How Have Robots Supported STEM Teaching?

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

“…The use of robotics kits within educational settings allows teachers to design engaging learning activities that can stimulate students' interest and motivation, mainly in disciplines related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, and their problem-solving skills, as well [4,5]. When applied to educational robotics, the PBL approach is intended to promote children's constructionist learning through physical manipulation of artefacts that, in turn, is expected to stimulate the development of mental representations of the world around them [6].…”

“…Indeed, the learning process develops on the basis of challenging tasks where the observation and comprehension of phenomena occur within an experimental setting rather than through traditional theoretical lessons. As a consequence, children act as active learners and are strongly encouraged to be protagonists of the learning process, while developing problem-solving and critical-thinking skills [5].…”

Educational Robotics: Platforms, Competitions and Expected Learning Outcomes

“…ER involve a synthesis of many interdisciplinary activities from various areas, including mathematics and physics, design and innovation, electronics, computer science and programming, and psychology [6]. With robotics, students work on real-world applications of engineering and technology concepts, and the abstractness of science and mathematics is removed [16]. Thus, according to researchers, robotics is introduced as special educational leverage as they mitigate the lack of students' interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) topics.…”

“…Thus, according to researchers, robotics is introduced as special educational leverage as they mitigate the lack of students' interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) topics. At the same time, they motivate them to pursue a career in one of these fields [17], [16], [18]. Moreover, several studies show that, even when students are not interested in robotics or technology, they are motivated when robotics are used as a teaching tool [12], [13].…”

“…Robotics contests, support team-based learning and enhance skills of communication and personal development, as they require from students to work in teams or allow inter-team alliances [42], [16], [50], [48]. Additionally to the results of the FIRST survey mentioned above, concerning team working, results showed that 95% of the students recognized the value of working on a team, and 83% of them realized the importance of grate professionalism [35].…”