Use of Robotic Platforms as a Tool to Support STEM and Physical Education in Developed Countries: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

The lack of interest of children at school is one of the biggest problems that Mexican education faces. Two important factors causing this lack of interest are the predominant methodology used in Mexican schools and the technology as a barrier for attention. The methodology that institutions have followed has become an issue because of its very traditional approach, with the professor giving all the theoretical material to the students while they listen and memorize the contents, and, if we add the issue of the growing access to technological devices for students, children carrying a phone are more likely to be distracted. This study aims to integrate technology through assistive robots as a beneficial tool for educators, in order to improve the attention span of students by making the learning process in multiple areas of the Mexican curriculum more dynamic, therefore obtaining better results. To prove this, four different approaches were implemented; three in elementary schools and one in higher education: the LEGO® robotic kit and the NAO robot for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching, the NAO robot for physical education (PE), and the PhantomX Hexapod, respectively. Each of these technological approaches was applied by considering both control and experimental groups, in order to compare the data and provide conclusions. Finally, this study proves that the attention span is indeed improved as a result of implementing robotic platforms during the teaching process, allowing the children to become more motivated during their PE class and become more proactive and retain more information during their STEM classes.

A Robotics Experimental Design Method Based on PDCA: A Case Study of Wall-Following Robots

“…Arduino-series Platform Arduino, Arduino C [14,15] FRDM-KL05Z, C [16] TCLab Arduino Kit, MATLAB or Python [17] Arduino, LabView and Scratch [18] LEGO-series Platform LEGO EV3, MATLAB [19,20] LEGO EV3, Block-based Programming [21] LEGO EV3, EV3-G [22] LEGO EV3, LabView [23] LEGO EV3, Scratch [24] LEGO WeDo, Scratch [25] A review of this literature can provide insight into teaching trends and some details of the courses. However, most works in the literature focus on the course content, and few focus on the design methods of robotics experiments and students' hands-on experimental results.…”

Bermain Kreatif Sambil Belajar: Mengenal, Membuat dan Mengendalikan Robot Rover Penjelajah Mars di Sekolah Dasar

“…Pembelajaran berbasis STEM dengan robotika dapat mengembangkan pengetahuan dan kesadaran robotika bagi siswa (Haerani & Erna, 2022;Lathifah et al, 2019). Selain itu, pelibatan siswa secara aktif dan interaktif dalam perakitan robot dapat menambah motivasi dan kemampuan berpikir siswa (Leonard et al, 2023;Ponce et al, 2022). STEM juga telah berdampak pada jalur karier siswa dan telah mengembangkan keterampilan analitisnya secara mendalam sehingga dapat meningkatkan minat dan motivasi belajar mereka (Alhakiki & Taufina, 2020;Lavi et al, 2021;Li et al, 2019).Salah satu inovasi di bidang teknologi yang menarik perhatian banyak orang adalah robot rover penjelajah Mars (Lathifah et al, 2019;Long et al, 2021).…”

The Use of Robomind to Enhance Computational Thinking in Learning Programming: Abiblometric Analysis

“…Results showed that no significant difference was found in the students' learning attitude, programming skills, and learning engagement between VPR and PR. Ponce et al (2022) This work proposes the use of robotic platforms inside elementary schools and universities to improve and evaluate the usability and effectiveness of robots on students' attention spans, motivation, and knowledge acquirement during their classes.…”