

2015 ◽  
pp. 19-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Eguchi
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Standardized Testing ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
Educational Robotics ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Learning Tool ◽  
Creative People ◽  
Technological Learning ◽  
K 12

In our ever-changing society where new technological tools are being introduced into daily life more rapidly than ever before, more and more innovative and creative people are needed for the work of advancing technology. However, current educational practice in schools seems to be moving away from helping to educate our future innovative and creative workforce. With the extensive focus on assessments through standardized testing, the concern is raised that more and more teachers are forced to teach to the test. In this chapter, educational robotics is introduced as a transformational tool for learning, which promotes learning of computational thinking, coding, and engineering, all increasingly being viewed as critical ingredients of STEM learning in K-12 education. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the importance of integrating educational robotics as a technological learning tool into K-12 curriculum to promote Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs) to prepare students for the technology-driven future.

The Snowball Effect

2021 ◽  
pp. 14-30
Author(s):  
Laura L. Fuhrmann ◽  
Andrea M. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Female Population ◽  
Underrepresentation Of Women ◽  
K 12

Recognizing the persistent problem of the underrepresentation of women in computer science, this chapter examines the barriers existing in the kindergarten through Grade 12 educational environment. It explores the vicious cycle that exists in the education field, as the change agents are predominantly women. Much of the research from the past decade reiterates the issue but substantive changes to reduce the gender gap have not occurred at rates that keep pace with the evolving digital society. This chapter offers practical solutions to (1) distinguish between computer science, instructional technology, and digital literacy in the K-12 educational setting; (2) propose ways to promote opportunities in these environments, for all students, with a focus on the underrepresented female population; (3) formulate strategies for educational leaders to incorporate computer science knowledge including computational thinking skills into teacher preparation programs and professional development to support those never exposed.

scholarly journals Computational Thinking and Literacy

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharin Rawhiya Jacob ◽  
Mark Warschauer ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Science Standards ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Changing Economy ◽  
K 12

Today’s students will enter a workforce that is powerfully shaped by computing. To be successful in a changing economy, students must learn to think algorithmically and computationally, to solve problems with varying levels of abstraction. These computational thinking skills have become so integrated into social function as to represent fundamental literacies. However, computer science has not been widely taught in K-12 schools. Efforts to create computer science standards and frameworks have yet to make their way into mandated course requirements. Despite a plethora of research on digital literacies, research on the role of computational thinking in the literature is sparse. This conceptual paper proposes a three dimensional framework for exploring the relationship between computational thinking and literacy through: 1) situating computational thinking in the literature as a literacy; 2) outlining mechanisms by which students’ existing literacy skills can be leveraged to foster computational thinking; and 3) elaborating ways in which computational thinking skills facilitate literacy development.

Computer Science Unplugged: A Systematic Literature Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 004723952110188
Author(s):  
Ali Battal ◽  
Gülgün Afacan Adanır ◽  
Yasemin Gülbahar
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Tangible Programming ◽  
Review Procedure ◽  
Research Studies

The computer science (CS) unplugged approach intends to teach CS concepts and computational thinking skills without employing any digital tools. The current study conducted a systematic literature review to analyze research studies that conducted investigations related to implementations of CS unplugged activities. A systematic review procedure was developed and applied to detect and subsequently review relevant research studies published from 2010 to 2019. It was found that 55 research studies (17 articles + 38 conference proceedings) satisfied the inclusion criteria for the analysis. These research studies were then examined with regard to their demographic characteristics, research methodologies, research results, and main findings. It was found that the unplugged approach was realized and utilized differently among researchers. The majority of the studies used the CS unplugged term when referring to “paper–pencil activities,” “problem solving,” “storytelling,” “games,” “tangible programming,” and even “robotics.”

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