Informatics in Education

With the growing search for qualified professionals in the exact area, teaching in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas is gaining importance. In parallel, it appears that drones are an increasingly present reality in the civil area; however, there are few scientific studies of their application in the pedagogical environment, and their insertion is still practically nil in the school environment. Thus, this work aims to analyze the feasibility of using a set of technologies based on drones, designed based on the theory of significant learning through the use of active methodologies. The study was carried out with 30 high school students and followed a line of quali-quantitative analysis, in which the quantitative data were collected from the results obtained in a pre and post-test and the qualitative ones through recordings during the interventions, observations of the researcher, and a semi-structured press interview. Finally, a triangulation between the methodologies was carried out, looking for congruent aspects between the different techniques used. As a result, it was found that the workshops with the platform based on drones helped in the understanding, construction, and interpretation of the content covered, and it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between the use of the technological set proposed in the pedagogical process and the possibility of significant learning in the STEM areas by the students.

Nowadays, solving problems is substantial for the social relationship human. Computational Thinking (CT) emerges as an interdisciplinary thought process encompassing mental abilities to help students solve and understand problems. Researchers invest in the methodological proposal of activities aimed at CT stimulation, educational approaches, and the conception of technologies that support these activities’ execution. Educational Robotics (ER) is one of these technologies that stand out at different educational levels to favor teamwork, logical thinking, and creativity, skills intimately articulated with the computing paradigm. The main objective of this work is to investigate the impact of ER activities on CT development and subjects learning in the Technical and Vocational Education in High School. For this, we accomplished a study of intervention research type with students and teachers analyzing quantitative and qualitative aspects. The results indicate that the introduction of ER can favor students in the development of CT skills and learning High School subjects.

The aim of this study was to reveal pre-service teachers' experiences in learning robotics design and programming. Data were collected from 15 pre-service teachers through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the content analysis method. Three themes were identified in this study: Course process, professional development and teaching children. The pre-service teachers indicated that they found opportunities to learn by doing and experience, enjoyed doing robotics activities and felt in flow in this process. They also expressed that the robotics programming course positively influenced their attitudes towards programming and improved their programming skills. They emphasized the importance of keeping their intrinsic motivation high by maintaining their individual efforts to solve problems. Moreover, they made various suggestions for teaching robotics to children. Implications are discussed in terms of practices for educational robotics in teacher training, and further research directions.

The increasing number of children who need special education in Finland also requires an increasing amount of resources from teachers and a restructuring of the education system. Technology can be a part of the solution to this resource problem; however, for the technological solution to work, technologies need to be designed and implemented in new ways. Technologies used in special education in Finland can roughly be divided into four main categories; assistive technologies, communication technologies, and learning software. Last and the newest category concretizing technologies, such as educational robotics, have successfully been used in the Technologies for Children with Individual Needs Project. Possibilities provided by educational robotics have been extensive, not only because of the technology itself, but also because of how the technology has been implemented in innovative projects with school students. From this point of view, students with individual educational needs as well as those involved in inclusive education and harmonized school days could benefit from the use of technology.