Creating Educational Robots

After more than 30 years of development, the designing, constructing, and programming of educational robots is still enjoying increasing popularity in formal, non-formal, and informal educational settings. Although building instructions and required technical components are easily available and accessible, the realization of own teaching projects is a special challenge and is subject to decisive influences. This includes the content-related training of teachers as well as their attitudes and ways of thinking and acting. Therefore, the first section of this chapter spans an arc from the didactic concept of the extracurricular project technikcamps related to robotics. The experiences gained from it and the consequences for teacher training to the philosophical roots of technical education follows. In connection with this, the main part deals with the technological basics of creating educational robots in general. It leads from manufacturing single parts through the creation of a support structure and automation to the application of the engineering design process.

Educational Robotics Between Coding and Engineering Education

The development and use of educational robotics offer almost unlimited chances for teaching design. In classrooms it results in numerous and continuously increasing possibilities for the promotion of competences and the differentiated and differentiating use of educational robots. Therefore, this paper reports long time experiences of the author and is intended to introduce into the history and the relevant literature of educational robotics in teaching settings, before it discusses the role of educational robots as technology artefacts, as educational technology and for technology education interconnected to coding and the engineering design process (edp). In addition, a structured overview is developed to provide orientation, discuss possible applications and offer basic assistance for teaching between coding and engineering.

BASAER Team: The First Arabic Robot Team for Building the Capacities of Visually Impaired Students to Build and Program Robots

the purpose of this study was to examine whether visually impaired students can build educational robots and program them if they receive adapted materials and instructions with guided instruction from well-trained educators in the fields of inclusive STEM Classrooms. Discussion of the technologies and our experimental approach is presented in this paper and validated through the continued successful effort with visually impaired students for two years of the program and specialists in the field of visual impairment and STEAM, we also validated our approach by performing experimental classes for students with different visual impairments and ages. The results indicated that the approach used by BASAER team was successful in enabling the blind and visually impaired students to build and program educational robotics and to participate effectively in national and international STEAM programs and competitions, with some limitations and Challenges encountered and explored during this research. The results from this study will be used to suggest a fully adapted system to support full inclusion for blind and visually impaired students in educational robots in STEAM context and to promote the adoption of this study and similar studies toward Inclusive STEM Classrooms.

Primary School Teachers’ Conceptions about the Use of Robotics in Mathematics

Learning about the conceptions used by primary school teachers towards the use of robotics in class is essential as the first step towards its application in the classroom. Therefore, with the purpose of describing the understanding applied when teaching and learning mathematics use educational robots, research was conducted by means of mixed methods using a descriptive design by survey. Such research consisted of closed questions (Likert-type scale from 1 to 5) and open questions, given to 83 primary school teachers who currently teach students in the first years of school (First to Fourth grade) in two Chilean districts. The results showed that in general, there is a positive predisposition towards the addition of robots in the learning and teaching of mathematic processes during the first years of school, even though teachers claim there is a struggle to incorporate robots in their lessons due to the high number of students and the reduced space in their classrooms.

Teachers’ Perception for Integrating Educational Robots and Use as Teaching Assistants in Thai Primary Schools

This study focused on teachers’ perception for integrating educational robots into learning and the feedback of teachers and students who used an education robot prototype as a part of learning. Data were collected from 510 primary school teachers who were used in a confirmatory analysis of factor model. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated a good fit with a six-factor model in the observed data, which could be presented through six dimensions of robotic education quality, including social interaction, cognitive function, teaching method, learner characteristics, main features, and content. The prototype-testing phase was carried out using 5th grade students at a primary school in Thailand. The robot was tested for 10 hours, which included 20 students participating in the focus group. The research results showed that integrating the six dimensions of robotic education into the educational robot prototype resulted in a strong positive improvement in the focus groups learners’ behavior and supported the instructors during the learning process. In contrast, some teachers lacked experience and confidence with robots integrated with LMS, which caused challenging obstacles in teaching. The results were achieved when integrating the six-factor model into education robots to improve student learning. Future researchers should expand their studies to look into the opportunities and challenges that teachers and school administrators face in the classroom. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-SP1-09 Full Text: PDF

The Desire for Social Robots to Support English Language Learners: Exploring Robot Perceptions of Teachers, Parents, and Students

Currently there are 4.9 million English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States, however, only 2% of educators are trained to support these vulnerable students. Educational robots show promise for language acquisition and may provide valuable support for ELLs, yet, little is known about social robots for this population. Inviting participants as cultural informants can ensure that the robot is appropriately designed, situated and adopted into that educational community. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study using interactive group interviews with 95 ELLs (kindergarten through fifth grade) from 18 different home language backgrounds. We also interviewed 39 ELL parents and eight elementary school educators to understand their views of educational robots. Responses to robot images suggested a preference for a popular educational robot. Parents expressed a strong desire for educational robots to support their children at school. While children embraced the idea of a robot at school, some expressed concerns about the potential for robots to be disruptive. School educators saw the potential for educational robots to support teachers in meeting instructional needs but also raised salient concerns. Exploring social robots with ELLs as cultural informants was a valuable exploration to determine important factors in social robot design and implementation for a diverse educational setting.