Education in & with Robotics to Foster 21st-Century Skills: Proceedings of EDUROBOTICS 2020 (Studies in Computational Intelligence, 982)

This book includes papers presented at the International Conference “Educational Robotics in the Maker Era – EDUROBOTICS 2020”, Online, February 2021. The contributions cover a variety of topics useful for teacher education and for designing learning by making activities for children and youth, with an emphasis on modern low-cost technologies (including block-based programming environments, Do-It-Yourself electronics, 3D printed artifacts, the use of intelligent distributed systems, the IoT technology, and gamification) in formal and informal education settings. This collection of contributions (17 chapters and 2 short papers) provides researchers and practitioners the latest advances in educational robotics in a broader sense focusing on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education. Teachers and educators at any school level can find insights and inspirations into how educational robotics can promote technological interest and 21st-century skills: creativity, critical thinking, team working, and problem-solving with special emphasis on new emerging making technologies. Preface 6 Organization 8 Program Committee Members 8 Contents 10 New Developments in Educational Robotics 13 Fostering Students’ Problem-Solving Skills Through Educational Robotics in Primary School 14 1 Introduction 14 2 Problem-Solving and Robotics 15 2.1 State of the Art 15 3 Methodology 16 3.1 Aims and Scopes 16 3.2 Context and Materials 17 3.3 The Experimental Path 18 4 Results 20 5 Conclusions 22 References 23 Why Educational Robotics May Support Teachers to Discover, to Develop and to Promote Students’ Talent: The GIF4T Approach 26 1 Introduction 26 2 Pedagogical Foundations of Talent Development 27 3 The T-Lab 29 4 The Robotic T-Lab 31 5 Two Short Case Histories 32 5.1 The Creativity of Maria 32 5.2 The Empathy of Marco 34 6 Discussion and Future Works 35 References 36 Robotics Education Under COVID-19 Conditions with Educational Modular Robots 37 1 Introduction 37 2 Course Overview and Intended Learning Outcomes 38 3 EDMO Hardware Setups 40 3.1 EDMO Robot Modules 40 3.2 EDMO DC Motor Module 41 3.3 EDMO Box 42 4 Adapted Teaching Approach to Meet COVID-19 Conditions 43 5 Discussion and Conclusions 46 References 49 Distance Learning in the Era of COVID-19: Supporting Educational Robotics with Augmented Reality 50 1 Introduction 50 2 Related Work 51 2.1 E-learning and Covid-19 Pandemic 51 2.2 Educational Robotics in STE(A)M Education 52 2.3 Robotics and Augmented Reality 53 3 System Design 54 4 Empirical Study 55 4.1 Participants 56 4.2 Implementation and Data Collection 56 4.3 Results 57 5 Discussion and Conclusion 58 References 59 Mendieta, One Robot Per School: Multi-user Robot for Technology Education 63 1 Introduction 63 2 Hardware Architecture 65 3 Software Architecture 68 4 Schools’ Involvement in the Pedagogical Decisions 72 5 Conclusions and Future Work 72 References 73 Children’s Debugging Processes and Strategies with a Simulated Robot: A Case Study 75 1 Introduction 75 2 Methodology 76 2.1 The Environment 77 2.2 Sample 78 3 Findings 78 3.1 The Nature of the Activity 78 3.2 Children’s Processes and Strategies 78 4 Discussion 81 5 Limitations 83 6 Conclusions 83 References 84 AI-Robotics and AI Literacy 86 1 Introduction 86 2 AI-Robotics Tool and AI Literacy 87 2.1 AI-Robotics Tool and AI Literacy 87 3 AI-Robotics Tool 88 3.1 CogBots 89 3.2 CogBot Controller 90 3.3 CogBot Sensor 91 3.4 Working with CogBots 91 3.5 CogBots Coding Application 91 3.6 CogBot Lesson Ideas 94 4 Next Step and Challenges 95 Reference 95 Social Robots 97 The Socially Assistive Robot Daisy Promoting Social Inclusion of Children with ASD 98 1 Introduction 98 2 Current Study 100 2.1 Communication Skills 100 3 Experimental Design 100 3.1 Participants 101 3.2 Settings 101 3.3 Materials 102 4 Data Collection - Measurement 102 4.1 The Intervention 104 5 Results 105 6 Discussion and Conclusion 106 Appendix 108 References 109 Edù, a Robotic Companion in Pediatric Protective Isolation Units 112 1 Introduction 112 2 Material and Methods 113 2.1 Information Acquisition and Context Definition 113 2.2 Context Description and Internal Procedure Rules 113 2.3 Brief and Concept 113 3 Results 114 4 Conclusion 115 References 115 Development of a Robotic Agent for Increasing Elderlies