CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS partners met in sunny Heraklion (Crete) on June 24-25, 2019 to discuss the results of their first six months of work and plan ahead for the development of teaching materials combining coding skills and robotics.
CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS is an Erasmus+ KA2 project which aims to promote robotics in primary schools as an interactive and engaging channel to introduce kids to coding and STEM skills.
Over the past few months, CODESKILLS4ROBOTICS partners have been busy researching the status quo of digital education policies in their countries, with a particular focus on the use of educational robotics in primary schools. After analyzing in detail each national scenario, partners conducted targeted surveys among students and teachers in order to gauge their specific needs and expectations when it comes to learning coding and robotics in schools. The results from this first stage have been compiled into a Comparative Report which will become available soon: stay tuned!
Special guest: Vernie (Lego Boost)!
The next steps of the way will include the development of a Competence Framework, i.e. a useful instrument for teachers to plan, guide and assess the learning pathways of their students. After familiarizing their students with the building parts of a robot and with basic programming techniques, teachers will invite their pupils to devise applications meant to fulfill simple, specific tasks within a given scenario. Different creative scenarios will be provided, with a view on cross-curricular implementation: the scenarios will touch upon topics such as history, environmental sensitivity and technology and will be easily adaptable to the specificities of different countries.
In a few months’ time, you might see your students develop something like this!
Over the next few months the partnership will focus on the development of the teaching material and start planning for the piloting stage. After a pleasant and profitable stay in Heraklion, partners look forward to continuing their cooperation to bring educational robotics closer to more and more students in their countries.