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Computational Thinking and Robotics: A Teaching Experience in Compulsory Secondary Education with Students with High Degree of Apathy and Demotivation

Author

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  • Belkis Díaz-Lauzurica

    (Department of Computer Science and Automatic Control, UNED, C/Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • David Moreno-Salinas

    (Department of Computer Science and Automatic Control, UNED, C/Juan del Rosal 16, 28040 Madrid, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

In present and future society, all individuals must be able to face the problems, risks, advantages and opportunities that will arrive with new paradigms in the labour market, social relations and technology. To reach this goal, a quality and inclusive education together with a proper and complete formation in technology (communications, robotics, programming, computational thinking (CT), etc.) must be imparted at all educational levels. Moreover, all individuals should have the same opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge, as stated in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainable Education. Following this trend, in the present work, a practical experience about how to teach CT using robotics is developed, showing the results and evaluation of the lessons on robotics taught to students in their 4th year of compulsory secondary education, and where the students showed a high degree of apathy and demotivation. The teaching unit was based on an action research approach that includes a careful selection of pedagogical techniques and instruments to attract and keep the attention and interest of the students. In addition to the robotics lessons, a previous computational thinking training with Blockly Games was carried out, which contributed to noticeably increase the students motivation and to introduce them to the programming of robots. Moreover, gamification was used to motivate and evaluate the individual knowledge, and the students were required to present the work performed through a final project. The individual needs of the students were fulfilled with a daily monitoring. The results show that the pedagogical techniques, instruments and evaluation were adequate to increase the motivation of the students and to obtain a significant learning, showing how the teaching of CT may attract students that have lost interest and motivation, while providing them with abilities that will be essential for the learning throughout life.

Suggested Citation

  • Belkis Díaz-Lauzurica & David Moreno-Salinas, 2019. "Computational Thinking and Robotics: A Teaching Experience in Compulsory Secondary Education with Students with High Degree of Apathy and Demotivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:5109-:d:268350
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stamatios Papadakis & Michail Kalogiannakis & Vasileios Orfanakis & Nicholas Zaranis, 2017. "The Appropriateness of Scratch and App Inventor as Educational Environments for Teaching Introductory Programming in Primary and Secondary Education," International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies (IJWLTT), IGI Global, vol. 12(4), pages 58-77, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Despoina Schina & Vanessa Esteve-González & Mireia Usart & José-Luis Lázaro-Cantabrana & Mercè Gisbert, 2020. "The Integration of Sustainable Development Goals in Educational Robotics: A Teacher Education Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Hassan Hossein-Mohand & Melchor Gómez-García & Juan-Manuel Trujillo-Torres & Hossein Hossein-Mohand & Moussa Boumadan-Hamed, 2021. "Uses and Resources of Technologies by Mathematics Students Prior to COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Francisco Ruiz Vicente & Alberto Zapatera Llinares & Nicolás Montés Sánchez, 2020. "“Sustainable City”: A Steam Project Using Robotics to Bring the City of the Future to Primary Education Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Sara Calvo & Luciano Celini & Andrés Morales & José Manuel Guaita Martínez & Pedro Núñez-Cacho Utrilla, 2020. "Academic Literacy and Student Diversity: Evaluating a Curriculum-Integrated Inclusive Practice Intervention in the United Kingdom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Morris Siu-Yung Jong & Jie Geng & Ching Sing Chai & Pei-Yi Lin, 2020. "Development and Predictive Validity of the Computational Thinking Disposition Questionnaire," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, May.
    6. José Juan Carrión-Martínez & Antonio Luque-de la Rosa & José Fernández-Cerero & Marta Montenegro-Rueda, 2020. "Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in Education for Sustainable Development: A Bibliographic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-12, April.
    7. Wendan Huang & Xiuhan Li & Junjie Shang, 2023. "Gamified Project-Based Learning: A Systematic Review of the Research Landscape," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-19, January.

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