How do pupils perceive educational robotics as a tool to improve their 21st century skills?

In the past years, the use of educational robots has steadily increased, in particular due to the ongoing digitalization of modern societies and the new skills that professions require. It has been argued that educational robotics activities have the potential to promote the acquisition of such skills and may increase pupils’ interest in STEM disciplines. Despite these results, only few studies have examined the pupils’ perspective regarding the pedagogical value of educational robotics in formal education. Therefore, in this study with 91 pupils aged between 13 and 15 years, we aimed at investigating how pupils perceive educational robotics as a tool to improve their creativity, collaboration, computer science and computational thinking skills and to foster their interest in STEM disciplines. Over a period of one semester, the pupils worked with the robot Thymio II and evaluated their experience through a questionnaire. The results showed that boys and girls have different perceptions on which competences they could enhance: while boys affirmed more often than girls, that they could improve their computer science and computational thinking skills, the opposite was found for collaboration and creativity. Moreover, the results illustrated that educational robotics activities could increase the interest in coding, computer science and engineering, however, this was predominantly observed in boys.

How Do Pupils Perceive Educational Robotics as a Tool to Improve their 21St Century Skills?

Christian Giang

In the past years, the use of educational robots has steadily increased, in particular due to the ongoing digitalization of modern societies and the new skills that professions require. It has been argued that educational robotics activities have the potential to promote the acquisition of such skills and may increase pupils' interest in STEM disciplines. Despite these results, only few studies have examined the pupils' perspective regarding the pedagogical value of educational robotics in formal education. Therefore, in this study with 91 pupils aged between 13 and 15 years, we aimed at investigating how pupils perceive educational robotics as a tool to improve their creativity, collaboration, computer science and computational thinking skills and to foster their interest in STEM disciplines. Over a period of one semester, the pupils worked with the robot Thymio II and evaluated their experience through a questionnaire. The results showed that boys and girls have different perceptions on which competences they could enhance: while boys affirmed more often than girls, that they could improve their computer science and computational thinking skills, the opposite was found for collaboration and creativity. Moreover, the results illustrated that educational robotics activities could increase the interest in coding, computer science and engineering, however, this was predominantly observed in boys.

Towards the alignment of educational robotics learning systems with classroom activities

Christian Giang

The technological advances of the past years have impressively demonstrated that the digital age is no longer just a science fiction vision of the future - we are in the midst of it. The digital transformation is affecting many areas of our lives, including the educational system. For instance, recent years have shown an increased adoption of educational robotics activities in classrooms. Although educators and researchers have acknowledged the potential of educational robotics, further efforts are needed to effectively integrate them into formal education. As for any kind of educational tool, one key factor for the successful integration of educational robots in classrooms is the proper alignment of such tools with the classroom activities and vice versa. In practice, however, this may pose challenges. On the one hand, it still appears that only few educators have already developed the required know-how allowing them to leverage educational robotics for classroom activities. On the other hand, the issue of poor alignment may already arise in the design stages of educational robotics tools, due to the limited experience of developers with the pedagogy and learning theories related to such tools. This thesis, therefore, seeks to study how instructional alignment can be attained in the context of educational robotics. To this end, an alignment framework will be devised aimed at supporting developers in the design of educational robotics tools, as well as educators in the design and implementation of classroom activities involving educational robotics. In this context, we will introduce the notion of Educational Robotics Learning Systems (ERLS), a model that conceptualizes alignment for educational robotics activities. In different studies, we will illustrate how the devised alignment framework can be used to guide the development of educational robotics tools and activities. The PaPL and CreroBot projects will consider the alignment issue from the developers' perspective. The former is concerned with the development of a tangible programming interface based on accessible materials such as paper and cardboard. The latter will then expand these ideas to the development of a do-it-yourself educational robot. In two other projects, we will then illustrate how the devised framework can be used to guide the development of educational robotics activities. We will first discuss the Thymio lawnmower mission, an activity devised to foster the development of students' computational thinking competencies. Finally, we will present the Thymio Escape Game, an immersive learning activity that has been inspired by escape room experiences. The findings from these studies are intended to make a contribution to the field of educational robotics, specifically by addressing the global research question of this thesis: How can instructional alignment be attained for educational robotics activities?

EPFL2020

Heuristics for the Development and Evaluation of Educational Robotics Systems

Christian Giang, Francesco Mondada, Alberto Piatti

Contribution: While previous research has studied the use of educational robotics in classrooms, there is still a lack of methods to support the development and evaluation of such tools. To this end, this paper presents an evaluation framework and a corresponding set of heuristics, which are specifically adapted to the needs and expectations in formal education settings. Background: The increased usage of educational robots in classrooms, as well as the steadily growing number of alternatives to choose from, raises the question of finding appropriate methods for the development and evaluation of such tools. Yet the current body of literature does not provide comprehensive frameworks that allow to adequately address this question. Intended outcomes: The work aims at providing an evaluation framework, which could support researchers and engineers, as well as educators and decision makers in taking informed decisions about educational robotics systems. Application design: This paper proposes to consider activities involving educational robotics systems as a kind of “educational augmented tabletop game”. Within this framework, a set of fourteen heuristics was devised based on literature about games and learning tools. The validity of the devised heuristics was examined with a heterogenous group of twelve compulsory school teachers, who tested five different educational robotics systems. Findings: The experimental results illustrated high approval for the devised heuristics by the participating teachers. A heuristic evaluation based on the proposed framework appeared to be more appropriate to reflect the teachers’ needs than conventional methods, i.e., the isolated comparison of system characteristics.

2019

Towards the alignment of educational robotics learning systems with classroom activities

Christian Giang

EPFL2020