The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a strategic partnership and later – a self-sustained professional community in the intersection of Educational Robotics and Augmented reality. All activities related to the production of IOs, all other tangible and intangible results, all events, and other activities will contribute to this goal.
The Educational Robotics at Schools Online with Augmented Reality – eROBSON project is motivated by the need to enable teaching educational robotics and other STEM topics in online and blended modes supported by digital tools. This need has been highlighted by the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic.
Educational Robotics is a term to describe educational approaches that use platforms such as Arduino, LittleBits and Mindstorms for STEM education. These approaches traditionally depend on face-to-face activities in laboratory environments and on the availability of special equipment and consumables.
eROBSON proposes a new approach of delivering laboratory courses. The approach is of low implementation cost, easy to adopt and has a zero risk of transmitting COVID19 or other viruses. The approach suggests using Augmented Reality to simulate the necessary lab equipment and the hands-on interaction with it. Augmented Reality is a technology that enhances human perception with additional, computer-generated sensorial input to create a new user experience.
Funding: Erasmus+
Duration: 36M
The main objectives of the project are as follows. First, to enable teaching of educational robotics and STEM subjects in the context of COVID19 pandemic by (a) creating new pedagogical approaches for conducting practical hands-on learning activities in online and blended modes, (b) designing an original approach of using AR-enhanced simulations of different educational robotics platforms, and (c) designing a methodology that includes pedagogical approaches, technological solutions, and processes. Second, to facilitate capacity building among STEM teachers by (a) designing dedicated teacher training materials in a form of a teacher guide and (b) organizing teacher training workshops. Third, to improve the quality of STEM education across Europe by (a) producing educational robotics materials for schools and (b) piloting STEM educational activities that are not available in the pandemic.
The main target group of the project is school pupils studying STEM subjects. Some of the results target school teachers of STEM and science education and aim to provide the necessary guidance and the necessary tools to implement the proposed approach in the real classroom.
Partners
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, grant agreement 2020-1-NO01-KA226-SCH-094120.