Socialization 117 1 Introduction 117 2 Materials and Methods 117 2.1 Desktop and Field Research 118 2.2 Concept 118 2.3 Prototyping 118 2.4 Evaluation 118 3 Results 119 4 Conclusion 120 References 120 Education in and with Inclusive Robots 121 Exploiting VR and AR Technologies in Education and Training to Inclusive Robotics 122 1 Introduction 122 2 VR/AR Technologies for Training and Education 123 2.1 VR/AR for Professional Training 124 2.2 VR/AR for Students’ Education 124 3 VR/AR Technologies for Robotics Training and Education 125 3.1 VR/AR-Based Training in the Use of Robots 126 3.2 Teaching Robotics and with Robotics Through VR/AR 127 4 Conclusions and Perspectives 129 References 130 Educational Robotics Curricula: Current Trends and Shortcomings 134 1 Introduction 134 2 ER Curricula: Some Important Characteristics 135 2.1 Relieving the Learning Environment with Icebreakers 135 2.2 Collaboration Scripts in Robotics Projects 136 2.3 Guidance in Educational Robotics Curricula 136 2.4 Multilingual Content 137 3 Indicative Curricula 137 3.1 WeDo2 by Lego 138 3.2 Micro:Bit by Micro:Bit Educational Foundation 138 3.3 Multiple Systems by Sparkfun, 138 3.4 Multiple Systems by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy,, 139 3.5 EV3 by ROBOESL 139 3.6 VEX IQ by VEX Robotics,, 139 3.7 EV3 by Lego,,, 140 3.8 Multiple Systems by Parallax,,,, 140 3.9 Edison by Robotics WPS, Microbric, 140 3.10 EV3 by Washington State Library 141 3.11 Arduino by STEAM Studio, 141 3.12 Multiple Systems by Innovators and Hobbyists,,,,,, 141 4 Discussion 141 5 Conclusion 143 References 143 Dance and Robots: Designing a Robotics-Enhanced Project for Dance-Based STEAM Education Using ENGINO 146 1 Introduction 146 2 DancENG Educational Framework 147 3 The Proposed STEAM Activities of the DancENG Approach 149 3.1 Activity 1: Move in the Space 150 3.2 Activity 2: Feel the Rhythm 151 3.3 Activity 3: Synchronize Rhythm with Dance 152 3.4 Activity 4: Make Your Choreography 154 4 Conclusions 156 References 156 Robots Entering the Care Sector. The Case of a New Curriculum for the Education of Assistant Nurses in Sweden 159 1 Introduction 159 1.1 Objectives 161 1.2 Robots as Part of Digitalization 162 2 Method 163 2.1 Participants 163 2.2 Collection and Analysis of Data 164 3 Result 164 3.1 Expectations 164 3.2 Course Development 165 3.3 Robots in Care Practice 166 3.4 Workshop: Designing Care Practice 166 4 Discussion 167 5 Conclusions 168 References 168 New Studies and Methodological Issues in Educational Robotics 171 Educational Robotics Acceptance by Italian Teachers, Educators, Psychologists and Psychotherapists 172 1 Introduction 172 1.1 The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) 174 2 The Current Study 175 3 Method and Materials 176 3.1 Participants and Procedures 176 3.2 Materials and Measures 177 4 Results 178 5 Discussions 180 References 181 Teachers’ Reasons to Join a Community About Educational Robotics and STEAM: A Swiss Experience 184 1 Introduction 184 2 Roteco Project 186 2.1 The Goal of the Project: A Community of Teachers 186 2.2 The Roteco.ch Platform 186 2.3 The Roteco Trainings 188 2.4 The Roteco Resources 188 2.5 Social Media, Newsletter and Participation at Events 189 3 Survey 189 3.1 Sample Description 189 3.2 Procedure 190 3.3 Results 190 4 Conclusion 192 References 193 There is No Such Thing as a “Trial and Error Strategy” 195 1 Introduction 195 2 The “Trial and Error Strategy” 196 3 Strategies and Programming Problems: A View from Artificial Intelligence 198 4 All Programming is Reasoned Trial and Error 200 5 Programming Stages and Strategies 201 5.1 Problems and Sub-problems in Robot Programming 201 5.2 Sub-problems and Strategies 203 6 Concluding Remarks 204 References 204 Educational Robotics: School to University, Examples of Interconnected Longitudinal Individual Student Routes 207 1 Introduction 207 2 Individual Route Cases 209 2.1 Robot Route 210 2.2 Ultrasonic Navigation Route 213 3 Conclusion 216 References 218 Exploring the Use of Educational Robotics in Primary School and Its Possible Place in the Curricula 221 1 Introduction 221 2 Method 222 2.1 Research Strategy 222 2.2 Research Design 222 3 Results 223 3.1 What Outcomes Arise for Students by Applying Educational Robotics Activities 223 3.2 What Challenges Arise by Using Educational Robotics? 225 4 Discussion - Conclusions 227 5 Future Research 229 6 Limitations 229 Appendix 230 References 232 Author Index 235